Quality Assurance Systems for Digital Higher Education in Europe

Abstract

AbstractSince the corona crisis, digital higher education practices permeate higher education in Europe. In degree education, various digital pedagogies are used in courses and programs, such as synchronous hybrid, blended, and online education and distance learning. In addition to degree education, higher education institutions offer online continuing education and open education through MOOCs. Microcredentials are high on the agenda of the European Commission, national governments, and institutions.The international dimension has also become important in all these areas. Universities organize joint curricula and virtual mobility schemes. This development has even been reinforced by the European Universities Initiatives of the European Commission (EUI), which already created 41 university alliances across Europe.Digital education plays a vital role in creating a new pedagogical landscape shaping the Commission’s Transformation of the European University 2030. This has implications for the internal and external quality assurance of education, which should lead to better quality and more robust maturity.This chapter illustrates how quality assurance models and practices in Europe have evolved towards a multilevel and multi-stakeholder approach. It describes the development of quality assurance systems and guidelines for digital higher education in Europe in recent decades. In addition, it focuses on new quality assurance challenges to respond to the next stages of development in higher education, keeping pace with future innovations. Finally, it provides an overview of the current position of quality assurance with the most important conclusions.