During the last few years, a national quality assessment system for evaluation of the core activities of universities has been established in Sweden. Beyond participating in these national efforts, Lund University has also participated in the European benchmarking programme managed by ESMU (European Centre for Strategic Management of Universities). This report concentrates upon two issues. Firstly, the role of international benchmarking is discussed in comparison with the established Swedish national quality assessment system. Secondly, a number of methodological problems encountered during these activities are discussed in the light of Lund University's three-year experience of the ESMU benchmarking exercises.