The Project

Quality of social services – what exactly does that mean in Greece and Lithuania or in Northern Ireland and Germany? Which quality management systems are available in these countries? What do they specialise in? What can be standardised throughout Europe? These questions were addressed by a project team of seven partners from four countries.

The project carried the title BEST Quality. BEST is an acronym that stands for: Benchmarking European standards in Social services Transnationally. It received financial support from the European Union.

As a first step, the partners developed a grid to compare the various quality management systems. While doing so, legal requirements were taken as much into consideration as the practical experience that the partners have had themselves with the implementation.

The project partners presented the results of the project on 22 September 2010 at an International Symposium.

One of the main parts is a scientific survey made by the Technical University of Dortmund. Another important item are recommendations made to the European Commission about which quality management system best meets the requirements and assures the standards set by the European Union.