This article traces the changes in quality assurance within the Dutch higher education system. It starts with a brief history of the development of the Dutch accreditation system, which is the latest step in a process that started with an external quality assurance system. This is followed by an extensive description of the present accreditation…

Registration or recognition systems for best-practice health promotion interventions may contribute to better quality assurance and control in health promotion practice. In the Netherlands, such a system has been developed and is being implemented aiming to provide policy makers and professionals with more information on the quality and…

This 2010 edition of the "Focus" report has been prepared for the European Ministerial Conference in Budapest/Vienna, 11-12 March 2010, that officially launches the European Higher Education Area. The report has been developed as a fully collaborative exercise between the Eurydice Network and the Bologna Follow-up Group (BFUG), with the…

There are lots of definitions of quality, and also of quality in education. Garvin (1984) discerns five approaches: the transcendental approach, the product-oriented approach, the customer-oriented approach, the manufacturing-oriented approach and the value-for-money approach. Harvey and Green (1993) give five interrelated concepts of quality as:…

This article demonstrates the value of theoretical ex-ante evaluation of policy programs. We show how a specific policy might not achieve its objectives and illustrate the elements of the policy, which need improvement. These conclusions are based on a reconstruction and evaluation of the theory behind a policy program that aims to increase…

The title of this document is a deliberate play on the title of the biennial reports on the progress of Bologna produced by the European Students' Union, "Bologna With Student Eyes." It is a way of paying tribute to student involvement in the Bologna reforms, and marking a parallel student working participation in the state system…

The theoretical premise of this article is that policy is constructed and presented discursively. The Bologna process presents us with an example of such a policy construction process where the quality policy goals are set jointly in transnational settings, requiring different kinds of negotiations and discursive strategies. Discourse analysis of…

This protocol explains the new system for assessing research quality at research universities located in the Netherlands. It discusses the legal and historical background for establishing a new system of quality determination in research, describes the essential aspects of the research assessment process and the particular tasks of…

The European dimension in quality assurance grows and glows. In this article, we try to relate the European objectives, as stated in the various European initiatives, to the national quality assurance systems of The Netherlands and Denmark. This will be done by looking closer at the objectives regarding quality assurance and internationalisation,…

The philosophy, structure, and operation of a Dutch system for institutional self-evaluation in higher education (AMOS) are described. The system is centrally designed to assist in national resource allocation for higher education, but the feedback is intended primarily for institutions and faculties to use in increasing efficiency and…

The consequences of an external review of research programs and the restructuring of educational programs in the Netherlands as a result of retrenchment, and their implications for qualitative change in the university system, are discussed. (Author/MSE)

The Dutch quality improvement model in higher education has successfully maintained the delicate balance between internal improvement and external accountability, but the faculty's clear ownership of the system (as contrasted with government ownership in some nations) has made continuous quality improvement a dominant feature of the current Dutch…

Describes the system of external institutional evaluation in Netherlands universities, distinguishing between the organizations conducting the assessment itself and the follow-up. The primary assessing organization is a private one, funded and governed by the 14 universities, and uses discipline-based assessment teams. The follow-up assessment is…

A project on quality assessment has been started by the Association of Cooperating Universities in The Netherlands, and the quality of 26 university degree programs has been assessed by committees of independent experts. The political and institutional environment of this project, the approach taken, and the results are described. (Author/MLW)

A discussion of Dutch higher vocational education (HVE) looks at the place of HVE in the overall postsecondary system, its system of governance, its role in the reorganization of higher education, and efforts at innovation. Part-time programs are seen as a likely way to serve needs and cut costs. (MSE)