Coping with diversity in higher education in the European Higher Education Area : The case of quality assurance

Abstract

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