Constitution of actors in the higher education quality system as of the actor centered institutionalism The AQU Cataluña case and its transformation from a consortium to become an agency

Abstract

Guided by the distinction between ‘problem oriented’ and ‘interaction oriented’ policy research used by Fritz Scharpf (1997) in his book Games that Real Actors Play, the text addresses the policies that promote quality in education in regard of actors and policy interactions in view to discover the interactive instances around their adequate implementation. After the theoretical review, the paper describes the experience of creation, consolidation and evolution of the Catalonian university quality assurance agency, illustrating how changes in actors affect perceptions about them and interactions before them. This is worth mentioning in the quality assurance policy implementation framework in national contexts beyond this particular question and even beyond programs specific to this matter.