Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Subject Assessments for Academic Quality in Denmark

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Public Policy for Academic Quality

Part of the book series: Higher Education Dynamics ((HEDY,volume 30))

Abstract

With a dual purpose related to accountability and improvement, Denmark has had a system of external quality monitoring since 1992. Organised through an independent agency (EVA), systematic evaluation of study programs has been the dominant method for quality assurance for a number of years. By the use of data and observer triangulation, stability in procedures and through extensive dialogue, the evaluations have resulted in noticeable changes in teaching and learning, study program objectives, and triggered dialogue and reflection both within higher education institutions as well as between higher education and its stakeholders. In 1999, the agency responsible for the study program evaluations was made permanent by an act in parliament, and has since then expanded into evaluating primary and secondary education in addition to higher education. At present, the greatest challenge for the Danish national evaluation system is to adjust a well-functioning domestic system of study program evaluation to the emerging international trend related to accreditation and convergence in how quality should be assured in the international marketplace.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 84.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Notes

  1. 1.

    The abbreviation EVA is used throughout the document even though the organisation “Centre for Quality Assurance and Evaluation” (Evalueringscenteret – EVC) changed its name and formal status in 1999 to the “Danish Evaluation Institute” (Danmarks Evalueringsinstitut – EVA).

References

  • Askling, B., Nordskov Nielsen, L., Stensaker, B. (1998). Mellom fag og politikk. En granskning av Evalueringscenteret og det danske evalueringssystemet for høyere utdanning. København: Undervisningsministeriet.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brennan, J., Shah, T. (2000). Managing quality in higher education: An international perspective on institutional assessment and change. Buckingham, UK: OECD, SRHE & Open University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Danø, T., Stensaker, B. (2007). Still balancing improvement and accountability? Developments in external quality assurance in the Nordic countries 1996–2006. Quality in Higher Education, 13(1), 81–93.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dill, D. D. (2002). Through the looking glass: Comments on the Nordic Pilot Project on Mutual Recognition. In Lindeberg, T., Kristoffersen, D. (Eds.), A method for mutual recognition. Experiences with a method for mutual recognition of quality assurance agencies. Helsinki: ENQA Occasional Papers 4.

    Google Scholar 

  • EVA (2002). Mutual recognition: The Danish report. Copenhagen: The Danish Evaluation Institute.

    Google Scholar 

  • EVA (2004). Effektundersøgelse. Redegørelse. København: Danmarks evalueringsinstitut.

    Google Scholar 

  • Evalueringscenteret (1998) Selvevalueringsrapport. København.

    Google Scholar 

  • Faber, M., Huisman, J. (2003). Same voyage, different routes? The course of the Netherlands and Denmark to a “European model” of quality assurance. Quality in Higher Education, 9(3), 231–241.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Foss-Hansen, H. (1997). Universitetssektoren på vej mod år 2000. Den splittede omverden og behovet for helhed. Rasmussen, I. P., Jakobsen A. (red.), Universiteter i dag. Politikk – kultur – ledelse. Fredriksberg: Samfundslitteratur.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gornitzka, Å., Maassen, P., Dahl Norgård, J. (2001). Nasjonal prioritering og arbeidsdeling i høyere utdanning – internasjonale erfaringer. Oslo: NIFU skriftserie 9/2001.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gulddahl Rasmussen, J. (1997). Styring av forskning og undervisning på universiteter. Forand- ringer i de valgte mellomledernes funktioner og placering. Rasmussen, I. P., Jakobsen, A. (red.), Universiteter i dag. Politikk – kultur – ledelse. Fredriksberg: Samfundslitteratur.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jeliazkova, M., Westerheijden, D. F. (2001). A next generation of quality assurance models. On phases, levels and circles in policy development. Paper given at the CHER-conference in Dijon, 2–4 September.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kristoffersen, D. (2003). Denmark. Educational evaluation around the world: An international anthology. Copenhagen: The Danish Evaluation Institute.

    Google Scholar 

  • Maassen, p. A. M., Stensaker, B. (2003). Interpretations of self-regulations. The changing state-higher education relationship in Europe. In Begg R. (Ed.), The dialogue between higher education research and practice. Dordrecht: Kluwer academic publishers.

    Google Scholar 

  • Massy, W. F. (1999). Energizing quality work: Higher education quality evaluation in Sweden and Denmark. National Center for Postsecondary Improvement, Stanford University, Stanford.

    Google Scholar 

  • PLS-Consult (1998). Undersøkelse af effekterne af uddannelsesevalueringer. København.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rasmussen, p. (1997a). Universitetstradisjonen i krise. Rasmussen, I. P., Jakobsen, A., (red.), Universiteter i dag. Politikk – kultur – ledelse. Fredriksberg: Samfundslitteratur.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rasmussen, p. (1997b). A Danish approach to quality in higher education. In Brennan, J., de Vries, P., Williams, R. (Eds.), Standards and quality in higher education. London: Jessica Kingsley Publishers.

    Google Scholar 

  • Smeby, J. C. (1996). Disciplinary differences in university teaching. Studies in Higher Education, 21(1), 69–79.

    Google Scholar 

  • Smeby, J. C., Stensaker, B. (1999). National quality assessments systems in the Nordic countries: Developing a balance between external and internal needs? Higher Education Policy, 12(1), 3–14.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stensaker, B. (1999). User surveys in external assessments: Problems and prospects. Quality in Higher Education, 5(3), 255–264.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stensaker, B. (2000). Quality as discourse: An analysis of external audit reports in Sweden 1995–1998. Tertiary Education and Management, 6(4), 305–317.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stensaker, B. (2003). Trance, transparency and transformation: The impact of external quality monitoring on higher education. Quality in Higher Education, 9(2), 151–159.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stensaker, B. (2004). Epilog: effekter af evaluering – en relativisering. In Effektundersøgelse. Redegørelse. København, Danmarks: Evalueringsinstitut.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stensaker, B., Brandt, E., Solum, N. H. (2008). Changing systems of external examination. Quality Assurance in Education, 16(3), 211–223.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Thune, C. (1996). The alliance of accountability and improvement: The Danish experience. Quality in Higher Education, 2(1), 21–32.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Thune, C. (2001). Quality assurance of higher education in Denmark. In Dunkerly, D., Wong W. S. (Eds.), Global perspectives on quality in higher education. Aldershot: Ashgate Publishers.

    Google Scholar 

  • Thune, C., Jacobsen, H., Kristoffersen, D. (1996). Establishing an evaluation system in Denmark. In Smeby J. C. (Ed.), Evaluation of higher education in the Nordic countries. Copenhagen: Nordic Council of Ministers.

    Google Scholar 

  • UFK (1998). Kvalitet og ansvar. Fremtidens kvalitetsoppgaver inden for de videregående uddannelser. København: Undervisningsministeriet.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wright, S., Ørberg, G. (2008). Autonomy and control: Danish university reform in the context of modern governance. Learning and Teaching, 1(1), 27–57.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. NIFU STEP – The Norwegian Institute for Studies of Innovation, Research and Higher Education, Oslo, Norway

    Bjørn Stensaker

Authors
  1. Bjørn Stensaker
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, 27599-7090, North Carolina, USA

    David D. Dill

  2. CHEPS, University of Twente, Enschede, 7500 AE, Netherlands

    Maarja Beerkens

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2010 Springer Science+Business Media B.V.

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Stensaker, B. (2010). Subject Assessments for Academic Quality in Denmark. In: Dill, D., Beerkens, M. (eds) Public Policy for Academic Quality. Higher Education Dynamics, vol 30. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-3754-1_10

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation