JOQAR denotes Joint programmes: Quality Assurance and Recognition of degrees awarded. The overall purposeof the project is to ensure that Erasmus Mundus programmes (and joint programmes in general) are facilitated intwo specific areas: accreditation and recognition.The project partnership consequently includes qualityassurance/accreditation agencies (QA/A agencies) and recognition bodies (ENIC-NARICs). The external QA andaccreditation of joint programmes is a challenge for both joint programmes and QA/A agencies as it normallyincludes multiple national accreditation procedures. The project instead seeks to promote single accreditationprocedures through the following specific objectives:- The development of a multilateral recognition agreement regarding QA and accreditation results. Thisaction line will establish observation missions, including comparisons, between QA/A agencies and buildup a transferable methodology in order to include other QA/A agencies into the multilateral agreementafter the project has ended.- The establishment of a European coordination point for external QA and accreditation of jointprogrammes. The coordination point gives coordinators of joint programmes the opportunity to consultthis specialised information centre when they need to undergo external quality assurance and/oraccreditation of their joint programme. The coordination point additionally provides QA/A agencies withassistance and specialised expertise on accreditation of joint programmes.There are currently a lot of problems with the recognition of the degrees awarded by joint programmes which theproject seeks to solve through the following specific objectives:- Awareness-raising among higher education institutions and joint programmes about ENIC-NARICs'expectations regarding joint programmes, the design of the degree they award and the content of thediploma supplement. This should result in published guidelines and good practices for higher educationinstitutions and their joint programmes.- The establishment of a common ground among ENIC-NARICs regarding the recognition of degreesawarded by joint programmes should result in agreed principles.- Transparent information provision regarding Erasmus Mundus programmes by including theseprogrammes in the Qrossroads database (http://www.qrossroads.eu/).The target groups who will benefit from improved accreditation and recognition are joint programmes,ENIC-NARICs, students and QA/A agencies. JOQAR will engage stakeholders in a structured waythrough a stakeholders group. The project will reach out to the Erasmus Mundus programmes andestablish direct ties with the consortia. The results will be disseminated through the networks of thepartners and by a variety of means, including a dissemination conference, a knowledge base,publications, a project website, and workshops. The European Consortium for Accreditation (ECA) willmake sure that the results of the project, such as the coordination point, knowledge base and themethodology applied, are maintained after the end of the project to the benefit of joint programmesprovided in Europe and in third countries.