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EQAF 2018 – A debate on the scope of QA

The annual European Quality Assurance Forum (EQAF), co-organised by ENQA, ESU, EUA and EURASHE since 2006, once more brought together major stakeholders in quality assurance on 15-17 November at the Vienna University of Economics and Business, and welcomed around 500 participants from 49 countries.

The conference theme Broadening the scope of quality assurance focused on how institutions and quality assurance agencies can build quality assurance systems that encompass a broad range of activities, including learning and teaching, research, governance and administration, and service to society. The theme was thus inspired by the revised Standards and Guidelines for Quality Assurance in the European Higher Education Area (ESG 2015), which call upon universities to not only focus their quality assurance activities on their education mission, but to cover all other institutional activities as well. The programme presented a wealth of ideas, with highlights such as a thought-provoking final plenary by OECD’s Dirk Van Damme about the changing higher education landscape, a parallel plenary about findings from the Bologna Process Implementation Report by Eurydice’s David Crosier, as well as a number of sessions addressing the societal responsibility of universities. The programme was rounded off by an amusing intervention by Hans-Ulrich Heiß, Vice-President of TU (Technische Universität/University of Technology) Berlin, in which he extended an invitation to EQAF 2019 that will take place on 21-23 November.

All presentations can be viewed via the Forum page, whereas full papers presented at EQAF are available on the EUA publications database.