Phase Modality of External Evaluations in Higher Education

Abstract

To better understand the evaluation practices set by the Bologna process as well as their properties and implications, this paper critically explores the judgements of quality in external evaluations in higher education with regard to their orientation towards three phases: conditions, processes and end states. It furthermore explores how this modality is connected with how critical external evaluations are. It develops a theoretical framework for observing evaluation practices to support the statistical analysis of external evaluation reports for 485 study programmes in Slovenian higher education. The findings offer insight into how quality assurance impacts higher education in practice, considering that the subsequent measures taken by the higher education institutions correspond with the outcomes of the evaluations.