All EU and EEA states and all the associated countries in Central and Eastern Europe and Cyprus have a designated National Academic Recognition Information Centre (NARIC), which provides a way to compare academic qualifications as part of the Bologna Process. Together they form the NARIC network. Each country's NARIC is designated by its Ministry of Education, but they differ in status and scope of work. In most European countries, institutions of higher education make their own decision on what foreign qualifications or study they will accept, and so most NARICs have only an advisory role.