Adopting self-accreditation in response to the diversity of higher education: quality assurance in Taiwan and its impact on institutions

In 2012, Taiwan implemented a dual-track quality assurance system comprising accreditation and self-accreditation in higher education institutions. Self-accrediting institutions can accredit their programs without requiring approval from external quality assurance agencies. In contrast to other countries, the Ministry of Education of Taiwan authorized self-accrediting institutions to develop their own evaluation standards. This study investigated the institution-based accreditation standards and their implications on institutional internal quality assurance. Content analysis revealed that 37 % of the indicators of self-accreditation were new and not used as review indicators in the original accreditation track. Two frequently added indicators were featured indicators and levels of internationalization. The results also indicated that institutions tend to structure their internal quality assurance systems uniquely. Three types of approaches for developing institution-based standards were identified: bottom-up, hybrid, and innovative approaches. Self-accreditation has benefited institutions committed to educational quality and pursuing excellence by enabling them to employ a fitness-for-purpose approach. The diversity of higher education and educational policy changes constitute new challenges to higher education. Balancing between accountability and autonomy is critical for all stakeholders of higher education.     

‘Quality revolution’ in post-Soviet education in Russia: from control to assurance?

Employing the analytical framework of a discourse-driven social change, this paper unpacks the neoliberal concept of ‘educational quality’ in the course of Russian education modernisation reform from 1991 to 2013. Since the early 1990s, the global neoliberal discourse has served as the backbone for post-Soviet educational ideology. Alongside other major reform initiatives, the ‘quality revolution,’ proclaimed by the Russian Government in the early 1990s, signified a rhetoric shift away from the Soviet-era quality control towards a neoliberal quality assurance paradigm. Through fine-grained textual analysis of policy documents and political statements by key educational stakeholders, the analysis unpacks the discursive underbelly of the new quality paradigm, in an attempt to determine whether a paradigmatic transformation has taken place. The paper argues that despite the nominally proclaimed shift towards a quality assurance model of educational governance, the representation of educational stakeholders and responsibilities within the new quality paradigm continues to correspond to the Soviet-era command-and-control authoritarian model. The study challenges the popular claim of a neoliberal turn in Russian education and suggests that a neoconservative authoritarian approach to education governance has been smuggled in under the disguise of ‘quality assurance.’     

Capacity building for school development: current problems and future challenges

This article offers a theoretical discussion on the current problems and future challenges of school capacity building in early childhood education (ECE), aiming to highlight some key areas for future research. In recent years, there has been a notable policy shift from monitoring quality through inspection to improving quality through school capacity building in early childhood institutions in the global discourse for quality. Reflecting this policy shift and its implications on school development, ECE in Hong Kong is used as an illustrative example to deliberate the issues of school capacity building in Chinese educational contexts. We identify three challenging contexts: (1) low professional qualification and minimal teacher education resulting in a deficit approach to processional development, (2) absence of school-based professional learning culture for empowering teachers as internal agents of change, and (3) hierarchical culture within a school and between university and school hindering the process of school capacity building. Corresponding to these challenges, we aim to propose two suggestions, including (1) empowering teachers in ECE through school-based professional learning community and (2) promoting authentic external support in the process of university–school collaboration. Finally, we further propose specific directions for future research on school capacity building in ECE in Hong Kong. In doing so, it will contribute to knowledge-based development in school capacity building in Chinese educational contexts.     

Translating quality in higher education: US approaches to accreditation of institutions from around the world

This article reports on findings from a sociolinguistic qualitative study exploring inter-discursive relations manifested in the approaches and strategies that regional accrediting agencies in the United States utilise when recognising foreign universities. Even as most countries have developed national quality assurance systems and whilst international rankings comparing institutions globally are available, a growing number of universities around the world seek recognition from American regional agencies. By comparing policy statements, manuals, guidelines and other documents, and after interviewing top-level officers at US accrediting agencies, this study makes explicit the assumptions and central discourses associated with US accreditation of non-US institutions of higher education, from the accreditors’ perspective. Following constant comparison and cultural critical discourse analysis, the study reveals concerns about the equivalency of quality, emphasis on capacity building and reluctance toward adapting US standards. An interest in building international partnerships, in order to respond to globalisation, is also identified.     

远程教育的质量文化

质量保证是远程教育摆脱边缘地位的关键,因此,构建远程教育的质量文化意义重大。本文介绍了英联邦学习共同体2006年出版的《远程教育新视角:构建质量文化》一书收录的12个案例研究中所凸现出来的7个质量文化主题:政府政策的导向,领导和机构的质量意识,权力下放、包容式民主和参与式管理,能力建设,以学生为中心,内外结合的质量保证机制,以及引进与创新,并对电大的质量文化建设提出几点反思。     

政策悖论框架下学位论文抽检政策的效能分析

学位论文抽检政策是基于结果导向的问责制度而产生的质量保障手段,分析其效能可以为政策进一步完善与有效实施提供启示。检视J省2016-2019年学术型硕士学位论文抽检数据和相关政策文本,发现抽检政策实施和强化后,学位论文质量持续提升,然而不同类型院校和不同学科呈现出差异化政策回应,其中教学型大学和教学研究型大学的论文质量提升最快,文学和艺术学的论文质量提升较快,法学、经济学、教育学论文质量改善较慢,且政策强化后,各类院校和学科对政策的再次回应也呈现出差异。差异化效能反映出三组关键政策要素的博弈以及其中产生的相悖结果:公平与效率的政策价值博弈、简约与精细的政策规则博弈、外在激励与内在动力的政策措施博弈。忽视这三组博弈会抑制政策发挥应有的效能。为提高效能,抽检政策需处理好潜在的要素相悖问题,更好地平衡公平与效率的价值目标,适度细化规则,增强政策实施的内在动力。     

Academics’ perceptions of the impact of internal quality assurance on teaching and learning

Internal quality assurance systems are expected to improve the institutions’ core mission of teaching and learning. Using data gathered through an online survey, distributed in 2014/2015, to the teaching staff of all Portuguese private and public higher education institutions, this paper examines the impact of internal quality assurance systems on teaching and learning from the perspective of academics. Findings suggest that Portuguese academics feel that, despite the positive contribution of internal quality assurance towards an increased awareness of teaching quality issues at their institutions, the practical effects of these systems have been more related to increasing bureaucracy than to substantive improvements in teaching and learning. The use of information with a view to improvement and teaching staff involvement in the development of quality assurance were found to induce positive changes in teaching and learning, in academics’ perceptions. Based on the findings, the paper makes recommendations for institutional practice.     

Scenarios of quality assurance of stakeholder relationships in Finnish higher education institutions

Although the role and significance of the external stakeholders of higher education institutions has grown in recent years, quality assurance of stakeholder relationships remains a new phenomenon in the management practices of higher education institutions and in higher education research. Based on interviews and expert panel data, this article analyses the internal and external stakeholders’ perceptions of scenarios of the quality assurance of stakeholder relationships in Finnish higher education institutions. It especially focuses on exploring how institutions can balance internal and external stakeholders’ perspectives with regard to quality assurance. The results show that an essential challenge for Finnish higher education institutions is to develop flexible quality assurance practices capable of balancing the academic goals of the institutions and the needs of the external stakeholders. This also requires seeking balance between the centralised coordination and the differentiated practices of disciplines and academic units inside institutions.     

Why is quality in higher education not achieved? The view of academics

Quality assurance is currently an established activity in Europe, driven either by national quality assurance agencies or by institutions themselves. However, whether quality assurance is perceived as actually being capable of promoting quality is still a question open to discussion. Based on three different views on quality derived from the literature – quality as culture, as compliance and as consistency – the current article sheds light on this issue by identifying the main obstacles to quality as perceived by Portuguese academics. The analysis reveals that academics tend to see those obstacles as essentially related to the view of quality as culture and especially with its structural component, including the design and functioning of institutional governance and management. Although this may indeed correspond to the Portuguese higher education institutions’ reality, one must not forget that academics tend to have a poor knowledge about the structural frames that are embedded in governance and management. By highlighting obstacles related to different views on quality, this study may serve as a base to the development of more effective quality assurance mechanisms.     

Challenges to quality of English medium instruction degree programs in Taiwanese universities and the role of local accreditors: a perspective of non-English-speaking Asian country

As the numbers of international students have grown, higher education institutions in Asia have offered a growing range of English medium instruction (EMI) degree programs. But Asian governments and higher education institutions have not thought deeply about how to ensure quality of English medium instruction degree programs. At the same time, their accreditors have not been fully aware of how to establish an external quality assurance mechanism to measure the quality of these programs. This study’s main purpose is to put the quality of the EMI degree programs of Taiwan higher education institutions into the perspective of the Taiwan’s institutions and one local Taiwan accreditor. With both qualitative and quantitative approaches, a survey targeting Taiwan’s colleges and universities and interviews of Higher Education Evaluation & Accreditation Council of Taiwan international reviewers and Asian higher education experts are used to examine the challenges of EMI implementation in Taiwan universities and the role of local accreditors playing in reviewing the English medium instruction degree programs.     

我国远程高等教育质量保证活动执行主体研究

高效、专业的组织机构是远程高等教育质量保证活动的执行主体。美英等国在其高等教育质量保证制度下,建立完善的内外部质量保证机构和专业人员队伍,成为保证本国远程高等教育质量的重要因素。我国当前宏观质量保证政策体系和组织机构框架已经形成,但是院校内部的质量保证活动分割到管理职能部门中,专门化的质量保证机构缺失。对比国内外机构建设情况,我国远程高等教育质量保证活动应当纳入多元利益主体,围绕核心质量因素设置内外质量保证机构,明确其职责和工作规范,加大质量保证所需的人员队伍建设,以提升我国远程高等教育质量保证工作执行的绩效。     

大学自治模式的英国高等教育质量保障体系:特点与启示

英国高等教育质量保障体系由内部质量保障体系和外部质量保障体系构成。该体系具有法制化、多元化、融合性、平衡性等特点。我国在构建具有中国特色的高等教育质量保障体系过程中,应借鉴英国高等教育质量保障体系的积极因素,完善法律与政策环境,建立社会问责制度;建立灵活的评估指标体系,吸纳社会公众积极参与评价;引入独立的中介评估机构,建立内部质量监控机制。     

阿联酋构建区域高等教育枢纽的路径与挑战

阿联酋通过发布国家创新战略以及制定科学、技术和创新政策等方式为区域高等教育枢纽的建设创造了良好的政策与制度环境.吸引国际分校、打造高等教育发展新引擎、构建知识与创新枢纽以及加大对教育的财政投入等举措成为阿联酋建设区域高等教育枢纽的重要路径.与此同时,阿联酋在建设区域高等教育枢纽的过程中,面临着从知识消费国转变为知识生产国、市场与利益驱动导致供大于需的无序发展、缺乏统一的质量保障机制、高等教育机构研究能力和投入不足等诸多挑战.     

欧洲国家高等教育质量保障中的学生参与政策

在利益相关者治理理论、"多元价值"教育评价思想以及博洛尼亚进程的影响下,英、法、德、意等欧洲国家纷纷出台了有关学生参与高等教育质量保障的政策。通过对学生参与质量保障的权利给予立法保障,吸纳学生参与高等教育管理机构和各级质量保障机构,以及充分发挥学生组织的作用等政策措施,欧洲国家在质量保障中实现学生的全面、充分参与。     

Internal quality assurance: A new culture or added bureaucracy?

This paper analyses teaching and non-teaching staff perceptions on the implementation of internal quality assurance (QA) practices at their higher education institutions. The aim is to understand how far different perspectives on quality – as culture, as compliance or as consistency – are reflected in the views of these two groups on such practices. Data from a survey sent to all Portuguese institutions show that, to some extent, the perspectives of quality as culture and quality as compliance seem to permeate both groups’ views. This is evident in regard to the factors identified as supporting the development of internal QA, the main features underlying the implementation of such practices and their main effects. As the study allows for a better understanding on how these practices are perceived by teaching and non-teaching staff, it can contribute to promoting the critical reflection of institutions about QA and the way it can be both more effective and aligned with academia’s needs and expectations, contributing to influencing institutional practices.     

德国职业教育质量保障体系的启示

德国职业教育质量保障在法律措施、质量评价标准等多方面都具有重要借鉴价值。针对我国职业教育质量保障机制的弊端,应充分汲取德国职业教育的有益经验,加强职业教育法制化建设,完善质量评价标准及质量保障机制建设,创设专门化的第三方质量评价机构,并建设多元评价主体。通过构建完善的职业教育质量保障体系,以适应我国职业教育可持续发展的需要。     

‘The Plastic Ceiling Project’: Advantages of Using Arts‐Based Research to Explore the Pain of Mothers that Work and Study

Since the publication of the Dearing Report in 1997, the UK Government has consistently promoted social mobility and fairness as part of its rhetoric. Yet as Brooks and others have pointed out, compared with other groups of ‘non‐traditional’ students, student mothers and part‐time students with jobs have been given limited consideration, both in terms of policy intervention and research. Despite the drive for inclusivity in higher education institutions, students with mothering responsibilities who are also in employment, often need to overcome considerable challenges in order to complete the course requirements; challenges which often result in extensive emotional pain. Using methods of photo‐elicitation and blogging, The Plastic Ceiling Project aimed to create a platform for mothers that worked and studied to discuss this emotional pain, allowing participants to highlight and discuss commonalities within their experiences. Rather than aiming to ‘solve’ problems for participants, this methodology aimed to empower individuals by allowing them to create a shared reality together, co‐create knowledge and to give them a vehicle to discuss and resolve difficulties and challenges collectively. This article considers how an arts‐based approach to research may have contributed to achieving those aims.     

英国高校"质量文化"及内部质量保障体系

高等教育质量保障是院校的职责。通过对英国高校“质量文化”的理念、内部质量保障的机构、关注焦点、方法过程及保障目的等方面的分析研究,并就完善我国高校内部质量保障体系提出建议。     

Work‐based Learning and Quality Assurance in Higher Education

The debate concerning quality assurance in higher education is frequently conducted in terms originating outside the culture of academic institutions, such as ‘fitness for purpose’ and ‘meeting customer expectations’, which are often experienced as jarring with traditional conceptions of higher education. However, quality assurance issues surrounding the accreditation of work‐based learning within academic awards suggest how these terms may serve to pose some useful general challenges to current modes of assessment. In particular, the recognition of the need to be as precise as possible about anticipated learning outcomes, characteristic of procedures for accrediting work‐based learning, offers some useful lessons in managing the quality of traditionally taught courses.     

Community‐level Responses to Disability and Education in Rwanda

This article explores the meaning of community and perceptions of disability in Rwanda, as revealed through a community‐based ethnographic study. This study took place in Rwanda in an educational policy context driven by international rhetoric about human rights, inclusion and the arguably unachievable Education for All targets. We argue that the emphasis on the inclusion of marginalised groups in Rwanda’s current education policy is a reality on paper, but not in practice. However, we explore the potential for a deeper understanding of community responses to disability, and ways in which the rhetoric and reality gap can be bridged. We consider some of the attitudinal and infrastructural barriers in educational settings and argue that Rwandan communities are resourceful, and can be supported to respond appropriately to children with disabilities.