The previous conference, Quality and Development in Nordic Higher Education, held in Reykjavik in April 2009 (see web page)  was a great success in many ways.

The recordings and documents of the conference are already used in education in both Germany and Denmark, which shows that quality assurance of higher education in the Nordic countries is held in great esteem by Europe as does the participation of non-Nordic guests at the conference. However, the conference did not address the problem of the combined quality assurance of research and education in higher education institutions.

Recent development in higher education in Europe has shown a tendency towards increased a combined quality assurance of research and education. A newly introduced system of quality assurance in Luxemburg includes a system of combined quality assurance of research and education.

If the Nordic countries are to live up to its reputation as foregoers in the field of higher education in Europe, it was considered feasible to organise a meeting of the major stakeholders in higher education and the quality assurance of research and education to discuss this matter.