Enhancing the quality of teaching and learning in Europe's Higher Education institutions

Quality assurance considers that ‘prevention is better than a cure’. Quality is a continuous improvement, where it does not come by chance or by accident and is achieved when every professor succeeds in igniting the minds of students. Nonetheless, across the European Union, there is a diverse picture of how European higher institutions promote quality in teaching and learning. The issue of quality in higher education has been given the attention in the academic and legislative environment starting with the Bologna process. Together with the Bologna process, the Lisbon strategy has led to the development and consolidation of universities, with a view to instating a quality culture. It is the aim of this paper to present the challenges in the European Higher Education area. Moreover, this paper identifies European standards and guidelines that European institutions should implement for the continuous enhancement of quality.