This year, we are celebrating 25 years of cooperation and dialogue on Public Administration Accreditation in Europe and we have invited Theo van der Krogt, former EAPAA secretary, and Geert Bouckaert, the first EAPAA chairman, to write some words about this remarkable journey and the significant milestones achieved along the way.

Theo van der Krogt recalls the inception of EAPAA at the EGPA 1999 conference, where Prof. Huib de Jong initiated discussions on establishing quality standards for European public administration programs. This initiative, strongly supported by EGPA and NISPACee, led to the formation of EAPAA under Dutch law, with Geert Bouckaert as the first chairman. 

Geert Bouckaert reflects on the two major streams that made the establishment of EAPAA a logical decision at the turn of the century: the evolving role of the public sector and the need to enhance the quality of teaching university programs. He emphasizes the European nature of EAPAA’s accreditation culture, which respects the diversity of administrative cultures and promotes a networked peer review model.

To read the full contributions from Theo van der Krogt and Geert Bouckaert, please click on the link below.

About EAPAA

The European Association for Public Administration Accreditation (EAPAA) is an autonomous organisation that aims to develop and maintain a system for the voluntary accreditation of academic public administration programmes in higher education. Since 1999, it has evaluated programmes in a wide variety of countries.

The European Group for Public Administration (EGPA) and the Network of Institutes and Schools of Public Administration in Central and Eastern Europe (NISPAcee) are the two official members of the institution, who jointly appoint members to the EAPAA board.