This volume presents a rich account of the development of accreditation and evaluation in 20 European countries. It shows how accreditation is becoming a main mechanism in the steering of higher education across Europe. The book is unique in its analysis of forces driving towards the spread of different models of accreditation in the emerging European Higher Education area.

This volume presents a rich account of the development of accreditation and evaluation in 20 European countries. It shows how accreditation is becoming a main mechanism in the steering of higher education across Europe. The book is unique in its analysis of forces driving towards the spread of different models of accreditation in the emerging European Higher Education area.

This volume presents the state of the art with respect to the most important elements of the Bologna process. The reflections on the past are also used to fuel the debate on the next decade.

Bridging the gap between higher education research and policy making was always a challenge, but the recent calls for more evidence-based policies have opened a window of unprecedented opportunity for researchers to bring more contributions to shaping the future of the European Higher Education Area (EHEA). Encouraged by the success of the 2011 first edition, Romania and Armenia have organised a 2nd edition of the Future of Higher Education – Bologna Process Researchers’ Conference (FOHE-BPRC) in November 2014, with the support of the Italian Presidency of the European Union and as part of the official EHEA agenda. Reuniting over 170 researchers from more than 30 countries, the event was a forum to debate the trends and challenges faced by higher education today and look at the future of European cooperation in higher education. The research volumes offer unique insights regarding the state of affairs of European higher education and research, as well as forward-looking policy proposals. More than 50 articles focus on essential themes in higher education: Internationalization of higher education; Financing and governance; Excellence and the diversification of missions; Teaching, learning and student engagement; Equity and the social dimension of higher education; Education, research and innovation; Quality assurance, The impacts of the Bologna Process on the EHEA and beyond and Evidence-based policies in higher education. "The Bologna process was launched at a time of great optimism about the future of the European project – to which, of course, the reform of higher education across the continent has made a major contribution. Today, for the present, that optimism has faded as economic troubles have accumulated in the Euro-zone, political tensions have been increased on issues such as immigration and armed conflict has broken out in Ukraine. There is clearly a risk that, against this troubled background, the Bologna process itself may falter. There are already signs that it has been downgraded in some countries with evidence of political withdrawal. All the more reason for the voice of higher education researchers to be heard. Since the first conference they have established themselves as powerful stakeholders in the development of the EHEA, who are helping to maintain the momentum of the Bologna process. Their pivotal role has been strengthened by the second Bucharest conference." Peter Scott, Institute of Education, London (General Rapporteur of the FOHE-BPRC first edition)

The report describes the state of implementation of the Bologna Process in 2012 from various perspectives and with data ranging from 2010 to 2011 as well as with earlier trends data for some statistical figures. --Ed.

This volume presents the major outcomes of the third edition of the Future of Higher Education – Bologna Process Researchers Conference (FOHE-BPRC 3) which was held on 27-29 November 2017. It acknowledges the importance of a continued dialogue between researchers and decision-makers and benefits from the experience already acquired, this way enabling the higher education community to bring its input into the 2018-2020 European Higher Education Area (EHEA) priorities. The Future of Higher Education – Bologna Process Researchers Conference (FOHE-BPRC) has already established itself as a landmark in the European higher education environment. The two previous editions (17-19 October 2011, 24-26 November 2014), with approximately 200 European and international participants each, covering more than 50 countries each, were organized prior to the Ministerial Conferences, thus encouraging a consistent dialogue between researchers and policy makers. The main conclusions of the FOHE Conferences were presented at the EHEA Ministerial Conferences (2012 and 2015), in order to make the voice of researchers better heard by European policy and decision makers. This volume is dedicated to continuing the collection of evidence and research-based policymaking and further narrowing the gap between policy and research within the EHEA and broader global contexts. It aims to identify the research areas that require more attention prior to the anniversary 2020 EHEA Ministerial Conference, with an emphasis on the new issues on rise in the academic and educational community. This book gives a platform for discussion on key issues between researchers, various direct higher education actors, decision-makers, and the wider public. This book is published under an open access CC BY license.

An important contribution to the international discussion on higher education globalization and worldwide rankings of higher education institutions, this volume criticizes the existing one-dimensional and aggregated international ranking models and suggests an interesting and exciting new approach of multi-dimensional mapping of higher education institutions. The text gives readers a window on the unique process of developing a new approach to creating effective transparency in the diversity of higher education systems. It describes the conceptual, practical and methodological frameworks relevant to this new approach, whose development was based on theoretical and empirical literature on diversity in higher education. The authors report on the design methodology and research that were applied to develop the new instrument and also place it in the context of current supranational and national higher education policies. The new system emerged from a top-level EU project to design the first European classification of higher education institutions as a tool for mapping the diversity of the higher education landscape. The editor and chapter authors are all international leaders in the field who took part in the multi-year project. They also explore the potential application of the classification in the contexts of the Bologna Process and the European Higher Education and Research Areas (EHEA and ERA). The book analyzes, too, how the system can be used at the level of individual higher education institutions, where the classification is shown to be a useful instrument for strategic institutional profiling. This volume will be of interest to politicians and policy-makers in higher education at the supranational, national and sub-national levels, and to leaders and managers of higher education institutions and associations. It is also highly relevant to staff members and advisors at different policy levels, to higher education researchers and students, and to all who are interested in the further development of higher education systems and institutions.

Although quality assurance (QA) in higher education has been well established for many years, the world of QA is changing. This timely book takes an insightful look from a nonprofit sector perspective at how these changes are impacting accreditation of higher education institutions.

Recently, the priorities of higher education have adjusted; where before the focus was primarily on the financial side of education, institutions now consider people to be their main source of value and education to be much more than the production and dissemination of knowledge. Due to this, a gap has been created between decades of emphasis on financing and the undermining of the qualitative requirements of education. New Perspectives on Using Accreditation to Improve Higher Education outlines key issues that must be addressed if accreditation agencies globally are to achieve their primary objective of ensuring that universities and the degree programs they offer are of even greater quality than they are at present. Covering topics such as leadership, assessment, and sustainability, this reference work is ideal for principals, policymakers, higher education staff, researchers, scholars, academicians, practitioners, instructors, and students.

Rethinking the purpose and the aim of higher education has led to new and alternative ways to assure the quality of different higher education systems. In the case studies of six OECD countries, Andrea Bernhard exemplifies the ongoing trends and changes of quality assurance systems along peer-reviewed country reports and interviews with national and international experts. The comparative analysis is based on international, descriptive, discursive, and analytical aspects concentrating on the theoretical concepts of massification, diversification, privatisation, and internationalisation. The author highlights the leading trend towards quality assurance within an international higher education area and provides recommendations to establish a functioning quality assurance system within the observed higher education systems and beyond their borders. This book is valuable reading for academics, practitioners, and policy makers in the field of higher education.