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Internationalisation has gained prominence in debates on higher education and can be analysed from different perspectives, including cross-border higher education. Cross-border higher education entails relevant challenges, namely regarding its quality. This paper intends to discuss, based on a literature review, the link between cross-border higher education and quality assurance, namely the role quality assurance may have in contributing to a quality cross-border educational offer. 79 documents (indexed in Scopus or Web of Science) published between 1998 and 2019 were content analysed. The results show that both internal and external quality assurance are relevant topics when discussing cross-border higher education and a means to stimulate the overall quality of this educational offer. Moreover, to be effective, quality assurance must rely on cooperation and mutual trust between importing and exporting countries, including their quality assurance agencies.

Growing numbers of students from non-Portuguese speaking countries, designated as 'non-Lusophone students', signal the diversification of the international student population in Portugal. Until recently, international students came almost exclusively from other Portuguese-speaking countries. Employing social network analysis, the paper analyses the enrolment patterns of non-Lusophone students in Portuguese higher education -- by institution type, qualification and discipline -- to understand what aspects in particular attract these students. Findings indicate that public universities are mostly attractive for their doctoral degrees, in various disciplines, with students coming from very diverse regions. Public polytechnics enrol few non-Lusophone students, continuing to rely on the traditional Portuguese-speaking public. Private institutions attract Western and Southern European students, to integrated masters in Health programmes. Implications for institutions in other semi-peripheral countries intending to diversify their international students are highlighted: the identification of their strengths, at discipline or degree level, and the target-publics likely to find their programmes appealing.

This paper analyses the patterns of international student enrolments in Portugal to understand what makes Portuguese higher education attractive. Employing a database of enrolments in Portuguese higher education institutions in 2017/2018, it uses correspondence analysis to characterise the flows of students coming from different countries and the variation by institution type, qualification level, disciplinary area and location. Attractiveness is not homogeneous. Portuguese-speaking students from Africa tend to enrol in undergraduate degrees, but depending on country of origin they prefer certain institution types. European students are attracted to Health-related programmes in private institutions. Chinese and Brazilian students seek primarily postgraduate qualifications in public universities. Thus, different publics choose Portuguese higher education for different reasons, suggesting that attractiveness is multifaceted and varies by students' country of origin. The implications are that institutions in countries which are emerging players in international student recruitment need to carefully identify their target publics and distinctive assets.

The aim of this paper is to analyse the relationship between academic inbreeding in Portugal and research collaboration, using co-authored publications as proxies. As previous research has shown that inbreeding is detrimental for research collaborations, it is hypothesised that academic inbreeding will lead to smaller research networks and, consequently, to fewer co-authored publications outside the institution of affiliation. Relying on a large data set which merged information on academics, their inbreeding status and their publications, binomial negative and fractional models were estimated to test the hypothesis. Findings show that inbred academics have smaller research networks; while they publish most co-authored papers, the relative weight of publications written in collaboration with institutional colleagues is the highest. In contrast, non-inbred academics with foreign PhDs have larger co-authorship networks. However, they publish most single-authored papers and the weight of their international co-authorships is heaviest.

This study explores Portuguese academics' acceptance of employability as a purpose for higher education further to the Bologna reforms, focusing on their understandings of employability and their teaching practices. The data were gathered through focus groups in which participated around 70 academics from 3 disciplinary areas, belonging to different institutional types. Findings suggest that there are different degrees of acceptance of employability as a purpose for higher education, varying by discipline and type of institution. Irrespective of the differences in perceptions of employability, all academics engage in teaching practices associated to the development of employability, although with different ends in mind. While Computer Engineering and Management academics aim to train professionals fitting into specific employment, for Arts academics such teaching methods aim to introduce students to artistic practice. These findings warn against equating employability with crude indicators of employment and using it as a performance indicator.

This paper analyses teaching and non-teaching staff perceptions on the implementation of internal quality assurance (QA) practices at their higher education institutions. The aim is to understand how far different perspectives on quality -- as culture, as compliance or as consistency -- are reflected in the views of these two groups on such practices. Data from a survey sent to all Portuguese institutions show that, to some extent, the perspectives of quality as culture and quality as compliance seem to permeate both groups' views. This is evident in regard to the factors identified as supporting the development of internal QA, the main features underlying the implementation of such practices and their main effects. As the study allows for a better understanding on how these practices are perceived by teaching and non-teaching staff, it can contribute to promoting the critical reflection of institutions about QA and the way it can be both more effective and aligned with academia's needs and expectations, contributing to influencing institutional practices.

This paper addresses convergence as a political issue stemming from the political coordination of the European Higher Education Area. From the perspective of cultural theory, this issue relies on the fact that the influence of ways of life are not evenly influential in the political coordination of the European Higher Education Area. Convening the results of previous studies on the progress of Bologna, this paper underlines how goal displacement is challenging convergence in the ambit of the broader European Union political project. Additionally, the paper concludes that education within the European Higher Education Area is being configured by the prominence of the individualist and the fatalist ways of life.

Recent shifts in university governance have relied on increased autonomy. Within this context, the enhanced role attributed to governance boards at the expense of academic bodies and the role of external stakeholders has gained momentum. With the aim of understanding the extent of the influence of external stakeholders at the institutional level, the perceptions of Rectors and Senate members from 26 European higher education institutions were analysed. Their views saw external members of boards as representing the interests of the society at large and bringing outside beliefs and pressures to the university. However, Rectors would prefer to see them as allies, avoiding interfering strongly in the private lives of institutions.