Beyond Bologna? Infrastructuring quality in European higher education

Applying qualitative methods, this paper examines the burgeoning of quality assurance databases, processes and networks of actors in the field of higher education in Europe. Our main argument is that there has been a move from the Bologna Process being the near singular focus for European-level coor...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inEuropean educational research journal EERJ Vol. 23; no. 2; pp. 215 - 236
Main Authors Grek, Sotiria, Russell, Ian
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published London, England SAGE Publications 01.03.2024
Subjects
Bologna
Higher education
universities
quality assurance
infrastructures
Europeanisation
European Education Area
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Summary:Applying qualitative methods, this paper examines the burgeoning of quality assurance databases, processes and networks of actors in the field of higher education in Europe. Our main argument is that there has been a move from the Bologna Process being the near singular focus for European-level coordination and harmonisation of higher education, towards the making of a much more diverse and complex quality assurance and evaluation infrastructure. This infrastructure involves a range of distinct but interdependent actors and processes and contains explicit and implicit interlinkages with the production of wider policy agendas, such as the rise of the European Education Area. The aim of this paper is to analyse the growth and complexity of Quality Assurance (QA) in higher education (HE) in Europe, as a way of understanding the multifaceted and continuously developing process of Europeanisation.
ISSN:1474-9041
1474-9041
DOI:10.1177/14749041231170518