Agency for Quality Assurance IN Higher Education (HEQA)

The Agency for Quality Assurance in Higher Education (HEQA) is the national authority responsible for quality assurance in higher education in Montenegro. It is the legal successor to the Agency for Control and Quality Assurance of Higher Education (ACQAHE), which was established by the Government of Montenegro in 2017. The new Law on Higher Education entered in force in October 2025.

The Agency’s governance structure consists of a Council, an Accreditation Board, a Director, and a Secretariat. The Council comprises seven members representing HEIs, the Ministry, the Chamber of Economy, and students, appointed by the Government for four-year terms. The Accreditation Board includes thirteen members, such as academics from public and private universities, student representatives, and experts from relevant fields, appointed by the Council for four-year terms, with student members serving for two years. The Director manages the day-to-day operations, provides operational leadership, and is appointed by the Council through a public competition for a five-year term. The Secretariat, together with the Department for Quality Control and the Department for Quality Assurance and Research, provides administrative, financial, operational, and research support. The Department for Quality Control conducts and oversees accreditation, re-accreditation, and follow-up evaluations, while the Department for Quality Assurance and Research ensures compliance with ESG, manages QA databases, coordinates international cooperation, and conducts research on QA policies. HEQA currently has 13 employees, five of whom are coordinators of the evaluation procedures.

External QA is conducted through accreditation of study programmes, special programmes and re-accreditation of higher education institutions. All procedures are transparent, publicly reported and implemented based on European Standards and Guidelines.
The overall objective of the HEQA is to ensure credible, internationally recognized and competitive Montenegrin higher education system, which will contribute to progress of Montenegrin economy and society and to the improvement of the quality of life of Montenegrin citizens. Our aim is to fully apply European Standards and Guidelines in the system through defining evaluation procedures, rendering independent and objective decisions and ensuring its constant improvement. The final confirmation of the process is membership in the European quality assurance structures (ENQA and EQAR).