EQUIP focus-groups: “Enhancing quality through innovative policy and practice”

Under the framework of EQUIP project “Enhancing quality through innovative policy and practice”, two more focus groups were held by Education International (EI) and European University Association (EUA).

On 15-16 March, the focus group prepared by EI, devised ways to support and promote a consistent, efficient and innovative embedding of the revised Standards and Guidelines for Quality Assurance (ESG) in the European Higher Education Area (EHEA) at grassroots level.

The EI EQUIP focus group said the higher education sector needs sufficient resources and reinvestment to ensure a balanced approach. In addition, academics and their unions need to be fully involved in collaboration with stakeholders and policy makers, particularly when changes are being introduced. Indeed, the involvement of the teaching profession varies considerably across countries that have introduced – or are introducing – change processes.

Between 2-3 March, EUA held a focus group for those responsible for quality assurance at universities, gathering representatives from 15 different countries.
Many participants agreed that it can difficult to bridge the gap between theory and reality.  While some common trends emerged, it was also clear the extent to which approaches to these problems depends on a range of contextual factors, including: country and region, type of institution, disciplinary variations and the external QA framework.