Evaluating the Evaluators: does the national authority learn from its experience over time?

Abstract

The development of quality assurance policies in the EHEA is a central policy pillar. The assessment processes in this context are based on compliance with European Standards and guidelines (ESGs). In this paper, we focus on the evaluation processes of the Quality Assurance and Accreditation Agencies at national (Greek) level. Two Agencies (the HQA and the HAHE that replaced -evolved- HQA) were assessed for their compliance with the ESGs criteria by ENQA in 2015 and 2022 respectively. In our opinion, the comparative analysis that follows is of interest for the analysis and interpretation of the establishment and implementation of internationalised educational policies. It is also of interest to find out if the Agencies learn from the experience gained over the time of implementation of QA procedures (i.e. policy oriented learning). In this context, the first section of the paper highlights the turning points at European and national level of quality assurance policies and programmes in higher education. The next two sections analyse the external evaluation processes (and their results) of the two national authorities. The last section compares the findings of our analysis and presents a reflection on theoretical tools from policy networks that could be used in combination with further research to interpret the differences and convergences of the two external evaluation processes.