Taking stock of changes in quality assurance in Portuguese higher education between 2007 and 2015

Authors

  • Cristina Sin CENTRO DE INVESTIGAÇÃO DE POLITICAS DO ENSINO SUPERIOR (CIPES)
  • Orlanda Tavares CENTRO DE INVESTIGAÇÃO DE POLITICAS DO ENSINO SUPERIOR (CIPES)
  • Alberto Amaral AGÊNCIA DE AVALIAÇÃO E ACREDITAÇÃO DO ENSINO SUPERIOR (A3ES)

Abstract

This article presents the developments which have occurred in Portugal after the adoption of the new framework for quality assurance in 2007. The most obvious outcomes of the operation of the new agency for assessment and accreditation of higher education could be observed at the level of programme provision. Accreditation procedures led to a 40 % reduction of the programmes, in the period between 2009 and 2015. This reduction occurred mainly in the private sector, which confirms that substandard programmes were more common in this sector. Another consequence has been an increasing awareness of quality among institutions, which have started to address quality in a more formal and systematic way through the implementation of internal quality assurance systems. These systems have been driven by a logic of accountability and not by a genuine internal reflection involving all the stakeholders which are likely to contribute to improvement. For this reason, academics tend to perceive internal quality assurance as having a major negative effect —bureaucracy— while its positive effects are perceived as being quite modest.

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Published

2017-10-19

How to Cite

Sin, C., Tavares, O. and Amaral, A. (2017) “Taking stock of changes in quality assurance in Portuguese higher education between 2007 and 2015”, Debats. Journal on culture, power and society, 131(2). Available at: https://revistadebats.net/article/view/1831 (Accessed: 3 July 2024).

Issue

Vol. 131 No. 2 (2017)

Section

SPECIAL ISSUE

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