The Impact of Quality Monitoring on Institutions: a Danish experience at the Copenhagen Business School

Abstract

For Danish higher education institutions external quality monitoring (EQM) centres around a system of external examiners, a National Centre for Evaluation, and external stakeholders in governing bodies. At the Copenhagen Business School this has been supplemented with EQM at European level, an Institutional Audit carried out by the Association of European Universities. Whereas the external examiner's main task is to assess quality in terms of the transformation of students, fitness for purpose and value for money, the Centre for Evaluation is mandated both to control and improve. The difficulties in meeting these two demands at the same time, should not be insurmountable, but has caused problems in the Danish system. The institutions should, however, be able to use the evaluations for improvement. They should be seen as one of several means for improvement, as inputs in the strategic process at the institutions. A fruitful synergy between EQM and the internal quality culture is necessary if EQM is to have any impact.