AEQES

What AEQES does

AEQES (Agence pour l'Evaluation de la Qualite de l'Enseignement Superieur) is an autonomous public service agency established by decree on 22 February 2008 and headquartered in Brussels, Belgium. Its statutory function is to plan and conduct independent quality evaluations of higher education in the Wallonia-Brussels Federation, covering all universities, hautes ecoles (higher schools), ecoles superieures des arts (superior arts schools), and etablissements d'enseignement de promotion sociale (social promotion education institutions). Since 2023 the agency also evaluates continuous professional training for teachers in compulsory education.

The agency's core operating model is a cyclical six-year evaluation cycle, with active plans covering the 2023-2029 and 2029-2032/2035 horizons for programmatic and institutional reviews. Its product suite includes initial programmatic evaluations (5-criteria framework), continuous programmatic evaluations (2-criteria framework), institutional reviews, cross-sectional analyses, expert committee services, and mid-term progress records. Evaluations follow a three-phase process: institutional self-assessment, external evaluation by independent expert panels, and action-plan publication with implementation follow-up at the three-year midpoint. The technology layer is a website-based information platform (aeqes.be) publishing reports and analyses; methodological frameworks conform to the European Standards and Guidelines (ESG 2015).

AEQES holds full ENQA membership since 2011 and is registered with EQAR, with reports published in the DEQAR European database. The agency is led by Director Eva Jaroszewski and operates under governance by a Steering Committee with student representation. Revenue is non-commercial and derives entirely from a public grant allocated by the Wallonia-Brussels Federation government; the agency has no pricing or customer transactions. International cooperation includes an Erasmus+ Joint QA Africa project (2023-2026) with CAMES and OBREAL covering institutional reviews in Burkina Faso, Cote d'Ivoire, and Cameroon.

Name

AEQES

Legal name

Agence pour l'Evaluation de la Qualité de l'Enseignement Supérieur

Website

https://aeqes.be

Company type

Private

Founded year

2008

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

51–100 employees

Short description

AEQES is an autonomous Belgian public agency established in 2008 that conducts mandatory cyclical quality evaluations of higher education institutions in the Wallonia-Brussels Federation, including universities, hautes ecoles, and superior arts schools. It is funded entirely by the regional government and embedded in ENQA and EQAR European quality assurance networks.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Brussels

HQ country

Belgium

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Others, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Public Funding: AEQES operates as an autonomous public service agency funded by the Wallonia-Brussels Federation government. As a regulatory quality assurance body, it does not generate commercial revenue but is sustained through public budgets allocated for its mission of evaluating higher education quality.

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

AEQES independently plans and conducts quality evaluations of higher education institutions (universities, hautes écoles, écoles supérieures des arts, and social promotion education establishments) in the Wallonia-Brussels Federation. Its core offerings include programmatic evaluations (initial and continuous), institutional reviews, cross-sectional analyses, expert committee coordination, and mid-term progress records, all aligned with the European Standards and Guidelines (ESG 2015). The agency operates as a publicly funded entity with no commercial fees to evaluated institutions.

Product overview

AEQES operates as a unified platform for quality assurance in higher education within the Wallonia-Brussels Federation. The core offering consists of programmatic evaluations (both initial and continuous formats) that assess study programmes across three types: higher education diplomas (120 credits), bachelor's degrees (180/240 credits), and master's degrees (120 credits). Since 2019, AEQES also conducts institutional reviews. These services are supported by expert committees, cross-sectional analyses, mid-term progress records, and quality culture development support. All evaluations follow the European Standards and Guidelines (ESG 2015) and follow a three-phase cycle: institutional self-assessment, external evaluation by independent expert panels, and action plan publication with implementation follow-up.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Programmatic Evaluations (Initial) Initial evaluations conducted when a study programme is evaluated for the first time by the agency. Based on the 5-criteria framework, these evaluations assess the quality of programmes and their quality assurance systems, covering higher education diplomas (120 credits), bachelor's degrees (180 and 240 credits), and master's degrees (120 credits).
• Programmatic Evaluations (Continuous) Evaluations conducted for study programmes that have already undergone initial evaluation. They aim to support higher education institutions in their continuous improvement dynamics using a 2-criteria reference framework focusing on programme enhancement and quality approach.
• Institutional Reviews Comprehensive evaluations of higher education institutions assessing institutional quality assurance systems and governance, using Part I of the European Standards and Guidelines (ESG) as the reference framework. Institutions are evaluated through a three-phase process: institutional self-assessment, external evaluation by independent expert panels, and follow-up with action plans.
• Cross-sectional Analyses (Transversal Analyses) Contextualized presentations of evaluated programmes or institutions in the Wallonia-Brussels Federation, highlighting strengths, areas for improvement, and recommendations for different stakeholders. These analyses enable transversal trend identification across sectors.
• Expert Committee Services AEQES selects and trains expert committees for each evaluation, including peer experts, professional experts, student experts, and quality management experts. These committees conduct the external evaluations of programmes and institutions.
• Mid-term Progress Records Mid-term updates conducted 3 years after evaluations to document progress made by evaluated institutions and allow them to update their action plans.
• Quality Culture Development Support Services to encourage the development of quality culture in institutions, disseminate good practices, and promote synergies among higher education stakeholders.

Named customers10 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles5 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration1 record

Feature3 records

Partnerships

Eight partnerships are on record, tiered flagship, core, regional and minor.

• CAMES (Conseil Africain et Malgache pour l'Enseignement Supérieur)flagshipStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2023Joint evaluations conducted with CAMES under the Erasmus+ Joint QA Africa project (2023-2026). Conducted 6 pilot institutional evaluations in Burkina Faso, Cameroon, and Côte d'Ivoire. Published 4 institutional evaluation reports from pilot establishments.
• OBREAL (Observatory on Rationality and Education)flagshipImplementation/ SI/ Consulting Partner · 1 January 2023Coordinator of the Erasmus+ Joint Quality Assurance (JQA) Africa project (2023-2026), aiming to harmonize higher education in Africa by establishing comparable quality assurance systems through cooperation between national authorities and higher education institutions.
• ARES (Académie de Recherche et d'Enseignement Supérieur)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 March 2017Cooperation agreement between AEQES and ARES signed at AEQES' initiative in March 2017 and updated in 2021. The agreement specifies roles and tasks of both bodies and defines operating procedures for joint objectives in higher education quality. ARES coordinates statistics from hautes écoles for institutional self-evaluations.
• ENQA (European Association for Quality Assurance in Higher Education)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerFull membership in ENQA. AEQES undergoes cyclical external reviews every 5 years to maintain membership and ensure compliance with European Standards and Guidelines (ESG 2015).
• EQAR (European Quality Assurance Register for Higher Education)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerRegistration with EQAR enabling AEQES evaluations to be recognized across the European Higher Education Area. Subject to regular renewal and substantive change reports.
• Réseau FrAQ-Sup (Réseau francophone des agences qualité pour l'enseignement supérieur)regionalStrategic or Co-development PartnerFrancophone network of quality assurance agencies for higher education. Collaborated with French (CTi and HCERES) and Swiss (AAQ) agencies on French translation of ESG 2015.
• Global Academic Integrity NetworkminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerInternational network focused on academic integrity, indicating AEQES' engagement with broader quality assurance and integrity frameworks.
• CTI (Commission des Titres d'Ingénieur)regionalStrategic or Co-development PartnerFrench engineering accreditation body. Collaboration with AEQES for evaluation of bioengineer and civil engineer programs in the Wallonia-Brussels Federation. Established methodology balance and organizational review of the AEQES-CTI collaboration.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/aeqes

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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Frequently asked questions about AEQES