The European Consortium for Accreditation in higher education (ECA) was founded as a project organisation in 2003. On 15th April 2014 ECA has become an association. ECA is a professional organisation that strives for continuous progress in the area of accreditation and external quality assurance, facilitates mutual recognition of qualifications, promotes internationalisation of higher education and creates transparency in QA to the benefit of students, HE institutions and society. ECA consists of member agencies, a Board, a secretariat, two working groups, and several project groups.