Developing a National Quality Culture in Malta in Higher Education Using ESG 2015

In July 2015 Malta inaugurated its National Quality Assurance Framework for Further and Higher Education to foster a comprehensive quality culture in the sector. This is the first quality assurance framework within the European higher education area that covers further, higher and adult formal educational provisions. The framework is based on the 2015 version of the ESG, enriched with elements of European quality assurance in vocational education & training (EQAVET). This synthesis was possible due of Malta’s characteristics as a post-colonial microstate. This paper will discuss how Malta’s characteristics informed the development of Malta’s QA Framework, and how the framework itself was developed and piloted.