University quality indicators: a critical assessment - European Parliament

[Pages:248]DIRECTORATE GENERAL FOR INTERNAL POLICIES POLICY DEPARTMENT B: STRUCTURAL AND COHESION POLICIES

CULTURE AND EDUCATION

UNIVERSITY QUALITY INDICATORS: A CRITICAL ASSESSMENT

STUDY

This document was requested by the European Parliament's Committee on Culture and Education

AUTHORS

Bernd W?chter (ACA) Maria Kelo (ENQA)

Queenie K.H. Lam (ACA) Philipp Effertz (DAAD) Christoph Jost (DAAD) Stefanie Kottowski (DAAD)

RESPONSIBLE ADMINISTRATOR

Mr Mikl?s Gy?rffi Policy Department B: Structural and Cohesion Policies European Parliament B-1047 Brussels E-mail: poldep-cohesion@europarl.europa.eu

EDITORIAL ASSISTANCE Lyna P?rt

LINGUISTIC VERSIONS Original: EN

ABOUT THE EDITOR

To contact the Policy Department or to subscribe to its monthly newsletter please write to: poldep-cohesion@europarl.europa.eu

Manuscript completed in April 2015. ? European Parliament, 2015.

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ISBN 978-92-823-7864-9 ISBN 978-92-823-7865-6

doi: 10.2861/660770 QA-02-15-583-EN-C doi: 10.2861/426164 QA-02-15-583-EN-N

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The opinions expressed in this document are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily represent the official position of the European Parliament.

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DIRECTORATE GENERAL FOR INTERNAL POLICIES POLICY DEPARTMENT B: STRUCTURAL AND COHESION POLICIES

CULTURE AND EDUCATION

UNIVERSITY QUALITY INDICATORS: A CRITICAL ASSESSMENT

STUDY

Abstract

The `Europe 2020 Strategy' and other EU initiatives call for more excellence in Europe's higher education institutions in order to improve their performance, international attractiveness and competitiveness. In this context the relevance of quality in higher education gained momentum. The Study examines separately two different quality approaches, quality assurance and rankings, and takes stock of latest achievements. This is followed by a critical analysis of these approaches in a comparative perspective. Recommendations and policy options for the Parliament are provided.

IP/B/CULT/FWC/2010-001/LOT1/C1/SC3 PE 563.377

April 2015 EN

University quality indicators: a critical assessment

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CONTENTS

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

5

LIST OF TABLES

10

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

11

1. INTRODUCTION

15

2. METHODOLOGY

17

3. QUALITY EVALUATION AND ASSURANCE SYSTEMS

23

3.1. European context for external quality assurance

23

3.2. Comparative assessment of external quality assurance systems

28

3.3. Consequences of external quality assurance

36

3.4. Challenges and trends in external quality assurance

41

3.5. Conclusions

46

4. RANKING SYSTEMS

49

4.1. Growing importance of global university rankings

49

4.2. Institutional framework and methods of ranking systems

50

4.3. Impacts of rankings

61

4.4. Conclusions

66

5. CONVERGENCE OF QUALITY ASSURANCE AND RANKING?

69

5.1. Differences between quality assurance and rankings

70

5.2. Interrelation of quality assurance and rankings

73

6. RECOMMENDATIONS

75

REFERENCES

79

ANNEX 1 LIST OF PERSONS INTERVIEWED

ANNEX 2 SEMI-STRUCTURED INTERVIEW QUESTIONNAIRE

ANNEX 3 COUNTRY LEVEL ANALYSIS QUALITY ASSURANCE

ANNEX 4: RANKING RELATED INFORMATION

3

Policy Department B: Structural and Cohesion Policies

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4

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