The EUR-ACE system is a decentralized accreditation system of engineering education programmes, in which a common European quality label (the EUR-ACE (R) label) is added to the accreditation awarded by a national Agency, under the condition that the EUR-ACE Framework Standards are satisfied. This system is run by the European Network for Accreditation of Engineering Education (ENAEE), proprietor of the EUR-ACE (R) trademark. Seven Agencies (CTI, ASIIN, Engineers Ireland, Ordem dos Engenheiros, RAEE, MUDEK, EC-UK) in seven EHEA countries (France, Germany, Ireland, Portugal, Russia, Turkey, UK) are at present authorized to award the EUR-ACE label: approximately 300 programmes are EUR-ACE-accredited at the time of writing (August 2009). The seven countries of the present EUR-ACE system are already a significant and varied sample of the European Higher Education Area (EHEA) but their number is still a fraction of the 46 EHEA countries: therefore, ENAEE is now committed to spread the EUR-ACE system into other countries and coordinates the EC-supported project EUR-ACE SPREAD that aims at bringing Italy, Lithuania, Romania and Switzerland into the system.
