The evolutionary dynamics of quality assurance systems in European higher education: the view from Slovenia

Abstract

The Bologna Process and its aim of building the European Higher Education Area (EHEA) encouraged its member countries to establish comparable quality assurance systems across the EHEA and consequently, the need to analyse national and institutional responses to supranational development of this field also substantially increased, in particular in under-researched higher education contexts. To this end, the paper addresses the dynamics behind the development (and internationalisation) of quality assurance policies and practices in Slovenian higher education by focusing on the establishment of the national quality assurance agency, on the introduction of the accreditation system and on institutional quality assurance development. Through the lens of institutional isomorphism, it shows that in Slovenia, quality assurance development was largely influenced by preferences of national political actors, which calls into question the convergence of quality assurance policies and practices across the EHEA region.