This multinational authored article presents the findings and recommendations of a three-year, European-funded project 'OpenMed: Opening up education in South Mediterranean countries', which brought together five higher education partners from Europe and nine from the South Mediterranean region. This was the first cross-European initiative to…

This paper takes a policy-analytical perspective on the evolution of standards of research information (RI) and provides a framework for analysing processes of RI standardisation in different research systems. It focuses on the choice of policy instruments on the macro level (government) and their effects with regard to policy reactions, decisions…

Quality is a multidimensional and transversal concept also in the field of higher education. This and other considerations revealed some problems during application of quality principles to study programmes, emerged from the first accreditation experience in Italy. The objective of this article is to provide a simple self-assessment tool for…

The vast majority of studies concerning the implementation of quality assurance in higher education institutions have been conducted from a national perspective, with few cross-national studies. This study aimed to explore the implementation of quality assurance standards in Europe from a comparative perspective. A questionnaire based on…

This article contextualises the Higher Education in Italy from the outset by describing deeply rooted but accepted practices, such as the long-term dominance of academic groups in decision making--baroni and their "court"--and also the widespread custom of "Raccomandazioni" as the means to lead mechanisms of recruitment among…

The American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers (AACRAO) initiated a series of surveys designed to capture member institutional practice snapshots in 60 seconds or less. The December 2014 "AACRAO 60 Second Survey" asked respondents to indicate their institutions' credit for prior learning practices (CPL). To…

In 2010, a comprehensive reform required Italian state universities to restructure their institutional governance by revising their statutes. This interpretative paper aims to evaluate whether the Italian reform is congruent with its declarations, examine the variations in the implementation within the same country of a unitary national regulation…

This paper develops a theoretical framework that could facilitate the application of the Autovalutazione, Valutazione periodica, Accreditamento (AVA) method in Italian universities, trying to simplify the use of this approach, and to cover the existing gap between Italy and others European academic institutions. The new competitive environment in…

This paper explores how employer engagement can enhance potential employability of graduates, which represents a fundamental institutional achievement to ameliorate quality of higher education. While the role of student and staff engagement in quality improvement has received in-depth research attention, the need for listening to expectations of…

This article focuses on the interaction between the European dimension driven by the creation of the European Higher Education Area (EHEA) and the development of national reforms to fulfil that objective. On the basis of data gathered in eight countries involved in EuroHESC project TRUE (Transforming European Universities), the curricular and the…

Since 1999, European education ministers have discussed and further implemented the "Bologna process", a wide-ranging framework for the reform of higher education. Lifelong learning was added as a goal of the process in 2001. This article evaluates the extent to which the development of lifelong learning has progressed and examines…

Evaluation and accountability are two of the most popular catchwords employed by higher education reformers in the Western world over the last 25 years. For 25 years governments throughout Western countries have been using evaluation and institutional accountability as policy tools to steer their university systems at a distance. From a…

The process of implementation of higher education reforms at nine universities and colleges in France, the Federal Republic of Germany, Italy, Poland, Sweden, Norway, and the United Kingdom is identified and compared; and a framework for implementation analysis is presented. After a brief review of the background for the study, the conceptual…

Educational policies and plans for Italy's entire education system are evaluated in this report. Part One contains "The Examiners' Report;" Part Two, the "Record of the Review Meeting;" and Part Three, a "Summary of the Background Report" (prepared by the Italian authorities). Some results of the evaluation include…