Engagement, empowerment, ownership – How to nurture the quality culture in higher education

Drawing on collaboration amongst higher education institutions in nine different European countries, this paper describes mechanisms which, over the two years of the SPEAQ project, have proved effective in developing a quality-driven mentality in three stakeholder categories: students, teaching staff and quality managers. In spite of many national/contextual specificities institutions throughout the European Higher Education Area are frequently confronted with comparable quality assurance issues for which similar approaches may be adopted. This paper identifies these commonalities and details the type of actions which can empower stakeholders and enhance the quality of the educational experience. Securing the engagement of stakeholders in the quality cycle often depends on the amount of trust an institution is willing to place on their contributions and on the way their opinions are elicited, collected, analysed, prioritised and actioned throughout the institution. Facilitating stakeholder ownership of quality processes is shown to be a highly effective strategy.