Accreditation in Western Europe: adequate reactions to Bologna declaration and the General Agreement on Trade in Services?

Challenged by globalization (especially the General Agreement on Trade in Services [GATS]) and by European developments (the Bologna process), the Netherlands will introduce program accreditation as a new form of quality assurance. Other, sometimes similar initiatives are found in other countries and at the international level. How Dutch and other (European) proposals reply to the challenges is the topic of this article. Combining GATS and the Bologna process, four design rules for quality assurance systems are derived. It is concluded that "open accreditation systems" as introduced in some countries answer the European challenges well, but it is doubted if the Bologna process itself is a sufficient reaction to the wider international developments.