A New Paradigm of School Quality

Tatjana Kovač

Summary:  Companies have always strived for quality schools at all levels, primary, secondary, and tertiary education, but views on quality have been very different and still are today. In the field of higher education, the University of Ljubljana and the University of Maribor gained many competitors during the time of independent Slovenia, public and private universities and independent higher education institutions. The quality all of them has too long been left completely to the self-sufficiency of each of them. With the establishment of the National Agency for Quality Assurance in Higher Education, Slovenia has acquired an official evaluator of the quality in higher education. However, the question remains whether the quality assessment criteria cover all or at least most of the quality levels of todays and future higher institutions. Can the findings of quality research in primary and secondary schools be applied to higher education? In the following, we will present reflections on today’s understanding of the quality in primary, secondary, and higher education, who evaluates and discusses quality and for what purpose.