Building a European dimension of quality assurance in higher education

Official URL: http://risc01.sabanciuniv.edu/record=b1164363 (Table of Contents)

The ultimate goal of this dissertation is to analyze the state of quality assurance in Europe. A series of factors such as globalization, financial pressures and higher education expansion are forcing the universities to change. University autonomy is required in order to adapt efficiently. The ultimate consequence of all these transformations is a demand for accountability which translates in a need for quality assurance. Moreover, how the Bologna process and the Lisbon Strategy are shaping the impact of European Higher Education area is analysed in the thesis. These two processes are also defining the European values attached to the concept of quality and the best mechanisms to measure and assess quality. The emerging European quality assurance is taking as a reference the more established U.S model. Based on this promise I compare both systems and identify a world trend towards convergence in quality values and practices. Finally, a series of challenges in the assessment of quality are analysed.