Challenges in European Higher Education

Quality assurance has been one of the most important components of the Bologna Process and the EHEA. Quality and innovation are sine qua non in achieving competitiveness in European higher education, especially when the focus is on its challenges in a global context. This principle certainly applies to the entire world as well. It is vital that all European countries and all European higher education institutions implement punctually and with distinction the 'Standards and Guidelines for Quality Assurance in the European Higher Education Area' concerning internal and external quality assurance, and quality assurance agencies, as well as the function and operation of the European Quality Assurance Register (EQAR). On the other hand, if diversity in higher education provision is to be considered an asset, a transparent, multidimensional classification system of instruments designed to benchmark higher education institutions on research and innovation, teaching and learning outcomes, services to society, etc., may help identify and make visible such diversity.