This article uses the theoretical framework developed by Elken and Stensaker to examine the characteristics of the quality assurance internal bodies in relation to composition, activities and factors perceived as critical for the success of quality assurance implementation within higher education institutions. The article is based on data…

Higher education institutions (HEIs) are complex entities interacting with a variety of stakeholders. Scholars have widely discussed the approaches and models of value co-creation in the higher education context. However, the attention has been primarily focussed on a single category of stakeholders, namely students. The article aims at eliciting…

Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) interact with a multiplicity of stakeholders, whose value expectations significantly affect their functioning. Students and academics represent the primary stakeholders of HEIs, directly contributing in their organizational success. Although they inherently perform as service co-producers, students and…

Accreditation systems in higher education are widespread both in the USA and in Europe. However, numerous reservations have appeared in the literature about whether these systems can comprehend and represent the quality of university courses. This study sets out to contribute to this debate by discussing whether the results of the recent…

Despite the strong criticisms, mass student surveys play an important role in the quality assurance process of national higher education systems. While some national higher education systems have a long history of using student surveys to inform teaching and course quality improvement (e.g. the UK, Australia), in Italy, where the quality assurance…

Quality is a multidimensional and transversal concept also in the field of higher education. This and other considerations revealed some problems during application of quality principles to study programmes, emerged from the first accreditation experience in Italy. The objective of this article is to provide a simple self-assessment tool for…

Purpose: It is not easy to grasp the concept of "value" in the higher education context. In fact, different stakeholders generally hold diverging perspectives about the value generated by Higher Education Institutions (HEIs). The purpose of this paper is to disentangle the value expectations and perceptions of current and former students…

This article focuses on the role of student feedback in the process of higher education quality assurance. The most recent reforms of the educational systems encourage teachers to enlarge their educational paradigm by experimenting with assessment practices that would go behind accountability and be more responsive to students' learning needs. In…

According to the 'International Standard Classification of Education' (ISCED), 'Continuing Education' is composed of the 'Continuing Primary and Lower Secondary Adult Education' (ISCED1, ISCED2), followed by the 'Adult Education and Training' System (ISCED3), including an 'Upper Secondary Education System' (ISCED4 and finally, the 'Tertiary…

In recent years, the enhancement of learning and teaching has become a priority, not only for higher education institutions, but also for national governments, the European Union and the Bologna Process. This report aims to map the learning and teaching landscape in 28 higher education systems and to provide insight into how teaching enhancement…

The vast majority of studies concerning the implementation of quality assurance in higher education institutions have been conducted from a national perspective, with few cross-national studies. This study aimed to explore the implementation of quality assurance standards in Europe from a comparative perspective. A questionnaire based on…

Sustaining students in becoming reflective practitioners is considered as a valued outcome of higher education. The paper aims to evaluate the impact of the learning environment conditions inspired by Schön's theory of reflective practicum, by discussing a case study of a master's degree class. The learning environment was designed to sustain…

The rapidly growing number of learning materials and repositories makes the issue of how to find the most relevant and best quality resources to be integrated in teaching and learning offers. Thus, effective quality assessment tools are more and more needed. In the present paper, a case-study focusing on quality assurance in a Virtual Mobility…

This research examined strategic actions in European universities through the institutional evaluation reports of the EUA. EUA reports for 21 universities from seven European countries were included in the data set. Qualitative inquiry was carried out and six sub-sections in the reports were used as established themes. The findings were then…

The increasing availability of non-formal education in the form of Open Education Resources (OERs) and Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) gives rise to the questions of how such education can be formally recognized for credit. Prior Learning Assessment and Recognition (PLAR), and Qualification Frameworks are fields of practice actively engaged in…