The five Nordic countries and their respective quality assurance agencies have convened annually for over a decade to exchange experiences and discuss issues concerning quality assurance in higher education. In recent years this has resulted in a regional network for the quality assurance agencies (NOQA). During this period, methodological issues have increasingly been emphasised within the network's activities, and the current article presents and discusses a new format of open interviewing in a setting where the quality assurance work of four higher education institutions were analysed. The openness of the process was the key in providing an opportunity for the higher education institutions to learn from each other. (Contains 1 table, 1 figure and 4 endnotes.)