Key dates
The AERES was set up in 2007 as part of the process set in motion more than ten years ago in the Bologna Process. Its creation meets the resolve to serve the French research and higher education system better in a context where education is becoming increasingly international.
2012
The AERES’ first colloquium
On 14 and 15 March 2012, the AERES held its first colloquium on "Evaluation at the service of training programmes: personal experiences and best-practice sharing".
2011
Registration with the EQAR
On 13 May 2011, the EQAR (European Quality Assurance Register for Higher Education) added the AERES to its list of registered agencies.
AERES 2010 – Regional analyses of the evaluations conducted between 2007 and 2010
After 10,000 evaluations conducted in less than four years – since it was set up – the AERES published the regional analyses of its first evaluation tour de France – run from 2007 to 2010.
2010
The AERES, recognised by the ENQA
On 2 September 2010, the ENQA (European Association for Quality Assurance in Higher Education) renewed the AERES as a full member and praised the high quality of its evaluations.
2009
Group D: first integrated evaluation
With the launch of group D, the AERES carried out its third evaluation, putting the principle of integrated evaluation into practice for the very first time.
2008
First international experience
In December 2008, Saint Joseph University in Beirut (Lebanon) asked the Agency to evaluate it.
Foundation of the EQAR (European Quality Assurance Register for Higher Education)
On 4 March 2008, the Register Committee was set up, comprising eight members put forward by each of the four associations of the E4 group (ENQA, EUA, EURASHE and ESU).
2007
First AERES international conference
Co-organisation with the French Ministry of Higher Education and Research of an international conference on "higher education and research: from evaluations to decision-making”.
Setup of the AERES
The Agency replaced several institutions in France: the National Committee for the Evaluation of Public Scientific, Cultural and Professional Institutions (CNE), the Scientific, Technical and Educational Mission (MSTP) and the National Committee for the Evaluation of Research (CNER).
In addition, it took over the remit for evaluating research units that until then had been carried out by commissions within each research organisation (CoNRS, INSERM’s specialized scientific commission, etc.). Each commission is still competent in the evaluation of the organisation’s staff.
2005
Bergen Ministerial Conference
For the first time, European ministers decided to implement the standards and guidelines for quality assurance, as proposed in the report written by ENQA (European Association for Quality Assurance in Higher Education) in liaison with the members of the E4 group (ENQA, EUA, EURASHE and ESU).
2000
Creation of ENQA
Taking up an idea that first came about in 1994-95 for a European Pilot Project for Evaluating Quality in Higher Education and in accordance with the European Commission, ENQA was set up to promote European cooperation in the field of quality assurance; in November 2004, ENQA’s General Assembly turned the network into the European Association for Quality Assurance in Higher Education.
1999
Bologna Ministerial Conference
Once most countries and universities in Europe had signed on to the project, the Bologna Process was aimed particularly at facilitating student, professor and research mobility and at cooperation in the field of educational quality assurance.
1998
Conference at the Sorbonne
Following the French Minister’s initiative, the four ministers of higher education for Germany, France, Great Britain and Italy met during a conference at the Sorbonne to launch a call to construct a European Higher Education Area.
