Quality assurance is one of the key topics in the current higher education debate in Europe. In 2005, the ministers involved in the Bologna Process adopted a set of European guidelines for quality assurance. The matter is high on national and European agendas.In this publication, quality assurance is seen as part of the public responsibility for higher education. The contributions by policy makers and practitioners consider the role of quality assurance as an element of higher education governance and explore its function in the recognition of qualifications. Case studies illustrate its various aspects in two quite different national settings.
Preface
A word from the series editor
A word from the editors
Quality assurance: approaches and rationales
Quality assurance in European higher education: from adolescence to maturity
Roles, responsibilities and means of public authorities and institutions: challenges in the light of a growing emphasis on market mechanisms
The role of national quality assurance agencies in developing coherent, successful and competitive learning organisations in the European Higher Education Area
The implications for governance of institutions and systems
Quality assurance in the European Higher Education Area
Implementation of the guidelines adopted by the European ministers responsible for higher education
The Bulgarian approach
The Irish approach
Quality assurance and the recognition of qualifications
The uses of outcomes of quality assurance
The legitimacy of quality assurance
The role of public authorities and institutions: towards conclusions and recommendations
Conclusions and recommendations
List of contributors
Appendix
European quality assurance standards, adopted by the ministers of education of the Bologna process in May 2005
