Purpose: This study aims to present a general conceptual framework which can be used to evaluate quality and institutional performance in higher education. Design/methodology/approach: The quality of higher education is at the heart of the setting up of the European Higher Education Area. Strategic management is widely used in higher education institutions and is a strong candidate for the general framework of management. The balanced scorecard approach has been designed as a mechanism to communicate and implement the strategic plan and make it more understandable to stakeholders. Findings: The concepts of quality and strategy maps provide the tools that can be used to describe the conceptual framework to describe the quality assurance system and institutional performance. Originality/value: The quality and performance of a higher education institution are evaluated by national quality assurance agencies and many other stakeholders having various objectives and interests. The evaluation is based on the backgrounds and subjective experiences of the evaluators. Therefore there is clearly a need for a common and rational framework for the evaluation. (Contains 2 figures.)