However, recent trends observed in European higher education apparently
indicate that the accountability component of quality assurance processes will be
further reinforced relative to the improvement of teaching and learning
component. The emergence of markets in higher education is associated with
demands for increased consumer information on the quality of the educational
provision for markets to operate efficiently. This legitimates the state
intervention to provide information to consumers by disclosing the results of
quality assessment and by providing performance indicators. The emergence of
New Public Management and the attacks on the efficiency of public services,
including higher education, resulted in the loss of trust in institutions and
professionals, and in the gradual proletarisation of the academic professions
(Halsey 1992). At international level, the implementation of the Bologna process
and its convergence with the Lisbon strategy are changing the traditional pact
between the university and society by shifting the balance towards the economic
function of the university. This shift may lead to a stratified European Higher
Education Area and the introduction and/or reinforcement of European
accreditation systems.