CHAPTER 2: Why is Quality Important? European HE trends in quality, CPD and relevance to the KEY project.

One of the fundamental challenges facing continuing professional development (CPD) is that of assuring its quality. This is particularly important in a context of the growing expectation – and often requirement – for professionals to engage in regular CPD. There is a growing body of scholarship on the different ways in which CPD can be quality assured, reflecting a growing concern with the challenge of providing worthwhile and effective CPD for professionals in particular fields such as teaching and healthcare. In comparison, there is little or no scholarly work available on CPD and its quality assurance within higher education institutions. Scholarship on quality assurance in higher education has focused largely on learning and teaching at undergraduate and postgraduate levels. Debates on quality more generally have not given attention to CPD courses provided by higher education institutions to professionals in external organisations.