Quality Assurance In Higher Education

The topic of quality assurance has always been of exceptional importance to the private sector. However, today it is very important in education and in other areas of the public sector, also. Because the private sector was the first in quality assurance, organizations and institutions in the public sector can learn from the experience of the private sector. Quality assurance has become an increasingly important topic at both local and international levels. The concept of quality assurance is not new; however, the terminology and methodologies that are now used to defi ne, develop and implement quality assurance are relatively new, mainly due to the impact of changes in quality assurance in higher education. It has become an expected norm at European universities, an unquestionable basic concept and the most frequently set political objective of the Bologna process which directly affects and changes the balance of power within the university. The aim of this paper is to determine the methods used by three countries (Croatia, Slovenia, and Hungary) to ensure quality in higher education and give suggestions for improvement of education service quality.