Quality assurance in higher education
A Council recommendation on European cooperation in quality assurance in higher education has recently been published in the Official Journal. The aim of this initiative is to safeguard the quality of education within the specific social, economic and cultural contexts of each Member State, while taking account of the European dimension and a rapidly changing world. It also aims at encouraging and helping higher education institutes to use quality assurance as a means of improving the quality of teaching and learning, and at stimulating mutual exchanges of information in this context. The recommendation calls on the Commission, in cooperation with the Member States, to promote networking and cooperation between the authorities responsible for quality assessment in higher education. This could take the form of some or all of the following: - Encouraging and developing the exchange of information and experience, in particular on methodological developments and forms of good practice; - Fulfilling the requests for expertise and advice from the authorities concerned; - Supporting higher education institutions who wish to cooperate in the field of quality assurance; - Promoting contacts with international experts. It is further recommended that in pursuing these objectives the work undertaken within the SOCRATES and LEONARDO DA VINCI programme should be taken into account. The indicative features of quality assurance, as common to existing European systems, are detailed in the annex. The recommendation also requests the Commission to present triennial reports on progress made in the development of quality assurance systems in the Member States.