The QA-FIT project (Quality Assurance Fit for the Future) has published two forward-looking papers that provide input for further discussion about the Standards and Guidelines for Quality Assurance in the European Higher Education Area (ESG), and the future of quality assurance and internationalisation.
The paper The future of the ESG: reflections based on findings from the QA-FIT project explores stakeholders’ (national student unions, higher education institutions, quality assurance agencies and ministries) opinions on the relevance of the European quality assurance framework and identifies some open questions and areas that could inform the future revision of the ESG. It also examines stakeholders’ views about the social dimension of higher education, the fundamental values of higher education and the role that quality assurance mechanisms play to support their coverage.
Complementarily, the paper Quality assurance and internationalisation: state of play and perspectives for the future explores the state of implementation of the various quality assurance tools that support internationalisation. It discusses how current quality assurance arrangements both support and inhibit international activities of higher education institutions, and reflect on how these challenges might be addressed, including through the upcoming revision of the ESG.
The QA-FIT project, co-funded by the European Union, aims to gather comprehensive evidence and reflect if and how the current EHEA framework of the ESG is perceived to limit the responsiveness of quality assurance to trends and innovations in higher education, and if and how there should be more room for development of alternative approaches to quality assurance. Further information about the QA-FIT project is available here.