Universities and sustainable development: the necessity for barriers to change

In June 2015, the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) proposed a lighter touch quality assessment regime that would place greater reliance on institutions' own governance arrangements. In July 2015 the Minister for Higher Education announced a Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF) parts of which appear inconsistent with HEFCE's proposals. In August the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education (QAA) responded to HEFCE's proposals envisaging some developments to its present quality assessment arrangements. This article analyses the key issues and principles that will supposedly govern the design of a new quality assessment regime from 2017. It proposes points of reference against which to evaluate the proposals for that new regime; these are whether the approach to review that is adopted: a) differentiates between institutions on the basis of their capacities to manage their responsibilities; b) shows the regulator's willingness to trust institutions to discharge their responsibilities (with verification) and willingness by institutions to accept their responsibilities; c) adopts an approach to risk and its management that is forward-looking and enables pre-emptive actions to forestall negative outcomes; and d) makes greater use of metrics that are interpreted by experts qualified to make judgements on academic matters.     

Income generation for non‐core university activities: a case study of the University of Central Lancashire

The English Funding Council has announced its intention to invite tenders for the contract currently held by the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education (QAA), and the Australian government is promoting a Bill to curb the activities of the equivalent body, the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency. This article compares the two agencies, and it draws upon debates and developments in Australia to interpret recent changes in QAA's relationship with universities focusing, in particular, on the significance of the UK Quality Code for Higher Education and the new single review method – Higher Education Review. The authors suggest that QAA's current crisis may have been precipitated by its failure to attend to the concerns of its members (Universities UK and the other representative bodies). The article concludes by proposing three basic principles which should govern the design of any new method for the review of UK higher education institutions.     

Post‐Graduate Certificate of Education Students’ Training: An Additional Alternative

Abstract

This paper contends that the growth of Quality Management (QM) has been fuelled by the government's concern for greater accountability and the rise in managerialism in higher education institutions. It also notes that some members of the academic community have perceived certain aspects of QM to be a challenge to traditional academic autonomy. The differing QM roles of the Higher Education Funding Council for England and the Higher Education Quality Council are examined and various stakeholders’ initial concerns with early QM structures and systems are explored. Harvey and Green's (1993) typology is used as an analytical framework to uncover the rationale for the blend of QM that is developing. There has been the tendency to utilise more mechanistic systems such as ISO 9000 and Total Quality Management because of the problems of measurement with more qualitative approaches. The paper concludes by warning that there needs to be far greater agreement amongst stakeholders on the nature of quality and the QM structures and systems if the objective of an effective, consumer‐orientated form of higher education is to be achieved.     

Could ‘Criteria’ used in Quality Assessments be Classified as Academic Standards?

The Higher Education Funding Council for England was given responsibility by the government of the day for assessing the quality of higher education institutions in England. It decided to make subject areas the focus of these quality assessments, within an objectives-based approach to assessment. Assessments are made by peer subject assessors during visits to institutions. The report postulates that criteria'other'than the aims and objectives of the institutions and subjects areas were used in the assessments. An analysis was done of reports of the assessments done in 1993–94. The study identifies which criteria were used and argues that these could be labelled as academic standards.     

英国高等教育外部质量保障体系与牛津大学研究生教育

英国高等教育外部质量保障体系包括英国高等教育基金委员会、高等教育质量保障署、专业机构和新闻机构等社会组织。牛津大学研究生教育处于英国高等教育外部质量保障体系之下同时又保持本身的自治传统。英国高等教育外部质量保障体系很好地促进了牛津大学的研究生教育的内部质量保障建设。这些成功的经验对我们的研究生教育的质量保障有重要的启示。     

Quality Assessment in Higher Education: the Scottish Experience

Quality assessment has been a feature of higher education in Scotland for the academic years from 1992 to 1996. As part of a review of its quality assessment procedures, the Scottish Higher Education Funding Council commissioned a survey of perceptions of the process, both amongst those involved in conducting the assessment and those subject to it. The aims of this paper are firstly to present the profile of opinion amongst 366 respondents to the questionnaire and secondly to investigate whether any patterns are discernible within this group by examining whether TQA is viewed differently by different constituencies within the academic community. Implications for the future direction of quality assessment are discussed.     

The New Quality Assurance Arrangements in England and Wales

A new national quality assurance agency is about to commence operations. This article looks at the background to the new agency and at its immediate agenda, in which the recommendations of the National Committee of Inquiry into Higher Education ('The Dearing Committee' are likely to bulk large. The article suggests a number of issues which the new agency will need to resolve if it is to prove more durable than its predecessors, the Higher Education Quality Council and the Quality Assessment Divisions of the English and Welsh Higher Education Funding Councils.     

英国高等教育问责制及其启示

问责制是政府部门及社会机构或个人监督公立高校资源使用情况和效果的一项重要手段,它在英国高等教育管理体制中发挥着重要作用。在“以顾客为中心”的时代,高等学校需要回应各种各样的利益相关者的问责要求。然而,由于不同的利益相关者所提出的利益诉求不同,对各种不同的要求作出回应也给高校带来了不必要的负担。为了解决这一难题,英格兰高等教育基金委员会提出了有效问责的四个原则,并在实践中取得了良好的效果。     

从高等教育基金委员会看英国高校治理模式的创新

20世纪90年代,英国高等教育的治理模式发生了变革,1919年建立起的大学拨款委员会模式已经终结,取而代之的是新的基金委员会模式。基金委员会模式体现了英国高等教育治理的新思路,以英格兰地区的高等教育基金委员会最有代表性。该地区的高等教育基金委员会不但要求大学在财政方面积极承担绩效责任,而且在科研以及教学方面也对大学施加外在影响。基金委员会主要通过财政备忘录对大学进行财政风险评估。作为政府的代理机构,基金委员会有鲜明的商业特征,主要通过一系列审查和绩效问责措施促进高校治理变革。然而,基金委员会自身存在一些不足,需要进一步完善。     

The Quality of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education: Evaluating the Evidence

The issue of the quality of teaching in higher education is in the process of becoming a matter of greater public interest than hitherto. This paper concerns the evidence on which quality can be assessed. Drawing on the relevant literature from both the secondary and tertiary sectors of education, it reviews the types of evidence which are available. A critical analysis is offered of the extent to which each isolates teaching quality from distinct variables such as student characteristics and assessment standards. It is argued that quantitative approaches do not currently offer potential to assess teaching quality and are unlikely to do so given the current structure of higher education. The greatest promise lies in the external scrutiny recently instituted by the Higher Education Funding Councils and the Higher Education Quality Council. It is recommended that this scrutiny would be further strengthened by integrating the functions of these two authorities and by phasing out the use of numerical assessment scales in favour of wholly qualitative reporting.     

An Evaluation of the Impact of External Quality Monitoring on a Higher Education College (1993–98)

With the establishment, in August 1997, of a new UK‐wide Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education (QAA), it is timely to reflect on the impact of the two principal forms of external quality monitoring which the QAA has replaced. First, the quality assessment by the funding councils, whose five‐year cycle of teaching quality assessment in universities and colleges in Scotland and Wales, which commenced in 1993, is now complete. Second, institutional quality audits of universities and colleges, conducted by the Higher Education Quality Council (HEQC) between 1993 and 1997. This paper reports the results of a five‐year action research study conducted at a college of higher education. The particular focus of the study was on issues arising from the development and implementation of a quality assurance system at the study institution, and attempts to reconcile requirements for accountability and efforts to encourage quality improvement. The paper reviews and evaluates the impact of each of the forms of external monitoring, teaching quality assessment and institutional audit, on the study institution. Results are presented using qualitative and quantitative data drawn from external performance measures, such as the Scottish Higher Education Funding Council (SHEFC) and HEQC quality assessment and audit reports, and internal measures of staff experience and perceptions. Lessons are drawn in relation to perceived benefits, or otherwise, of external quality assessment and quality audit, and consideration is given to the implications which the findings have beyond the study institution and the Scottish higher education sector, and in particular for the newly established Quality Assurance Agency.     

The Restructuring of Higher Education in Economics

The changing structure of higher education in economics is discussed in the context of the dual elements of control exerted through the Universities Funding Council (UFC) research assessment exercises and the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) recognition exercises. The evidence points to a major restructuring taking place within the old university sector with the majority of economics departments making up a second 'mixed' tier while the new universities are primarily but not exclusively 'teaching' institutions. On the whole 'research' tier departments have achieved overall excellence but there are a few cases where a departments position is based on a specialist niche in the subject. While departmental size is linked to research output there is evidence of research excellence throughout the Higher Education (HE) sector and the paper argues against a severe rationalization of research funds. The significance of the changes for course delivery are briefly discussed.     

Embedding CETLs in a performance‐oriented culture in higher education: Reflections on finding creative space

This article offers insight into the realization of the Higher Education Funding Council for England's vision for Centres for Excellence in Teaching and Learning (CETLs) as catalysts for change. Two CETLs, the Centre for Interprofessional e‐Learning (CIPeL) and the Surrey Centre for Excellence in Professional Training and Education (SCEPTrE), provide illustrative cases of two similar but different change initiatives. CETLs might be expected to embody and inspire creativity in teaching and learning yet they are embedded in institutions where activities are increasingly shaped by the discourse of performativity. Findings from the two case studies, which focus on similar schemes designed to promote staff involvement in creative projects, challenge the suggestion that creativity is stifled in a performative context.     

英国国家创新战略中的高校科研评估制度改革

上世纪90年代以来,英国顺应国际潮流颁布了一系列文件以推动国家创新战略,重要内容之一是加大科研投资。在英国,非常重要的一条科研投资渠道是高等教育拨款委员会的拨款,而该项拨款的基础是科研评估制度。然而推行了20多年科研评估制度缺陷明显,主要表现为耗资巨大、指标落后、妨碍创新。为解决此问题,在2008年评估结束后,英国高等教育基金委员会决定对科研评估制度进行改革。改革体现在四个方面:缩减评价单元、更新评估指标、改变评估对象和转换评估方式等。其中最为重要的变革是科研成果影响力这一评价指标的引入,反映了英国推动科研成果转移速度、建设创新型国家的战略和决心。     

Institutional learning and teaching strategies in English higher education

In 1998 the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE)commissioned a survey of the extent to which institutional learning andteaching strategies were being used in English higher education. Thesurvey was seen by HEFCE as a necessary precursor to the enactment ofits policy decision to allocate a component of institutional funding onthe basis of the possession of (and subsequent activation of) aninstitutional learning and teaching strategy. Responses from 116institutions showed considerable variation in the extent to which theyhad developed a strategic approach to learning and teaching.Over the coming years there is likely to be a marked increase in thelevel and sophistication of strategic planning to develop learning andteaching across whole institutions. The article concludes by drawingupon the organisational development literature to suggest some ways inwhich this shift might be facilitated.     

UK initiatives to promote inclusion in higher education for students with disabilities

ABSTRACT

The inclusion in higher education of students with disabilities and learning difficulties has become a matter of concern within the past eight years. Recent Higher Education Funding Council initiatives to promote greater inclusion have had some success in improving access to higher education (HE) and raising awareness across the sector of the need to ensure full participation by students with disabilities in the learning environment once they enter the university. Hopes that the new UK disability rights legislation would help promote equality of access to HE were disappointed when it became apparent that the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 excluded education from its main provisions. The only requirement affecting post‐compulsory education is that institutions publish a statement on their provision for students with disabilities and learning difficulties. These disability statements confer no legal rights and it appeared that they would have little impact on access to HE for disabled people. This paper reports the findings of a survey of the anticipated effects upon the higher education sector in England of the requirement to produce disability statements. There may be some positive effects not only upon the nature and form of information available, but also on the provision offered in the sector.     

The New UKQuality Framework

In August 1997 the new Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education (QAA) took over the quality assurance functions of the Higher Education Quality Council (HEQC) and the Higher Education Funding Councils (HEFC). Just over two years later the QAA has announced the final important details of the new ‘Quality Framework’ which will operate in England and Northern Ireland from 2002 (in Scotland it will operate from the start of the 2000/01 academic year, the present time scale in Wales is uncertain). This article first describes the historical background to the new framework. It then outlines its main features. The main part of the article assesses the new framework against a number of ‘quality criteria’ derived from study of various external quality assurance regimes. The article raises questions in particular about the complexity and feasibility of the new framework and its ability in practice to produce reliable and consistent outcomes and about the extent to which it will accommodate increasing diversity of institutional mission and practice. It concludes that the QAA will face very considerable challenges in making the new framework effective and suitable to the rapidly changing nature of the provision it seeks to regulate.     

Developing and Piloting a Baselining Tool for Education for Sustainable Development and Global Citizenship (ESDGC) in Welsh Higher Education

Mainstreaming Education for Sustainable Development in higher education is vital if graduates are to possess the abilities, skills, and knowledge needed to tackle the sustainability issues of the future. In this article we explain the development and piloting of a baselining tool, the Education for Sustainable Development and Global Citizenship Development Framework, developed with support from the Higher Education Funding Council for Wales. We draw comparisons with the Sustainability, Tracking, Assessment and Rating System Program, developed by the North American Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education. The resulting framework offers consistency with existing Welsh Government strategic documentation, builds on increasing momentum, and has relevance across the higher education sector globally.     

Rewarding Excellent Teaching: The Translation of a Policy Initiative in the United Kingdom

The need to provide more significant rewards for ‘teaching excellence’ in order to provide parity of status with research in higher education has often been asserted. This paper examines ways in which the idea of rewarding excellent teaching has been understood and translated within a large teaching and learning initiative that was overtly based on rewarding and recognising excellent teaching. The initiative studied here, was the formation of 74 Centres for Excellence in Teaching and Learning, established by the Higher Education Funding Council for England in 2004. The findings are based on research that traced the ‘translation’ of this policy aim in 15 institutions. The research found that the process of translation resulted in multiple interpretations of this agenda, including some that rejected the notion completely, raising some pertinent questions about policy formation in relation in teaching and learning.