Abstract

European University Association is an institution which guides not only European but all universities in their efforts to improve their quality within the context of Bologna Process. In this study Institutional Evaluation Reports prepared by EUA for all higher education institutions that applied to be evaluated between 2013 and 2015 were examined. These evaluations were grouped under six categories namely administration, finance, research, education, service to society and internationalization. It is understood that administration is the most evaluated subject, while finance is the least evaluated in the reports. As regards administration, the most emphasized points are the need of a more solid strategic planning and to improve quality assurance processes. In finance the universities are primarily advised to focus on raising money from different resources. For research, the most emphasized subject is the lack of research strategies in universities. Two important suggestions in education category are to use student centered teaching and to update curricula so as to focus on application. While for service to society category, the reports mainly suggest to involve external stakeholders more systematically in the universities and for the category of internationalization, it was pointed out that most of the universities are in need of an institutional strategy.

Key words: Quality in higher education, quality assurance, external evaluation, European University Association.