This study aimed to investigate common features and ways of understanding quality culture (QC) within higher education institutions (HEIs) in Nordic countries. While the concept of QC is commonly accepted and often used, its meaning is not always clear. This paper focuses on how Nordic universities frame QC in their internal documentation. The…

Many documents are produced in evaluation processes; documentation of student evaluation can therefore be time-consuming. Nevertheless, we have little knowledge about how these documents are used. This paper is based upon analysis of documents that direct and report on internal student evaluation practice at a Norwegian university. Interviews with…

Modest correlations between teacher-assigned grades and external assessments of academic achievement (r = 0.40-0.60) have led many educational stakeholders to deem grades subjective and unreliable. However, theoretical and methodological challenges, such as construct misalignment, data unavailability and sample unrepresentativeness, limit the…

Quality assurance (QA) has become an important feature in higher education governance in Europe, with policies for increased harmonization and periodic accreditations as pillars. Still, the shift to emphasize quality development and enhancement entails that QA systems can attend to a wider range of considerations than before. This article studies…

Quality assurance is a major topic in discussions of higher education. General quality indicators for learning processes emerge as a part of the concept to emphasise dimensions that predicts students' learning outcomes. How can teaching designed as inquiry-based learning (IBL) improve process quality? By exploring how the curriculum is applied in…

The scope of digital children's books is increasing rapidly; however, the quality of these books needs consideration in view of the educational context in which they are to be read. In this article, we present seven key strands to support early childhood teachers in selecting high quality for shared dialogue-based reading with groups of children.…

In 2017, the Norwegian Ministry of Education and Research implemented a project to develop curriculum guidelines for all health and social care programmes. The modified RAND/UCLA appropriateness method used by the group developing guidelines for programmes in prosthetics and orthotics is described. The method resulted in 126 learning outcomes that…

Student course evaluation is a mandatory part of quality assurance systems in Norwegian higher education, aiming to enhance educational quality. However, several studies report that student course evaluation mainly is used for quality assurance and not for quality enhancement. Drawing upon translation theory, this paper analyses how the quality…

What happens when a classical music instrument performance course at a Norwegian state university study programme is assessed for quality following a standardized procedure? The article explores frictions and negotiations between managerial quality assurance and classical music performance education in a contextual sense, focusing particularly on…

Module A of the OECD Higher Education Policy Survey (HEPS) 2022 elicited information on policies to promote digitalisation of higher education in OECD member and accession countries. In total, 30 jurisdictions responded, providing comparative information on various areas of digitalisation policy, from regulation and governance to financial and…

Concise, clear and comprehensive snapshots of vocational education and training systems in EU, Iceland and Norway: this is what the Cedefop Spotlight on VET series offers. Building on individual country Spotlights, this publication provides an overview of VET systems with their distinctive qualities, such as main accession and progression routes…

Because there is close cooperation on quality assurance in the Scandinavian countries, one would expect there to be convergence of quality assurance policies and practices in Scandinavian higher education. Few studies have analysed these quality assurance policies and practices from a comparative viewpoint. Based on empirical evidence produced in…

In recent years, the enhancement of learning and teaching has become a priority, not only for higher education institutions, but also for national governments, the European Union and the Bologna Process. This report aims to map the learning and teaching landscape in 28 higher education systems and to provide insight into how teaching enhancement…

While teachers' initial education is key to ensuring that new teachers are prepared for their work, it is only one piece in the continuum of teachers' professional growth. Continuing professional learning is vital for teachers to broaden and deepen their knowledge, keep up with new research, tools and practices and respond to their students'…

While the establishment of quality assurance has been seen for decades as the most significant instrument to secure and enhance the quality of teaching and learning in higher education, the concept of developing more specific learning outcomes has in recent years attracted much interest, not least due to the creation of national qualification…