Everlasting Friends and Enemies? Finnish University Personnel’s Perceptions of Internal Quality Assurance in 2010 and 2017

Even though quality assurance has played a role in European higher education for decades by now, it is still a topic of great discord. While several studies have focused on the initiation phase of quality assurance, little attention has been paid to the question on how attitudes towards quality assurance in higher education change over time. This study compares the attitudes of Finnish university personnel using data from 2010 and 2017. The results show that personnel experience quality assurance as slightly better in 2017 than in 2010, while differences concerning gender, personnel group and type of university persist. The findings underline the importance of implementing quality assurance in a stakeholder-specific way.