Although accountability is touched on in nearly every account of current higher education developments (HE), only a few HE scholars have attempted to further theorize accountability, its forms, implications, and practical significance. In this chapter, we attempt to advance the debate by focusing on European HE in the age of Bologna, international rankings, massification, and underfunding. We begin our analysis by addressing the manifold socio-economic forces which have put accountability centre stage in contemporary HE discourse and reforms. We then outline numerous state-of-the-art conceptualizations of accountability in general, and in HE specifically. Following the lead of Huisman and Currie (2004), we wish to move beyond normative statements and generalized descriptions by analysing the emergence of ‘accountability regimes’ in four large European countries — Germany (North-Rhine Westphalia), France, Poland, and Romania — with distinctly different paths of development in HE. The analysis allows us to identify cross-national cases of convergence and divergence in the emergence of accountability regimes.

One of the most noticeable changes in the governance of higher education has been the introduction of systematic external quality assurance and the establishment of new national agencies with particular responsibilities in this area. In Europe these developments have been accompanied by the establishment of new pan-European meta-organizations in the quality assurance area. These meta-organizations incorporate a wide range of functions, including building and exchanging knowledge and expertise, regulatory responsibilities, and expanding their own influence in higher education governance. This chapter analyses two European meta-organizations in the field of quality assurance — ENQA and EQAR — and discusses their role in influencing the emerging multilevel and multi-actor governance of higher education in Europe.