When East Meets West: Decontextualizing the quality of East European higher education

Abstract

This paper discusses the new quality movement in East European higher education. Over the past decade quality assurance agencies have been established in most of the countries in the region. It has been argued that through quality assurance, East European states continue controlling higher education politically. However, a more complex interpretation of the situation may be appropriate. Analysing the post state-socialist quality assurance practices, it is proposed that the relationship between the political power and orthodox academe allows even in the current public policy vacuum using them primarily in one direction, fighting non-traditional institutions, programmes, and teaching methods. While post state-socialist countries present their quality assurance initiatives as a part of the Westernization programme, they stand in strong contrast to the 'fitness for the purpose' mantra applied in Western Europe. However, there have recently emerged signs, for example, the OECD performance indicators project, suggesting that the convergence of East and West may take place not through relating post state-socialist quality assurance processes more closely to local contexts, but by a radical decontextualization of the Western approaches.