ПРОБЛЕМЫ ВЫСШЕГО ОБРАЗОВАНИЯ Вестник ВГУ EUA’S QA POLICY POSITION IN THE CONTEXT OF THE BERLIN COMMUNIQUE 12 April 2004 INTRODUCTION The following policy paper develops further the EUA’s QA position (Graz Declaration) in the context of the QA action lines of the Berlin Communiquй. <...> Specifically, the Berlin Communiquй: ■ Recognises the role of HEIs in promoting quality (this constitutes the first official acknowledgement in the context of the Bologna process) ■ Invites ENQA, in co-operation with EUA, ESIB and EURASHE, A. to develop an agreed set of standards, procedures and guidelines on quality assurance B. to explore ways of ensuring an adequate peerreview system for QA & Aagencies. <...> This paper presents a discussion on the first policy line of the Berlin Communiquй, which has been endorsed by the EUA Council on 1 April 2004. <...> Some understand that standards must refer to QA procedures and others argue that they refer to higher education institutions. <...> In this perspective, it is difficult to see how a broad use of “standards” that would be applied to higher education institutions would allow Europe to reach the objectives of becoming the most competitive knowledge society in the world. <...> This ambitious objective requires a diverse and innovative HE sector across the continent, as the current national debates show (e.g., France, Germany, Ireland, UK). <...> This ten-year experience, combined with the outcomes of the Quality Culture project, points to the fact that it is impossible to reach agreement on quality standards when dealing with a diversity of institutions across a whole continent. 3.3 Higher education institutions are characterised by a diffused and devolved power structure, complex and somewhat ambiguous goals, and outcomes that are difficult to measure or quantify. <...> In this respect, we may well ponder the astute observation of Martin Trow, a distinguished professor of education at the University of California (Berkeley), who noted that “The real and substantial effects of the experience of higher education extend over the whole lifetime of graduates, and are inextricably entwined with other forces and experiences beyond the walls and the reach of universities” (Trow 1996). <...> Martin Trow recommends that evaluations focus on the capacity for higher education institutions to change: “How an institution responds to change points to deep-seated qualities of the unit which must also show <...>