This chapter offers an empirical illustration of the
governing-evaluation-knowledge nexus by pinpointing a particular
situation, a pause between two national evaluation and quality assurance
(EQA) reforms, while a new national system was being planned and
prepared, but its final design was not yet decided upon. This
situation – unusual in the Swedish higher education policy context –
adds uncertainty to the situation and opens a potential space for
policymakers and higher education institutions (HEIs) to navigate. We
draw on interviews and documents collected from four HEIs during this
reform interval. We analyse and discuss how the four institutions
navigate, coordinate, mobilise, copy, and learn in a situation without a
formal national EQA system in place but in which the wider higher
education policy context is deeply infused with contemporary trends and
international policies and ideas on quality assurance (QA). We found
that context and institutional preconditions set their mark on the work
undertaken during this interval. We also discerned tendencies of
homogenisation and isomorphism. Finally, we highlight the tendency of
further expansion of EQA activities.