Across the world institutions are being encouraged to widen participation to learning and increase access to higher education for up to half the workforce. There is also pressure on higher education to provide portable, economically relevant qualifications in a system that is fully accountable. Within the European Union there is a need to accommodate a diversity of cultural and economic influences whilst moving towards a compatible qualifications system.

This project has established the Higher Education Reform Network to explore how different cultural contexts influence the procedures for the governance, decision-making, quality assurance and accountability of higher education with particular reference to issues of gender, disability, access and inclusion. It has aimed to help improve European integration strategies for the future and involves organisations from Austria, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Greece, Latvia, Lithuania, The Netherlands, Sweden, Poland and the United Kingdom.