The Australian higher education quality assurance framework

The Australian government initiated a review of higher education in 2008. One of the outcomes of the review was the formation of a national regulator, the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency (TEQSA), with responsibilities to: register all higher education providers, accredit the courses of the non self-accrediting providers, assure quality against externally set standards and reduce risk by monitoring institutional performance on various measures. One of the key changes in Australian higher education quality assurance is the shift from a ‘fitness-for-purpose’ approach to quality assurance to a compliance-driven approach using an externally developed set of standards monitored by the national regulator, which has legislated powers to place sanctions on universities and other providers for non-compliance. This article outlines the new framework introduced by the government and analyses its limitations in assuring and improving quality in core and support areas. It cautions universities against being dominated by TEQSA's compliance agenda. Rather, it encourages the development and maintenance of shared governance principles and strong internal quality improvement processes along with the establishment of an outcomes focus, which will stand the test of external compliance auditing while allowing the institution to pursue its own educational objectives. The article is based on the authors’ experience and reflection on external, improvement-led quality audits in Australia over the past decade compared with the present compliance-oriented audits now required for institutional registration and ongoing accreditation.     

高等教育质量保证机制的国际比较

高等教育大众化在一些发达国家已成为现实，高等教育质量保证机制是确保大众化高等教育健康发展的必要途径。某些发达国家的高等教育保证机制主要有政府主导型、民间中介组织主导型和中介机构与院校的内部质量保证机制相结合型三种模式，几种模式各有利弊。我国建立高等教育质量保证机制对此应加以借鉴。     

Quality assurance in Australian higher education: Globalisation and `steering at a distance'

The complex and contested phenomenon of globalisation presents a fundamental challenge to higher education. Arguably, the development of quality assurance mechanisms during the 1990s and into the 2000s is one of the key globalising practices evident in many higher education sectors – in both developed and developing countries. However, there are still too few studies on the implications of globalisation processes grounded in detailed examinations of particular historical times and geographical spaces. It is important to investigate context-specific differences in potentially globalising policies and practices, rather than simply assuming global homogenisation. This paper offers an analysis of policy on quality assurance in Australian higher education over the last decade. It points to the changing discourses on `quality' over the period from a management device to a marketing device. It suggests that, in essence, quality assurance mechanisms have provided the government with an avenue for `steering at a distance', where the controls over universities and academics have not lessened but have changed form. The specific mechanisms used are both similar to, and different from, those evident in quality assurance policies in other higher education systems.     

Professionalism,profession and quality assurance practitioners in external quality assurance agencies in higher education

This article seeks to spark a dialectic discussion on the establishment of a set of professional competencies for quality assurance practitioners who serve in external quality assurance agencies in higher education. Such a need is identified due to the shortage of relevant and sufficient coverage in the quality assurance literature. To substantiate the need, the concepts of professionalism and profession, and how these concepts are linked to the quality assurance in higher education sector, are carefully examined through a desk-top research study. References are drawn from the experiences in several other occupations. The result reveals that the development of the essential competencies for external quality assurance practitioners in higher education is valuable and essential and it will be useful for the practitioners to transform themselves into a profession in the long run.     

The idea of quality in higher education: a conceptual approach

The paper suggests that the idea of quality in higher education is ideologically constructed and conducted. In a spiral of mutual reinforcements, quality regimes naturalise experience, while the theories of that practice legitimise the naturalness of ‘quality’. I shall suggest that quality regimes provide too narrow readings of higher education. The central concepts, which I propose to use – discourse and power – emphasise the connectedness of ideology and quality in higher education. In particular, I suggest that the ideological character of the idea of quality in higher education is evident in discourses – which themselves are interlinked in networks. These discourses and networks are backed up by power and this helps to sustain their ideological character. Thus, this paper attempts two things: to outline a conceptual framework concerning the ideological character of the idea of quality in higher education and to draw attention to the organisation of that ideological formation.     

Benchmarks and quality assurance for online course development in higher education

As online education has entered the main stream of the U.S. higher education, quality assurance in online course development has become a critical topic in distance education. This short article summarizes the major benchmarks related to online course development, listing and comparing the benchmarks of the National Education Association （NEA）, the benchmarks of the American Distance Education Consortium （ADEC）, the benchmarks of the American Federation of Teachers, and the benchmarks of the Quality Matters project. In doing so the author hopes to promote awareness of and commitment to quality assurance in online education.     

The contribution of professional accreditation to quality assurance in higher education

This article examines the extent to which the professional accreditation of professional higher education programmes can complement other quality assurance endeavours being carried out. An analysis of a sample of professional accreditation reports for pharmacy education programmes in Ireland provides insight into the priorities of the regulatory professional body with regard to preparation for the profession. The results show that the reports address issues that are of relevance for the higher education institutions’ provision of quality programmes and for their quality assurance. The article also considers the extent to which the reports hold institutions accountable against the professional standards, while also acknowledging the professional responsibility of institution staff. Catering for both of these logics is necessary so that professional accreditation can contribute effectively as a mechanism for quality assurance, including enhancement, in the institution.     

Quality assurance for public higher education: context,strategies and challenges in Kenya

Quality assurance (QA) mechanisms used to be highly dependent on national administrative traditions but nowadays there is a convergence of mechanisms. Compared to more developed higher education (HE) systems in the world, QA systems in Africa are still at an infant stage and thus confronted by many challenges. The purpose of this article is to present some of the findings derived from a study analysing the crucial issues and unique challenges facing Kenya's public HE as it struggles to develop QA mechanisms. Using purposive sampling, the researcher chose two public universities who indicated their willingness to participate and a national QA Agency (QAA). The study was done through in-depth interviews and a review of historical materials and records. Overall, respondents strongly emphasised the need for Kenyan universities to have compulsory and effective external and internal QA mechanisms. They indicated that the trends facing HE make it necessary for HE in Kenya to review their traditional QA structures and to create new systems of external QA. The numerous comments in this research indicate deficiency not only in the QAA focus and work but also in the internal QA frameworks within public universities.     

Nullifying quality: the marketisation of higher education

The increasing dominance of educational markets means that quality of higher education has the character of open signifiers of periodic occurrence, embedded institutionally as ways of consensual communication on how to go on as smoothly as possible. This promotes the growth of context dependent and local interpretations of how to meet in agreement regarding quality in everyday practices. All interpretations are contextualised and as a result are nullified outside the context in which they occur. Discourses on quality promote flexibility and create periodic legitimacy through discursive nullification processes. On the other hand, institutions have to adopt standards in education as a measure of outcome indicators for benchmarking. When quality is replaced by standards and if standards are equivalent to labour market relevance this might signal the beginning of overall external control over higher education. In the long run it will hardly benefit educational programmes if institutions of higher educations fail to ‘stand for’ quality that, in the very least, can supplement the fulfilment of politically determined targets and standards. In this way the market will have not only graduates who are going into employment but also engaged citizens who can transform and challenge the market.     

A strategic quality assurance framework in an African higher education context

This study is based on a pragmatist analysis of selected international accounts on quality assurance in higher education. A pragmatist perspective was used to conceptualise a logical internal quality assurance model to embed and support the alignment of graduate competencies in curriculum and assessment of Ghanaian polytechnics. Through focus group and in-depth interviews, the framework was evaluated by internal stakeholders including lecturers, students and administrators of the polytechnics. It was found that from a pragmatist perspective, quality assurance concepts and practices in higher education reported in the international literature could be used to design a context-specific quality assurance framework for higher education systems in Africa but there will be challenges with implementation of such a framework. The challenges found include quality culture and financial resources. Nonetheless, it was noted that effective planning and stakeholder commitment can surmount the challenges to ensure effective implementation of the framework to enhance quality.     

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.     

On the role of impact evaluation of quality assurance from the strategic perspective of quality assurance agencies in the European higher education area

In this paper the current national legislations, the quality assurance approaches and the activities of impact analysis of three quality assurance agencies from Romania, Spain and Germany are described from a strategic perspective. The analysis shows that the general methodologies (comprising, for example, self-evaluation reports, peer reviews, on-site visits, assessment reports, follow-up measures) and main subjects of quality assurance in higher education (such as study programmes and institutional structures and processes) are very similar in the sample cases. However, up to now, impact evaluation of quality assurance has not been implemented systematically in the sample agencies (as in many others). This is the more relevant since the European standards of quality assurance in higher education oblige quality assurance agencies to analyse their general findings and observe the effects of their activities. Against that background, it is argued that methodologically sound impact analyses of quality assurance interventions in higher education institutions should be seen as an integral part of the agencies’ own quality assurance because it would make their work more transparent and easier to improve systematically. The paper identifies some professionalisation needs required for impact evaluation competences: staff and peers who are qualified by methodological knowledge but also by ‘soft’ skills such as project and conflict management.     

高等教育质量的社会保障:特点、途径和实现条件

政府、社会和高校分别代表着高等教育运行过程中的三种基本力量,也是高等教育质量保障的三大基本主体。相对于政府和高校的质量保障,社会的质量保障主要通过市场经济引导、社会舆论监督、社会中介组织评价等途径来实现。要充分发挥社会力量在高等教育质量保障中的作用,政府的放权与高校的自治是前提,市场的完善与文化的先进是关键,社会力量的整合与引导是手段。     

我国高等教育质量保证模式的建构策略

我国现有的以政府控制为显著特征的高等教育质量保证模式,在实际运行中产生了理论和实践上的诸多问题,改革势在必行。应逐步实行市场化策略,培育与建立评估市场。政府应变“行政管理”为“政策调控”,变“统包统揽”为“多边共识”,高校应从他律走向自律,社会则应从缺席到参与。     

Impact evaluation of quality assurance in higher education: methodology and causal designs

In this paper, the theoretical perspectives and general methodological elements of impact evaluation of quality assurance in higher education institutions are discussed, which should be a cornerstone of quality development in higher education and contribute to improving the knowledge about the effectiveness (or ineffectiveness) of quality assurance. The suggested core methodology consists in comparative and longitudinal studies carried out simultaneously to the quality assurance interventions and relying on surveys and mixed methods. The methodology is applicable to any particular quality assurance procedure and any achievement area of higher education institutions. To round off the methodology presentation, an overview of causal designs, in particular causal social mechanisms, for impact analyses of quality assurance in higher education institutions and its challenges and limits is outlined and some characteristics of survey questionnaire construction are given.     

关于建设我国高等教育质量保证体系的若干思考

加强科学管理,建设科学完善的高等教育质量保证体系,是高等学校提高教学质量的重要措施之一。高等教育质量保证离不开教学评估。创新高等教育质量保证体系,应在对以往本科教学评估进行科学、系统评估(元评估)的基础上进行。高等教育质量保证体系由内部质量保证体系和外部质量保证体系构成,其中内部质量保证体系是基础,外部质量保证体系是动力。面对新的形势和环境的变化,我们应努力探索新的高等教育质量评估范式。     

International comparisons and trends in external quality assurance of higher education: Commonality or diversity?

The paper explores international comparisons ofthe extent of commonality or diversity in themain national external quality assuranceframeworks for higher education. It has beensuggested, from an European survey, that thereare common features in national qualityassurance frameworks (van Vught andWesterheijden (Quality Management and QualityAssurance in European Higher Education: Methodsand Mechanisms) 1993; Luxembourg, Commission ofthe European Communities, Education TrainingYouth). The paper extends the survey, tappingother comparative reports.These comparisons show that a `general model'of external quality assurance does notuniversally apply, but that most elements of itdo apply in most countries. We conclude thatthe `general model' provides a starting pointfrom which to map deviations. In each country,there may be specific additions of elements oromissions from the model, but more usuallythere are modifications or extensions ofelements. These variations are determined bypracticalities, the size of the highereducation sector, the rigidity/flexibility ofthe legal expression of quality assurance (orthe absence of enshrinement in law), and thestage of development from state control of thesector. Some additions to the `general model'are suggested.The paper also considers efforts to produce aninternational scheme for external qualityassurance of higher education, and theapplicability of the `general model' to thetransfer of quality assurance frameworks fromcountry to country.     

Mediatizing higher education policies: discourses about quality education in the media

This article presents a critical–political discourse analysis of the media debate over quality assurance in higher education, which occurred in Chile after the 2011 student movement. Students criticized the privatization of higher education and the multiple flaws of this sector, which included corruption scandals during the process of quality assurance certification. After the end of the movement, the government announced a new quality assurance system, triggering public discussion over this issue in the media. The most influential newspapers and educational authorities participated actively in this debate. Through editorials and columns, these education agents constructed quality assurance discursively as a domain for experts, who have to design and administer quality standards for all educational institutions and actions. These procedures regulate and discipline educational practices, but professors and students are excluded from this debate. Thus, this quality assurance discussion reproduces the traditional neoliberal power relations in education and does not problematize the role of education in society.     

Reception of the quality assurance commitments of the Bologna process in Finnish higher education institutions

This article analyses Finnish higher education institutions’ reception of the implementation of the new quality assurance systems that governments participating in the Bologna Process have committed to establishing in the Berlin Communiqué of 2003. The data were collected using a web survey and the respondents were classified with a cluster analysis. The reception was more positive in the polytechnics than in the research universities and women were more positive than men. People working in managerial positions were most positive about, and committed to, quality assurance. Most critical were young researchers in research universities working in temporary jobs. Some opinions were so strongly shared that respondents with short work experience expressed their opinions, even though they could not have personal experience of the topic in question. For some topics, respondents without personal experience, but having a critical attitude, tended to give their opinion whereas those with neutral attitude abstained from commenting.