Historically and traditionally, quality assurance (QA) organisations have had two functions:the enhancement of the quality of institutions and programmes the accountability of the results of teaching and learning. The enhancement function has been executed primarily in systems of high trust, whereas the accountability function has been developed to prevent bad quality of institutions and programs, and thus to protect the beneficiaries i.e. students and society. During the past few years, politicians and higher education institutions (HEIs) have discovered the concept of excellence.

A contribution of MANUELA BRUSONI, RADU DAMIAN, JOSEP GRIFOLL SAURI, STEPHEN JACKSON, HASAN KÖMÜECÜGIL, MARIE MALMEDY, OXANA MATAEVA, GALINA MOTOVA, SOLANGE PISARZ, PATRICIA POL, AUSRA ROSTLUND, ERIKA SOBOLEVA, ORLANDA TAVARES, LAGLE ZOBEL.