The evaluation of the quality of internationalisation

European and national approaches

In recent years a shift has taken place from a focus on the quantity of internationalisation (student mobility and numbers of cooperations abroad) to the quality of internationalisation (internationalisation policies that focus on learning outcomes and contribute to the overall quality of education).This shift implies that more institutions and programmes want to evaluate the quality of internationalisation policies and activities. This article looks at national and European approaches to supporting the evaluation of internationalisation. More specifically the experiences with the – NVAO distinctive quality – feature internationalisation and a new project for a European certificate for internationalisation are dealt with. The reader can get a better view as to why, when and how an evaluation of the quality of internationalisation is beneficial for institutions and programmes.