Prof. Dr. Jakub Brdulak

Don Westerheijden says: "Quality may have been a concern for higher education for all of its history (Neave, 1988), but only in recent decades has it become a matter for management of higher education institutions. The managerial turn was not a voluntary move in most higher education institutions. In most cases, higher education institutions were forced to modify their traditional modus operandi by national policy changes, in particular by the introduction of quality assurance schemes …" (Westerheijden, 2013, p. 39). In the European Higher Education Area, quality assurance has two objectives: accountability and enhancement. In theory, it aims to ensure that study programmes are recognised and that graduates receive a reliable qualification. The entire quality assurance system in the EHEA uses an audit approach; however, control is sometimes also expected. This presentation will particularly highlight the differences between audit and control approaches.

On the basis of a qualitative case study of the Polish higher education system and a review of literature/documents on the Polish and European systems as well as personal experience gained through participation in the Polish Accreditation Committee (PKA) and the Bologna Process, Prof. Brdulak puts the following thesis forward for discussion during his talk: "Quality assurance designed for audit (enhancement) but perceived by stakeholders (ministry, higher education institutions) as an instrument of control could lead to an erosion of the higher education sector, including the growth of the diploma mills, and encourage other pathological phenomena in the sector".

Jakub Brdulak is Professor at the Institute of Management and the Rector's Representative for the Quality of Learning and Teaching at SGH Warsaw School of Economics. His research focuses on quality in higher education, teaching and learning in the European Higher Education Area, the assessment and promotion of social as well as leadership competences of students, and organizational culture and quality culture in higher education institutions. Prof. Brdulak has been a vising researcher at the Center for Higher Education Policy Studies (CHEPS) at the University of Twente, the Netherlands. He is a Member and Secretary General of the Polish Accreditation Committee (Polish Agency for Quality Assurance) and serves as an expert for many programs approved by the Polish Ministry of Science and Higher Education, e. g. the 'Master of Didactics' and 'International Accreditations'. He further is the Polish delegate in the Bologna Follow-up Group on Quality Assurance in the European Higher Education Area (TPG C).