A bimonthly publication of AQU Catalunya

51

November 2010

When ministers responsible for higher education in the Bologna signatory countries met in Budapest and Vienna in March this year and officially launched the European Higher Education Area (EHEA), this was without doubt a remarkable milestone in the history of higher education in wider Europe. For quality assurance agencies, 2010 is not only an important year because of the launch of the EHEA, it also marks the 10th anniversary of the European Association for Quality Assurance in Higher Education (ENQA).

The history of the ENQA dates back to the mid-1990s when the "European Pilot Projects for Evaluation in Higher Education" started. Agencies from seven countries cooperated in this project and worked on a common understanding of quality assurance and how to conduct external assessment procedures. Upon the conclusion of the project, participants as well as the European Commission felt a strong need for further cooperation on the European level, thus the ENQA was founded in 2000.

This seems like a long time ago when one recalls the achievements the ENQA has made since then. One of the major achievements of the last ten years, without doubt, is the development of "The Standards and Guidelines for Quality Assurance in the European Higher Education Area" (ESG), as drafted together with our partners in E4 and adopted in Bergen 2005. The independent assessment report to the ministers at the Bologna conference in Budapest and Vienna highlights this achievement.

One sometimes underestimates the fact that the ESG are designed to be applied by all countries, by all agencies and by all kinds of quality assurance. And this still presents major challenges due to the fact that the EHEA and its 47 states are characterized by diversity in terms of educational traditions, legal frameworks, cultural traditions, languages, aspirations and expectations. Notwithstanding the differences, the ESG help all stakeholders in the field of quality assurance share the same values and principles and it helps them share a common understanding.

As regards the application of the ESG at agency level, the ENQA has already successfully reviewed most full member agencies in line with the ESG. This guarantees a high level of professionalism at agency level. Moreover, this means that the ENQA guarantees the application of these shared values and principles of quality assurance throughout the European Higher Education Area. The significance of this role shouldn't be underestimated and the ENQA can be confident of its contribution to the development of the EHEA.

Last but not least, considerable progress has been made in developing the European dimension of quality assurance, its main features being:

• The principal responsibility for quality in higher education rests with the HEIs
• Consequently, internal quality assurance is the core element of quality assurance
• Internal and external quality assurance processes are interrelated
• All kinds of quality assurance processes shall be enhancement oriented
• Stakeholders and especially students are involved in the processes and bodies of quality assurance
• Quality assurance agencies are independent

Looking to the future, it's obvious that agencies face new challenges:

• Ministers have assigned quality assurance agencies with new tasks, especially in the field of what is today called transparency. On the other hand, HEIs urge agencies not to serve predominantly the accountability function of quality assurance but rather support the institutions in developing the quality of programmes, departments and whole institutions further and thereby emphasize the enhancement dimension of quality assurance.
• In addition, new stakeholders are involved. New types of agencies or networks that are closely connected with quality assurance, such as quality labels.
• The commission would also like external quality assurance to evaluate the implementation of the Bologna tools.
• Recently an interesting debate arose concerning the role of quality assurance in comparison to rankings.

It is clear that there will be many interesting developments in the years to come and plenty of work for the ENQA as regards representing the agencies at European level and developing quality assurance further.

The former president of the ENQA Peter Williams once stated, "Quality is not a destination, it's a journey!" As we look back on the first ten years of the ENQA's existence, we can see how far the agency has come on this journey and it becomes clear that there is some distance still to be travelled. We still face the challenge of:

• respecting the HEIs prime responsibility for quality,
• guaranteeing the independence of quality assurance agencies,
• involving stakeholders and
• respecting diversity.

The ENQA, as the voice of quality assurance agencies in Europe, will fulfill its aim of fostering the quality of teaching and learning to the benefit of the students and society at large, and will contribute to developing further the European dimension of quality assurance.