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Higher Education Policy

, Volume 27, Issue 2, pp 219–237 | Cite as

Policy Reforms, Trojan Horses, and Imaginary Friends: The Role of External Stakeholders in Internal Quality Assurance Systems

  • Maria João Rosa
  • Pedro Teixeira
Article
First Online:

Abstract

The governance of higher education has been changing across Europe, most notably in response to the reform agenda that has been pervading many higher education systems. This wave of reforms has given enhanced visibility to external stakeholders, which has been often received with contrasting views. Some regarded it as a factor that would undermine institutions’ mission, while others viewed it as a rhetorical change, which would hardly have an impact on institutional life. In this paper, we analyse the introduction of external stakeholders in governance and quality assessment processes by looking at the Portuguese experience, and more specifically at their contribution to the implementation of internal quality assurance systems. We use empirical data collected from four higher education institutions under the framework of the IBAR project, subsumed in the form of barriers to and good practices for the implementation of policies and procedures for quality assurance. The results suggest that although the presence of external stakeholders has become more visible, it is yet to be fully reflected in the way institutions are governed or the way in which they manage their internal quality assurance processes and mechanisms.

Keywords

external stakeholders quality assurance governance ESG Portugal 
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Notes

Acknowledgements

An earlier version of this paper was presented at the EAIR 2012 Forum. We thank the participants on that occasion for their comments and suggestions. This research has been part of the IBAR — Identifying Barriers in Promoting the European Standards and Guidelines of Quality Assurance at Institutional Level and Making Recommendations as to How These Might be Addressed. Research project financed by the Lifelong Learning Program, KA1 Policy Cooperation and Innovation, Contract: CZ-KA1-2010-4663-511491_10.1.2011. This research has also been supported by the F.C.T. (the Portuguese National Research Council) through the project PEst-OE/CED/UI0757/2011 (which is funded by the programme COMPETE). We thank the other team members for their comments and suggestions and in particular Cristina Sin and Isabel Machado for their contribution to the transcription of the interviews. Finally, we would like to thank the Editor and the two anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments and suggestions based on an earlier version of this text.

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Copyright information

© International Association of Universities 2013

Authors and Affiliations

  • Maria João Rosa
    • 1
    • 3
  • Pedro Teixeira
    • 2
    • 3
  1. 1.DEGEI — Department of EconomicsManagement and Industrial Engineering, University of Aveiro
  2. 2.Faculty of Economics, University of Porto
  3. 3.CIPES — Center for Research in Higher Education PoliciesMatosinhosPortugal

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