Cross-border Higher Education and Quality Assurance ─ Commerce, the Services Directive and Governing Higher Education

This book analyses the range of potential measures national quality assurance agencies may have to employ to deal with the new issues caused by Cross Border Higher Education (CBHE). The expansion of CBHE raises quality problems, which are currently assessed differently depending on the countries concerned. This has been exacerbated by the growth of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) which have developed very quickly and can be prone to rogue providers. This book considers the steps that have already been taken to ensure quality as well as those ahead. It is important that the swift growth of CBHE is not just seen as a means to increase the revenues of higher education institutions faced with decreasing public funding but also as a means to keep educational standards high.

Maria Joao Rosa is Assistant Professor at the Department of Economics, Management and Industrial Engineering, University of Aveiro, Portugal. She is also a researcher at Centre for Research in Higher Education Policies (CIPES). Her main research topics are quality management and quality assessment in higher education institutions. She is member of CHER and of EAIR’s executive committee.

Claudia Sarrico is Associate Professor at ISEG Lisbon School of Economics and Management, Universidade de Lisboa, Portugal. She is also a researcher at Centre for Research in Higher Education Policies (CIPES). Her main research interests are performance measurement and management in higher education. She is a member of CHER Consortium of Higher Education Researchers and of EAIR The European Higher Education Society’s executive committee.

Orlanda Tavares is a researcher both at the Agency for Assessment and Accreditation of Higher Education (A3ES), Portugal, and at The Centre for Research in Higher Education Policies (CIPES), Portugal. She completed her PhD in Educational Research at University of Porto, Portugal. Her main interest areas are policies in higher education and quality assurance/enhancement, students’ perceptions on higher education.

Alberto Amaral is Professor at the University of Porto, Portugal and a researcher at Centre for Research in Higher Education Policies (CIPES), Portugal. He was the rector of Porto University from 1985 to 1998 and former chair of CHER. He is life-member of IAUP and member of the Board of IMHE/OECD. At present he is the chair of the administration council of the Portuguese Assessment and Accreditation Agency for Higher Education.