Information and Internal Quality Assurance in European Higher Education Institutions

The focus of this paper is aimed at the identification of the context for internal quality assessment with accent on the transparency in information processes at the higher education institutions. It follows from European Standards and Guidelines for Quality Assurance ESG 1.6 and ESG 1.7, which are related to the collecting, use, analysing and disclosure of information. It is based on a comparative analysis derived from 28 institutional case studies carried out in seven countries: the Czech Republic, Latvia, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, and the United Kingdom, participating in the IBAR project (Identifying Barriers in Promoting the European Standards and Guidelines for Quality Assurance at Institutional Level and Making Recommendation as to How These Might Be Addressed). It discusses the role which information plays in the transparent management of HEIs and in actual, impartial and objective informing the public following internal quality assurance processes. The aim of the article is to highlight the barriers to the effective utilisation of information in these institutions at both national and institutional levels.