How can we create a systematic, long-term and sustainable educational development for students' learning and for higher education that maintains high quality? The Swedish Higher Education Authority asked itself this question when in August 2018 the authority was assigned with following up educational development at Swedish higher education institutions (HEI:s). When the government commission was presented in early 2020, the importance of creating a lasting cycle for educational development was emphasised. Some of the conclusions were that HEI:s should regard development work as an important part of quality work and that this is an important aspect to consider for the university's staff and students. To get the maximum effect from local development work, the commission suggested that we first and foremost need to create a national strategy for the educational development work in order to best plan, coordinate and systematize a continuous exchange of information and experience. But how can we make use of the exciting and innovative work around educational development at individual HEI:s and make this become part of a sustainable cycle of educational development? In this paper presentation, we highlight four aspects that educational development depends on to have a long-term and sustainable effect: culture, trust, participation and systematics. These aspects have been identified partly as a result of a round table discussion at a Swedish conference for educational developers in August 2021, and partly as a result of a literary review. This paper situates this Swedish example of a need for a national strategy and the various ways in which to implement such a strategy on local levels within a European context and discusses its implications on an international arena.