First European Quality Assurance Forum
A shared understanding of quality
The past decade has seen an explosion of national quality assurance (QA) systems in Europe. These have been developed to assure the public that higher education institutions (HEIs) are fulfilling their role and functions in society. As important as these external processes are, however, it is essential that HEIs develop an internal quality culture to ensure and monitor enhancement of their activities and services in a way that is congruent with core academic values. This has been acknowledged in both the Berlin (2003) and Bergen Communiqués (2005) resulting from the meetings of ministers of education as part of the Bologna Process.
This acknowledgement should not be interpreted narrowly as leading to a division of labour: with the QA community in charge of external accountability and HEIs of internal quality. On the contrary, it should be based on a partnership between the HE and QA communities – both at national and European level – based on a commitment to promote vibrant academic community.
It is for this purpose that the first European QA Forum (23 – 25 November 2006) was organised.
2006 European Quality Assurance Forum: "Embedding Quality Culture in Higher Education"
Technische Universität München, Munich, Germany 23-25 November 2006
Hosted by the Technische Universität München, funded by the Socrates Programme and co-organised by EUA, ENQA, ESIB and EURASHE, the Forum gathered a very broad range of higher education actors from across forty-five countries in Europe: rectors and vice-rectors, quality officers in higher education institutions, students, leaders of quality assurance and accreditation agencies, ministry officers, Bologna Promoters and members of the Bologna Follow-up Group.
Objectives
The major goal of the 2006 Forum was to develop a shared understanding of ways to develop further a European dimension for quality assurance. Specifically, the objectives were: (1) to promote a sound approach to QA by encouraging internal quality developments in HEIs and an appropriate balance between the implementation of the required tools to assure quality and the need to foster creativity in research and education; and (2) to foster research focused on QA
Conference documents
A post-conference publication - Embedding Quality Culture in Higher Education 
- has been produced, based on some of the papers presented at the Forum as well as more extensive articles. This publication is intended to contribute to the sustainability of the Forum's outcomes by providing a wider audience with up to date information on current debates on quality assurance in Europe.
Post conference support
If you need a receipt for the payment of the registration fee or a certificate of attendance for the QA Forum, please send an email to QA-Forum@eua.be. The document will be sent to you by regular post within the next days to the address with which you registered for the forum unless you request it differently.