11. 11. 2025

Article on Piloting the 4EU+QUALITY System Published in an International Journal

An article presenting the development and testing of the 4EU+ Alliance's novel quality management system was recently published in INT Internationalisation of Higher Education, a peer-reviewed academic journal established in 2014 that covers developments in higher education worldwide.

The article was authored by Dr. Sonja Kiko, Managing Director of the heiQUALITY Office at Heidelberg Universityand leader of the QM group responsible for the conceptualization of 4EU+QUALITY, together with Dr. Swantje Schirmer, former 4EU+ Referee for Quality Managemennt.

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"Piloting 4EU+QUALITY is an interesting case study because it shows how important it is that we, as an Alliance, are truly committed to the quality of our educational offer and are continuously and actively working to improve it," says Dr Sonja Kiko. "We have gained valuable feedback from the student surveys on strengths and areas for improvement, as well as important insights from the analysis of key indicators (for example on mobilities). In addition, we have received substantial and very useful recommendations from the 4EU+ Academic Council and our external “critical friends” on how we can further develop as an Alliance. We can now use these insights for real improvements and for strategic quality development within the Alliance, as our primary goal remains to offer our students the best possible educational experience that really helps them advance on their path."

The full article is available on Biblioscout (restricted access) under this link.

Abstract: Trends in internationalisation of higher education such as the creation of European University Alliances affect the development of quality assurance. This development, however, is still in its infancy. This work report presents results of piloting the 4EU+ Alliance’s Quality Management System 4EU+QUALITY. Two years into the pilot, this paper takes stock of strengths and potentials for improvement and recounts challenges and opportunities for the way ahead. It briefly introduces EUAs and their evolution, to then provide an overview of 4EU+QUALITY. The paper then explores hurdles as well as solutions and success factors in piloting this system along the lines of three factors: trust, commitment, and patience.

About the authors:

Dr. Sonja Kiko has been working at Heidelberg University in the area of quality management since 2009: She implemented a central service unit for surveys and was involved in the conception and implementation of the Heidelberg University’s QM system heiQUALITY in the field of teaching and learning. Since 2016, she has served as Managing Director of the heiQUALITY Office, where she and her team coordinate and implement the respective quality assurance procedures at Heidelberg University.Dr. Kiko has been involved in the 4EU+ Alliance from the very beginning, since 2019. During the first phase, she led Work Package 6 of the Erasmus+ "European Universities" project, which focused on creating a quality management system for the Alliance: 4EU+QUALITY. With the start of the 1CORE project phase at the end of 2022, she and her team began implementing and piloting the 4EU+QUALITY procedures for the Alliance. The first insights and lessons learnt from the pilot are the subject of this publication.

Dr. Swantje Schirmer has been working in the 4EU+ Alliance from January 2023 until August 2025 as Alliance Referee for Quality Management. In this role, she coordinated the pilot of 4EU+QUALITY on the operational level. As such, she has been working as a central node for the Alliance as a whole and for the different stakeholder groups. She was responsible to implement the processes of Internal Auditing and External Reviewing and provided support for all member universities in implementing 4EU+QUALITY at the university-level, especially in regards to data gathering and reporting.