In January 2001, a national programme for quality assurance was introduced, with the Agency evaluating subjects and programmes. All studies that lead to general or professional degrees were to be evaluated in a six year period, being the first of recurring cycles of evaluation. The evaluations have two main aims: control and development. They can also serve other purposes, e.g. to inform or to lend authority.
The control component can be described as making certain that studies meet minimum requirements. There is no attempt to rank the subjects or programmes since the Agency believes that what we are evaluating is too complex for ranking to be meaningful. There is a connection between the evaluation and the right to award degrees. If serious quality flaws are noted by the Agency, the university or university college should be aware that the right to award a degree can be revoked if no action is taken within a year.