| Abstract: | The essay begins by linking the questions of quality guarantees and maintenance, particularly in eastern and central Europe, to the processes of higher education reform, both of which are being generated by the expansion and the diversification of higher education systems, management reform, the need to protect professional standards, and the internationalization of learning. The latter factor, which has as its practical consequences the questions of the recognition and the equivalence of studies, diplomas, and degrees and of academic mobility in general, requires internationally agreed upon standards of quality assessment. Thus a discussion of the many facets of quality is introduced into a discussion leading to the consideration of policy implications of quality assessment. This in turn leads to a consideration of accreditation, a condition and set of procedures more widespread in the USA than in Europe. Quality assessment and the development of appropriate mechanisms for its assurance are linked to questions of finance and management. These mechanisms are both specific to the country in question and internationally oriented. |
