Same Voyage, Different Routes? The course of the Netherlands and Denmark to a ‘European model’ of quality assurance

The European dimension in quality assurance grows and glows. In this article, we try to relate the European objectives, as stated in the various European initiatives, to the national quality assurance systems of The Netherlands and Denmark. This will be done by looking closer at the objectives regarding quality assurance and internationalisation, and analysing the national quality assurance mechanisms in the light of recent developments. Are these two, apparently quite similar, countries taking different courses in the same voyage? One of the results is that while The Netherlands sees accreditation as the new cure, solving all problems with which higher education is confronted, Denmark takes a different route, paving their path for mutual recognition in accordance with the Lisbon Recognition Convention. Correspondingly, there are two different approaches to the same challenge. At present it seems that the routes, and maybe even the voyages, are diverging.