A critical analysis of the INQAAHE Guidelines of Good Practice for higher education quality assurance agencies

The International Network of Quality Assurance Agencies in Higher Education’s Guidelines of Good Practice by higher education quality assurance agencies need substantial revision before they can be considered adequate by stakeholders in any national higher education system. Various revisions are proposed in this article. But the International Network of Quality Assurance Agencies in Higher Education also argues that adoption of its Guidelines of Good Practice has international significance in that the decisions about higher education quality made by agencies which comply with them can be accepted at face value universally. This conclusion, however, cannot be accepted until the Guidelines of Good Practice are amended to address the processes whereby each agency can become comfortable with the criteria and standards which the others impose in their respective jurisdictions. This article also maintains that, even if the Guidelines of Good Practice were technically perfect, agencies and/or governments ought to subject any proposals for their implementation to the discipline of rigorous risk management processes.

Achieving quality education for minorities in mathematics,science, and engineering

The QEM Network was established to serve as a focal point for the implementation of strategies designed to achieve the six goals and 58 recommendations of the QEM Project report,Education That Works: An Action Plan for the Education of Minorities. InEducation That Works, we lay out a vision of a restructured education system that would ensure quality education for, and sustained educational achievement by, minority Americans. We discuss what some of the obstacles are that stand in the way of educational equity in our nation and why it is crucial from both moral and practical perspectives to overcome these obstacles. In a second publication,Together We Can Make It Work: A National Agenda to Provide Quality Education for Minorities in Mathematics, Science, and Engineering, issued in April 1992 by QEM's MSE Network, we lay out a plan for achieving specific goals for minorities in mathematics, science, and engineering. Achieving the goals ofEducation That Works and of Together We Can Make It Work requires that the current K-12 education system be totally restructured. The system we have in place produces only an educational elite that does not include significant numbers of minority students.     

中泰高等教育合作交流进展与挑战

高等教育国际化是一国文化软实力建设的重要表征和关键途径。本研究采用混合研究方法,通过分析中泰高等教育合作交流中的科研合作、学生流动和机构合作情况发现,当前中泰高等教育合作交流已取得重要进展,两国在人文社科和艺术领域蕴藏巨大合作潜力,中国经济的高速发展和中泰经贸合作的良好态势、丰厚的奖学金项目、中国高校的国际化视野是吸引泰国学生的潜在增长点;存在中国高等教育现有实力对泰国学生的吸引力相对不足,中泰高校在高等教育合作中的活动空间还极为有限等一些亟待突破的瓶颈。新时代深化中泰高等教育合作交流要扩大人文社科和艺术领域合作,增进中泰文化交流与互信;提高留学生质量和管理水平,坚定不移地走高等教育国际化发展道路;充分发挥高校在中泰高等教育合作中的能动作用。     

The impact of education reform on the quality assurance system in Japan

International assessment studies have shown since decades that Japanese students score highly on math and science tests. As a consequence, many scholars, education policy officials and journalists outside Japan share the opinion that quality of education is ensured and turn to the Japanese educational system to identify educational effectiveness enhancing factors. Simultaneously, a sense of educational crisis exists within Japan, which resulted into numerous education reforms. In this paper, we describe how quality in education has been ensured in Japan, what changes in the assurance of quality are brought forth by the most recent wave of reform measures as well as the reaction of scholars toward these measures.     

Taking stock of sustainability in higher education: a review of the policy literature

Abstract

This paper provides a review of the current literature that examines the uptake of sustainability policies in higher education. Articles were retrieved from both ERIC and Scopus databases and then manually reviewed to ensure that they focused on each of: higher education; sustainability; and policy. A total of 91 articles were analysed using a multi-stage process that involved sorting data according to typologies (i.e. temporal, terminology, methodology, geography), coding the text of the articles based on topical content, and an indexing method used to label data for further analysis and the development of broader code categories. Results suggest that drivers and barriers associated with the integration of sustainability policy in higher education are well known; yet increased research is needed to understand best practices and processes by which sustainability can be furthered through higher education policy. In addition, findings demonstrate the need for future research to focus on various aspects of the policy process, including policy development and enactment, and on implications of policy for practice. While there have been some reviews of sustainability policy in higher education research to date, this review contributes to this literature by highlighting research primarily focused on sustainability policy within higher education.     

Provision of quality education in the context of Syrian refugee children in the UK: opportunities and challenges

Abstract

While existing research has shown the importance of the three interrelated domains of the wider policy, the school and home/community environments in the development of quality education for learners, this literature does not fully capture the experiences of the refugee population. In this article we focus on a group of Syrian refugees who came as part of the first large cohort that was welcomed in the UK in December 2015. We adapt Tikly’s quality education frameworks and develop a model that highlights not only the importance of the three intersecting environments, but also the specific inputs/processes that are critical to achieving quality education for refugees. In so doing, we stress the critical role of English as a tool for refugee children’s inclusion and integration in schools. Consequently, the contribution of the paper is an understanding of the inputs/processes that are key to the development of quality education for migrant/refugee children.     

Making the transition to post-secondary education: opportunities and challenges experienced by students with ASD in the Republic of Ireland

Abstract

Internationally there are increasing numbers of young people on the ASD spectrum attending higher education. Early transition planning is essential and students with ASD often require support to articulate their post-school educational goals and actively participate in transition planning meetings. Services within higher education are primarily designed to provide academic supports however, non-academic supports may be an even more crucial factor in enabling successful transitions for young people on the ASD spectrum who often experience heightened anxiety within an unfamiliar environment. Within this paper, the results of a small-scale exploratory study of the transition experiences of six young people on the ASD spectrum to post-secondary education will be shared. There was limited evidence that transition planning had been initiated as a formal process for the six students. Accessing support in higher education proved to be a complex process for some students who required sustained input from parents to ensure that they would utilise the supports available. Encouraging the development of self-determination skills, a key predictor of success in higher education, needs to begin in secondary school. It is anticipated insights from this study can contribute to the development of an embedded infrastructure to support effective transitions for students with ASD to post-secondary education.     

Becoming a teacher: the thoughts of undergraduates training to work in Primary Education and ideas for their university education

ABSTRACT

What makes a good teacher and what motivates a person to want to teach are timeless questions that concern us all. This study focuses on those who are currently training to become teachers, more specifically undergraduates studying a degree in Primary Education in the universities of Catalonia. It adopts a quantitative methodology based on a self-administered questionnaire conducted with a representative sample. Participants’ open-ended responses are recorded and codified. Three main categories are constructed: personal, authentic teacher; the teacher as story teller; and, the teacher as motivator of learning. Results highlight important differences between these categories, extolling above all the authentic, personal teacher, who leaves a mark thanks to their character and way of being. This, together with other findings, raises various considerations for the university training of future teachers.     

高职教育“服务贡献”评价指标体系的构建与反思——基于《中国高等职业教育质量年度报告》的分析

"服务贡献"被纳入高等职业教育质量评价体系是高等职业教育的本质使然,也是高等职业教育的实践表现,更是我国高等职业教育评价的重要内容。"服务贡献"在《中国高等职业教育质量年度报告》的指标体系中具有一定的稳定性,测量指标的设置具有动态发展性与导向性特征。从未来发展角度来看,对高等职业教育"服务贡献"的评价指标可以进一步细化与特色化,增强评价指标体系的客户立场,同时适当增加非量化与过程性的评价指标。     

Higher education marketisation and its discontents: the case of quality in Kenya

This study addresses the implications of higher education marketisation for quality in Kenya. It focuses on full fee-paying programmes, the de facto market source of revenue for Kenya’s public universities. The study argues that Kenya’s public universities were precipitately subjected to diminished public capitation, and so was their plunging into marketisation. These institutions started enrolling full fee-paying students at a time when they were strained in terms of institutional capacity. There were not enough physical facilities, and most of those available were suffering decay following many years of neglect. They did not have enough teaching staff, a problem, which the marketisation agenda has made worse. The desire to claim a bigger share in the student market has seen the introduction of many new courses in advance of capacity to offer them. The study concludes that by seeking economic self-determination through full fee-paying programmes, in advance of a well-developed institutional capacity, the subsequent pressure seems to have made the quality situation worse.     

论学生评教及高校教学质量保障体系的改善

学生评教是高校教学质量保障的一项根本制度,它的建立使学生拥有了表达教学意愿的常规渠道,有助于高校树立服务学生的办学宗旨。我国高校开展学生评教工作的时间不长,在实际工作中还存在学生代人评教、形式意义大于实质意义、评教结果被误用、制度设计存在漏洞等问题。为此,应从树立正确的学生评教观、构建科学的学生评教制度、借鉴国外的先进经验等方面,改进我国高校的学生评教制度,完善我国高校教学质量保障体系。     

Seven keys for implementing the self-evaluation,periodic evaluation and accreditation (AVA) method,to improve quality and student satisfaction in the Italian higher education system

This paper develops a theoretical framework that could facilitate the application of the Autovalutazione, Valutazione periodica, Accreditamento (AVA) method in Italian universities, trying to simplify the use of this approach, and to cover the existing gap between Italy and others European academic institutions. The new competitive environment in the academic system has created a reality where customers compare the ‘knowledge value’ that they are likely to receive in each academic institution. Quality in education is nowadays fundamental and student satisfaction is one of its main dimensions. There is an emphasis on service that meets the students’ needs and expectations, problem-solving processes based on facts, feedback systems and statistical methods and improvement of processes and systems by collaboration and involvement. Starting from 2013, all Italian universities are obliged by law to adopt the AVA method [Self-Evaluation, Periodic Evaluation and Accreditation], a system of activities carried out by the National Agency for the Evaluation of Universities and Research Institutes (ANVUR).     

Tensions between the global and the local: A comparative illustration of the reorganisation of China's higher education in the 1950s and 1990s

The phenomena of internationalisation andglobalisation are becoming major domains ofcomparative educational enquiry. The relationshipbetween them has attracted increasing interest. Ideasof globalisation are implemented only under specificinstitutional conditions. Globalisation, which hasraised a range of important issues, offers newpossibilities and raises increasingly complex problemsfor educational researchers and policy-makers. Forexample, the interpenetration of the universal and theparticular is complicated and difficult, while notionsof economic globalisation also increasingly affecteducation. A comparative analysis of thereorganisation of China's higher education in the1950s and 1990s is conducted, to illustrate theemergence of local-global relations; this demonstrateshow universalising tendencies are articulated throughChina's particular framework in developing its highereducation system. It shows that while theglobalisation imperative is being imposed, it may alsocreate opportunities for institutions to resistcertain global trends in favour of local values.Through an illustration of China's struggle toreconcile the local and the global respectively in the1950s and the 1990s, this article stresses thetensions between globalisation andinternationalisation within the process of policyimplementation in China's higher education reforms.     

The value of the academic award in initial teacher education: key stakeholder perceptions of the masters level Postgraduate Certificate in Education in two English universities

The Postgraduate Certificate in Education (PGCE) has been a successful and popular initial teacher education (ITE) programme since the 1950s, with the masters level PGCE being successfully embedded within universities in England since 2007 and having high levels of student satisfaction. Recent White Papers, policy and reviews have undermined the academic award in ITE, however, favouring school-led initial teacher training and the minimum, essential professional award. Located within the Secondary ITE phase in two English universities, this article presents the value of studying education and the academic award at pre-service level via key stakeholder perceptions from interviews with teacher–educators and student–teachers within a case study. Findings highlight improvements to student–teachers’ knowledge and practice; enjoyment in working at a higher academic level; improvements to the ITE programme overall, including student–teacher support and student–teachers’ articulation of knowledge and practice; and enhanced opportunities for employability, career advancement and gaining a Master’s degree.     

Towards a critical re-conceptualization of the purpose of higher education: the role of Ubuntu-Currere in re-imagining teaching and learning in South African higher education

ABSTRACT

The 2015–2016 South African higher education students’ movement proved historical for our country in bringing to our dinner tables: issues of higher education transformation and decolonisation; institutional culture(s); curriculum reform; the need to foreground and make inclusive assessment in education; the coloniality in our knowledge production, and more. Influenced by the emergence of the student movements and the critique they have brought to South African higher education, we bring to the fore the often silent critical reflections on the purposes of higher education in general, and in South Africa especially, as they relate to teaching and learning. We propose that the purposes of higher education in relation to teaching and learning ought to respond to (1) context, (2) democratic difference, and (3) cosmopolitan perspectives. We argue that discourses, phases and logics about South African higher education have tended to disregard and, at times, blur the context and differences as well as cosmopolitan perspectives. Using the notion of Ubuntu-Currere, we re-imagine how teaching and learning could respond to context, difference and cosmopolitanism with examples from the South African higher education experience.