The objective of the Focus on Automatic Institutional Recognition (FAIR) project is to improve European recognition as practiced by higher education institutions by implementing elements of automatic recognition.Experimentation measureThe measure to be tested is the introduction of automatic recognition in institutional recognition procedures. Automatic recognition is a fairly new concept that is explored by the 'pathfinder group on automatic recognition' in preparation of the Bologna Ministerial Conference in Yerevan 2015. FAIR aims to test how the recommendations can best be implemented in institutional recognition practices.Since most recognition decisions in the EU and EHEA are made within HEIs, the FAIR project is expected to significantly improve European recognition practice.The target groups of the project are:Higher Education Institutions- Admissions offices, through smoother recognition procedures and fairer and consistent decisions.- HEIs as a whole will benefit as well. Smoother and fairer decisions increase the quality of students and reputation of the institution.ENIC-NARICs:The recommendations on how institutional recognition practice can be improved will assist ENIC-NARICs to perform their tasks as information centres on recognition and their efforts for achieving fair recognition.Ministries of Education:Fairer and smoother recognition decisions for incoming students will make a country a more attractive destination for students and highly skilled workers.Quality assurance agencies:The analysis of existing institutional recognition procedures and the recommendations for improvement will lead to useful expertise for the QA agencies, especially in the light of the revised European Standards & Guidelines.Students:Smoother and fairer recognition decisions will lead to fewer obstacles for students when applying for a higher education programme in another country.Evaluation measureThe evaluation will entail the following:- Baseline assessment in which participating HEIs score their recognition procedures on the basis of objective indicators (a scorecard). The evaluation body guides the baseline assessment of the recognition procedures to ensure that the indicators are clearly understood and reliably scored by the HEIs.- Improving the institutional recognition procedures by including automatic recognition elements and recommendations from the EAR-HEI recognition manual- Measuring the effect of the new recognition procedures against the previous set of indicators.The systemic impact envisagedAutomatic recognition is expected to simplify institutional recognition decisions, because substantial parts of the recognition procedure will be standardized. The experience and recommendations on how to do this at national level will be made available by the FAIR project team for all EHEA countries. This will lead to faster and smoother recognition decisions.