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Towards Accreditation Schemes
for Higher Education in Europe?
CRE project, July 2000 - May 2001
co-funded by SOCRATES programme
Validation seminar, 8 - 9 February 2001
Universidade Técnica de Lisboa, Oeiras
Conclusions
The following conclusions were conveyed to the Salamanca
Convention of European Higher Education Institutions. They do not represent any formal
decision but rather the synthesis of very lively and rich discussions held in plenary and
working group sessions.
During the Lisbon/Oeiras seminar organised by CRE in collaboration with the Universidade
Técnica de Lisboa, representatives of higher education institutions, as well as student organisations, quality assurance agencies, national higher education authorities and
intergovernmental bodies discussed accreditation as a possible option for higher education
in Europe, particularly as a contribution to the completion of the European higher
education area called for in the Bologna Declaration.
The meeting showed converging views on the usefulness and the necessity of effective and
compatible quality assurance mechanisms within Europe. It was acknowledged that there are
several quality assurance systems already in existence, mainly at national level, but that
there was a need for a trans-European quality assurance framework which would ensure the
international visibility, compatibility and credibility of European higher education
degrees.
It was felt that such an explicit and agreed framework in Europe organised by the
universities in co-operation with other stakeholders would promote the transparency, the
visibility and the ongoing quality enhancement of European higher education, thus
contributing to a more compatible and comparable qualification framework and to the
employability of European graduates. Internationalisation of quality assurance was seen as
a necessary and logical response of European higher education to current globalisation
trends as well as to the challenges of building a European higher education area.
The discussion in Lisbon/Oeiras focused on how far accreditation could represent a
substantial option for achieving an effective and transparent European co-operation in
quality assurance. In operational terms, this could mean a European validation scheme for
quality assurance and accreditation procedures, rather than a European accreditation
system as such.
It was stressed that accreditation was not an end in itself, but rather represented an
important component of quality assurance. When examining accreditation for Europe, the
participants debated such issues as: accreditation of degrees/programmes and/or of whole
institutions, accreditation as a minimal quality filter or as promotion of excellence, the
possible division of tasks, etc. Approaches based on the promotion of mutual recognition
of existing national or regional quality assurance and accreditation outcomes, as well as
those based on close inter-institutional co-operation, were also considered. The
relationship and balance between national, regional and European quality assurance
activities has to be clarified.
The higher education leaders present in Lisbon/Oeiras wished to advance the discussion on
the design of viable schemes of quality assurance for Europe, including validation of
accreditation procedures, along the following lines:
- add value for institutions of higher education to existing schemes,
especially in terms of an "International dimension", with a view to the emerging
European higher education area,
- base new developments on voluntary participation and on the
self-regulation of the higher education community,
- co-operate closely with partners such as students and academics, quality
assurance and accreditation agencies and networks, professional organisations, recognition centres, as well as with national and regional higher education authorities,
- give due regard to academic values, to diversity and to institutional
autonomy,
- build, as far as possible, on existing mechanisms and experiences, and
illuminate examples of good practise,
- stress the supportive elements of evaluation and accreditation,
- cover all modes and types of higher education,
- keep to reasonable deadlines in moving forward towards operational
models.
Participants emphasised the needs to define criteria and mechanisms in a careful fashion
and to identify good practice at European level, while using available and additional
analysis. To this end, it was recommended that a common working platform of higher
education institutions be established in Europe, involving also the above-mentioned
partners. This platform would clarify the concepts, perform a more systematic and explicit
analysis of the needs, and test the feasibility of possible approaches and mechanisms -
for instance to European validation of accreditation and quality assurance procedures -
possibly through pilot projects.
It was emphasised that activities fostering the convergence of practices and procedures in
Europe should avoid at all costs the establishment of a new and unnecessary layer of
bureaucratic control across the European higher education domain.
Lisbon - Oeiras, 09/02/2001
CRE-Paris, 28/02/2001
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