Coping with diversity in higher education in the European Higher Education Area : The case of quality assurance
This study analyses diversity in quality assurance (QA) of higher education
among the Bologna Process member countries and the policy processes that
aimed at coping with the challenges related to it. The dissertation consists of a
summary and four articles.
The results of this study and previous literature illustrate substantial
empirical evidence of diversity between QA systems and conceptual and
terminological fuzziness as well as a lack of transparency. The Bologna Process
has introduced two main ways for coping with the challenges associated with
diversity in QA: (a) standards that would guide the activities of QA agencies and
(b) a European-level QA system for QA agencies.
During the Bologna Process, the European Commission strove towards
output oriented systems of quality assurance that would guarantee that the
provision of education meets the common European standards stated in the
European Qualifications Frameworks (EQF), whereas the European university
Association (EUA) supported an alternative set of standards that would focus
more on QA processes and support the management in universities.
In the case of European-level QA structures, the EUA and the European
Network/Association of Quality Assurance (ENQA) both suggested structures
that would give them and their member organisations (universities or QA
agencies) a central role, whereas the Commission proposed a system that would
have been more independent from the stakeholder organisations in this field. The
end-result of this process was the European Registry of Quality Assurance
Agencies (EQAR), which is most reminiscent of the version suggested by the
Commission, although it includes elements that the other organisations have
suggested and even piloted.
The study also discusses the tensions between national-level and Europeanlevel
policymaking, showing that the national-level translations of the Europeanlevel
commitments link the QA reforms more to other reforms relevant in the
national context than the context that motivated the commitments at the
European level. In addition, it appears that the Commission intended to loosen
the QA systems from national contexts towards multinational structures but that
the Bologna Process member states were unwilling to follow this route.
Keywords: Higher education, Bologna Process, Quality assurance, European
Higher Education Area
...
Publisher
Jyväskylän yliopistoISBN
978-951-39-8025-2ISSN Search the Publication Forum
2489-9003Contains publications
- Artikkeli I: Saarinen, T., & Ala-Vähälä, T. (2007). Accreditation, the Bologna Process and National Reactions : Accreditation as Concept and Action. Higher Education in Europe, 32 (4), 333-345. DOI: 10.1080/03797720802066195
- Artikkeli II: Ala-Vähälä, T., & Saarinen, T. (2009). Building European-level Quality Assurance Structures: Views from Within ENQA. Quality in Higher Education, 15 (2), 89-103. DOI: 10.1080/13538320902995741
- Artikkeli III: Ala-Vähälä, T., & Saarinen, T. (2013). Audits of quality assurance systems of higher education institutions in Finland. In M. Shah, & C. S. Nair (Eds.), External quality audit : Has it improved quality assurance in universities? (pp. 183-194). Oxford: Chandos Publishing. DOI: 10.1016/b978-1-84334-676-0.50012-1
- Artikkeli IV: Ala-Vähälä, T. (2016). Reception of the quality assurance commitments of the Bologna process in Finnish higher education institutions. Quality in Higher Education, 22 (2), 103-116. DOI: 10.1080/13538322.2016.1195966
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