Mentality and Paradigmatic Shifts Needed for Building a Global Quality Culture in Formal Education

Quality culture encompasses a more implicit consensus on what quality is and how it should be maintained and promoted. Nonetheless, this paper is based on the conviction that quality culture can be consciously promoted. The procedure of promotion described here after is based on the agreement of common goals from which indicators of success and quality measures are derived. By a conscious promotion of a common quality culture in international cooperation, potential failure of the partnership can be diminished because contradictions with existing quality cultures at partner institutions are avoided and the partnership is firmly based on common goals as the focus of cooperation. Therefore a common quality culture or, more broadly, a global quality culture may emerge if the mentality of confrontation is abandoned. The single suitable rule is the cooperation. Applying this rule each step towards a global quality culture should be taken cautiously. There is need of an entire process based on intercultural dialogue. The agents of each culture should interact until the harmonization of their values, believes, standards etc. As a result, a new culture will take form which is not a mere sum of the former ones.