Although European quality assurance (QA) can be considered a recent phenomenon, it has come a long way in a short time. Still, a large degree of heterogeneity between external QA systems remains apparent. This paper argues that for a transparent, consistent and credible European Higher Education Area (EHEA), more effort is required. The authors propose a number of practical recommendations aimed to improve transparency, consistency and credibility of European quality assurance QA for the benefit of all its stakeholders.