Strengths and obstacles for quality assurance in the European Higher Education Area: The Spanish case

Quality assurance and accreditation in higher education are a priority aim in the convergence process to the European Higher Education Area (EHEA). Although the majority of European universities are working around these issues, there exist diverse tensions between the national legislation, accreditation and quality assurance, both in internal and external contexts. Spanish Higher Education Institutions must ensure the fulfillment of the goals related to their different degree programs, in a context of continuous improvement. This paper presents the evolution, some examples and the more recent trends related to quality assurance and accreditation in Spain. It comments some instruments that have been developed by the National Agency for Quality Assessment and Accreditation of Spain (ANECA), like the guidelines developed in the AUDIT program whose purpose is to provide guidance in designing internal quality assurance systems.