Has External Quality Assurance Actually Improved Quality in Higher Education Over the Course of 20 Years of the ‘Quality Revolution’?

ABSTRACT

At the beginning of the last 20 years so‐called ‘quality revolution’ it was expected from most of the established national quality agencies that internal quality systems and the development of an internal quality culture would emerge automatically in the HEI from the external quality impact. The author argues that a better balance must be found between internal and external quality assurance and quality improvement. She therefore, finds it most stimulating that the European Standards and Guidelines underline that external evaluations largely depend for their full effectiveness on there being an explicit internal quality assurance strategy, with specific objectives and on the use, within institutions, of mechanisms and methods aimed at achieving those objectives.

Keywords:

• quality revolution
• quality assurance
• quality improvement
• quality concept
• European Standard and Guidelines (ESQ)

Notes

[1] The main goal of the 4th European Quality Assurance Forum (co‐organised by the so‐called E4 Group: ENQA, ESU, EUA and EURASHE), hosted by CBS, Copenhagen from 19–21 November 2009.

[2] This is, however, not the aim of this short article. The author bases her views on her own experiences as a peer‐review member on audits, evaluations and accreditations, as a former board member on quality‐assurance agencies and as the leading person of a rewarded comprehensive internal quality system.