Recent European reports on QA show that HEIs have made progress in establishing internal quality assurance (IQA) systems based on ENQA’s European Standards and Guidelines (ESG) for QA in the EHEA, which are currently being revised, but they need practical advice on the interpretation of the ESG and support in further development of IQA. The progress in the implementation of IQA systems varies greatly among HEIs in the four countries participating in the project and many of them are yet to have fully-fledged systems in place. The QA Agencies in the four countries are committed to enhancing their methodologies for the assessment of IQA systems as part of their external evaluations based on the exchange of good practice and strengthening their cooperation with a view to exchanging experts. The recent EBNQA-coordinated external review of the Polish Accreditation Agency (PKA) recommended that the Agency should produce a Guide to / Code of Good Practice in IQA for HEIs. Against this background, the two-year project ‘Enhancing Internal Quality Assurance Systems’ (EIQAS) has two objectives: - to increase the capacity of higher education institutions in the participating countries to develop internal quality assurance by enhancing their awareness and understanding of Part 1 of the ENQA European Standards and Guidelines and identifying, developing and disseminating good innovative practice in internal quality assurance; and - to increase the capacity of the participating QA agencies in external quality assurance by comparing their methodologies for the assessment of internal quality assurance and exchanging and developing good practice in IQA assessment. EIQAS brings together four QA Agencies, PKA (Poland), NEAA (Bulgaria), A3ES (Portugal) and SQAA (Slovenia), the Polish and Portuguese Rectors’ Conferences and HEIs from Slovenia and Portugal. The main activities of the project include: - a comparative analysis of the QA Agencies’ methodologies for the assessment of IQA systems to identify good and transferrable practice; - a survey on IQA and the ESG to identify the main problems faced by HEIs in IQA and in the interpretation of Part 1 of the ESG; - three Training Events: a seminar on IQA and the ESG for the QA Agencies and HEIs; training for the QA Agencies’ experts involved in external evaluations; and special training for students-experts involved in the QA Agencies’ external evaluations; - the production of publications on IQA and Part 1 of the ESG; - dissemination activities at institutional, national and European levels, including multiplier events designed not only to promote the project’s outputs but also to share the expertise gained by project participants. The project will produce the following main outputs: - a reference framework for comparative analysis of the QA Agencies’ methodologies for assessing IQA systems, and a comparative report on their methodologies identifying good transferrable practice; - country reports and a cross-country report on HEIs’ main problems in the implementation of IQA systems and the interpretation of Part 1 of the ESG; - a Guide to IQA for HEIs, including general guidelines, practical advice on each Part 1 ESG and good practice examples from each of the four countries under each ESG; - a Student Guide to Part 1 of the ESG focusing on issues under each Part 1 ESG which are specifically relevant to students; and - a report proposing a framework for further training of QA Agency experts and arrangements for the exchange of experts among the Agencies. The project will have short- or medium-term impact on the participating QA Agencies in terms of their IQA assessment methodologies improved through the integration of good practice tested in the other countries, greater professionalism of the Agencies’ experts and their enhanced awareness of European approaches to the assessment of IQA, and greater internationalisation of the Agencies through future exchange of experts. While establishing fully-fledged IQA systems at HEIs is a long and challenging process, the project’s main training event, the two Guides produced and multiplier events are expected to contribute in the medium term to improving the existing systems in terms of the increased awareness of IQA among HEI staff and students, the overall design of systems and the integration of all elements of Part 1 of the ESG in the four participating countries. As the outputs of EIQAS will be distributed among European QA and HE organisations and QA Agencies, the project is likely to have impact at European level in terms of wider promotion and better understanding of Part 1 of the ESG and related good practice, mutual understanding of approaches to IQA and to the assessment of IQA as part of external quality assurance processes.