Ten years of external quality audit in Australia: evaluating its effectiveness and success

External quality audits are now being used in universities across the world to improve quality assurance, accountability for quality education and transparency of public funding of higher education. Some countries such as Australia, New Zealand, United Kingdom, Sweden and Denmark have had external quality audits for more than a decade but there has been limited research as to their impact. This study analyses the extent to which external audits in Australia have improved quality assurance in universities over the past 10 years. The analysis is based on discussions with 40 participants in a workshop on the effectiveness of audits and the review of 60 external quality audit reports between 2001 and December 2010. The research found that while external audits have led to an improvement in systems and processes in Australian universities, they have not necessarily improved the student experience. This lack of impact on the student experience in Australia is similar to other countries, according to the literature review. This study is timely in its analysis on the effectiveness of the current improvement-led audits, as government in Australia is in the process of renewing quality assurance arrangements of higher education institutions with a focus on standards and outcomes.     

Producing PhD Graduates in Australia for the Knowledge Economy

Using survey and interview data on PhD student course experience, career plans and views on university-industry research links, this paper evaluates the success of Australian research-intensive universities in producing PhD graduates for the knowledge economy. Student satisfaction with their course experience is surprisingly low and this appears to be strongly linked with the quality and effectiveness of thesis supervision. Although the PhD degree is meant to provide high level research career training, only slightly more than half the respondents expect to follow research careers. Many PhD students have negative views about academic careers based particularly on their perceptions of the impact of reduced government funding levels on universities and the increased workload pressures on supervisors. On the other hand, a high proportion of students hold positive views about university-industry research links, with students with industry research funding showing higher levels of course satisfaction than other students.     

A study of student completion strategies in a Likert-type course evaluation survey

This article investigates the motivations and strategies employed by respondents to a Likert-style course evaluation at a UK university. These attitude surveys, generating large amounts of quantitative data, are commonly used in quality assurance procedures across UK higher education institutions. Similar student survey results are now scrutinised by regulatory bodies undertaking external inspections, and by prospective students when making choices about their course and university of study. For respondents, I argue that the ubiquity of such evaluations has led to complacency, misunderstanding and apathy, with the adoption of completion strategies that lack deep engagement. This research also reveals that the recollection of specific key events and the existence of personal relationships are the strongest influencers in respondents allocating an attitude score. I conclude that the distinction between formative and summative evaluation could be articulated more explicitly to respondents, and that to genuinely inform future teaching and enhance satisfaction for respondents, substantive qualitative comments should be sought alongside attitudinal scoring.     

Preparing teacher candidates for family–school partnerships

Previous research indicates that, while parent involvement promotes student achievement, how teacher candidates are prepared to establish family–school partnerships (FSP) is not well documented and the roles of teacher educators are often neglected. Explorative studies including curriculum analysis and focus groups of primary and secondary teacher candidates and teacher educators were conducted in three universities, one each in the Netherlands, Belgium and the USA. Data collection was designed to identify opinions towards FSP and perceived preparation for FSP. The programmes showed limited attention to aspects other than communication and FSP was not assessed. The findings indicate training is largely dependent upon the proclivities of individual teacher educators. Although all respondents acknowledged the importance of FSP, respondents of primary education held a more positive attitude towards parents than others. Hardly any differences were found between the views of candidates and educators, regardless of the programme they followed or taught.     

欧洲大学内部质量保障体系的构建及评价

欧洲大学自20世纪80年代开始建立质量保障体系,对于提升高等教育质量起到了重要作用。许多大学在界定质量保障体系的内涵、建立校内质量保障机构、制定和实施专业标准等方面积累了丰富的经验。为使大学内部质量保障体系更加完善,欧洲一些国家开始建立科学的评价指标,采取系统的评价程序,实施周期性的现场巡查,提供及时的评价报告和改革建议。     

民办本科艺术类高校教学质量保障体系研究

教学质量是高校生存和发展之本,各级各类高校都把教学质量作为工作的重点来抓,多数高校也形成了适应自己特点的教学质量保障模式和体系。民办的、艺术类的本科院校作为我国高校近几年的新类型,有着自己独一无二的特点。如何合理借鉴其他院校的成熟经验,结合自身特点,形成适应此类院校的教学质量保障体系,是本课题研究的理论意义和现实意义所在。     

The role of external experts’ intervention in higher education institutions for radical change

This paper focuses on the way lecturers observe, feel restrained by and cope with quality management systems that have been implemented in the higher education systems of the United Kingdom and the Netherlands. As two sides of the same coin, quality enhancement and quality control are of increased significance in European Higher Educaction Institutions (HEIs), particularly through the Bologna Process. We are interested in the way that both enhancement and control blend into the current systems, and we are concerned for too much dominance of control, as has been suggested in recent managerial literature. Analysis of 40 interviews in both countries among researchers and lecturers in traditional and universities of applied sciences showed many similarities. It is not so much the general idea of quality management that is being turned down by the respondents. They see the benefits quite clearly. Still, the general belief is that quality management in its current shape and character does not fit with the work of the individual academic, neither their teaching nor their research. The respondents worry for and resent the consequences of increased emphasis on quality assurance and control. The developments concerning the quality management of their HEIs are perceived in terms of quality assurance by the UK respondents. Instead, the Dutch are more occupied with finding ways to “how to deal with” such developments.     

The working classes and higher education: Meritocratic fallacies of upward mobility in the United Kingdom

The uniformly positive view of social mobility in the United Kingdom overlooks the difficulties working‐class young people have in reconciling a working‐class background with the middle‐class environments of the university and the professional labour market. But even more hidden are the subtle processes of exclusion and exclusivity that permeate social life in, particularly, the elite universities. Here, working‐class students' marginalisation in relation to advantageous social activities and networks, compromises their chances of later success in the labour market. This paper scrutinises working‐class students' experiences of elite higher education through the lens of Bourdieu's concepts of habitus, capitals and field. Drawing on a research project on working‐class young people who gain entry to elite universities it analyses the disjunctures between working‐class habitus and the field of elite higher education, focusing on the emotional and social consequences for working‐class students. The findings raise concerns—largely unexplored in existing research—about working‐class reception in elite fields. The paper concludes with a call to look beyond the attitudes and actions of working‐class students to those of their upper‐ and middle‐class peers, and the culture and ethos of the elite universities.     

台湾高等教育投资与薪资所得之实证模型验证

根据人力资本理论的论述,教育投资可以累积资本存量,提高劳动生产力,增加劳动者薪资所得。然而,教育投资是否"一定"促进经济发展并提高个人薪资所得呢?台湾自1992～2001年间共增加了90多所大学院校。其中又以专科学校升格为技术学院或科技大学占大宗,共计60余所。然而,随着台湾快速扩充大学校院的同时,亦出现了平均失业率提升、向东南亚等国引进外籍劳工不断增加之现象。本研究即针对台湾高等教育扩张前期的1992年与后期的2001年两个时点,利用Mincer的"薪资所得函数"加以扩充,来解释当前台湾人力资本投资与薪资所得之间的关系。结果发现,学校教育年数与工作经验年数的增加都能提高薪资所得水准,而且在高等教育扩张后,教育程度对薪资所得之影响日益重要。此一结果显示,就台湾目前状况,不论是追求整体经济社会之经济进步,抑或追求个人薪资所得水准的提升,教育投资仍为一个有效政策,而高等教育扩张(包括技专校院)确实具有其空间。因此,1992～2001年间大幅将专科学校升格为技术学院或科技大学政策显然有其正面意义。     

新疆维吾尔族民考民大学生的双语态度

通过问卷调查方式,考察了乌鲁木齐市三所高校的220名维吾尔族民考民大学生的双语态度。分析结果显示,维吾尔族民考民大学生对自己本民族语言有高度的认同感,对汉语也高度认可和接受。被调查者有学好民汉双语的愿望。总之。维吾尔族民考民大学生对维吾尔语和汉语都持肯定态度。     

Facilitating action research: reflections on the challenges and opportunities faced by a doctoral researcher engaged in education for sustainable development

ABSTRACT

Many universities have signed international and national declarations that have publicly committed them to embed sustainability within education, research, outreach and management operations. To date, research has focused on examples of good practice and case studies. Little research exists that has looked at the change process itself. This paper is based on a doctoral study conducted at the University of Southampton in which a doctoral student was engaged as a facilitator and critical friend for a period of more than one and a half years working with a group of staff and students trying to embed sustainability within the institution. In this paper, evidence is provided on the impact and contributions made by the critical friend and facilitator role, and reflections presented on the challenges and opportunities the doctoral researcher encountered during the research.     

高等教育的质量保证与质量提高——与巴奈特教授的对话

质量保证与质量提高是两个不同的阶段。大学只有在质量保证的情况下才能进入质量提高阶段。英国的大学非常重视质量的保证,并采取了诸多措施,特别注重学校在质量保证中的主体作用,注重每一门课程的质量保证。目前英国的大学已逐步进入质量提高阶段,高等教育的管理也因此发生了相应的变化,其做法值得我国借鉴。     

论高校教学质量保障组织体系建设

教育教学质量是高等学校的生命线,科学有效、良好运行的教学质量保障体系是培养合格人才的保证,建立和完善高校内部教育教学质量保障组织体系,是实现教学质量保障的基础和先导。借鉴国外先进质量管理经验,结合学校实际,构建教育教学质量保障组织体系,能有效促进学校质量文化氛围建设,促进教学质量、教学水平的提高和可持续发展．     

Quality Assurance in Higher Education in Developing Countries

In recent years universities in developing countries have followed their counterparts in developed countries in adopting quality assurance to improve the quality of their teaching, research and direct community service programmes. While many of the conditions required for the successful implementation of quality assurance programmes are not present in most universities in developing countries, their adoption will still be useful. Such programmes show how a university's seemingly disparate activities are related to one another to serve a common cause and how the quality of these can best be improved by adopting an integrated approach. In the process, they provide more focus and direction to the work of the traditional academic committee system. However, the quality assurance programmes must be modified to suit the conditions prevailing in developing countries, by being simple in design, modest in expectations, and realistic in requirements.     

Strengthening internal quality assurance as a lever for enhancing student learning experiences and academic success: lessons from Namibia

Higher education plays an important role in the social, economic and political development of any given nation. In the Namibian context, quality assurance systems have been put in place at both national and institutional levels through the establishment of national quality assurance agencies and units responsible for quality in institutions. A critical literature analysis of quality assurance systems in higher education shows that although they claim to strike a balance between improvement and accountability, external quality assurance mechanisms tend to have an accountability and compliance focus and to promote managerialisation and bureaucratisation of academia. This article argues that internal quality assurance systems, built on a strong quality culture, tend to be more effective in enhancing the quality of student learning experience and academic success than externally driven quality assurance. Thus, to promote genuine quality, more energy must be invested in external quality assurance capacitating and strengthening internal quality assurance systems.     

University‐Industry Research Partnerships in Australia: Extent,benefits and risks

While official reviews have concluded that Commonwealth Government programs to encourage university - industry research links have been largely successful, studies are needed to explore the extent and nature of such partnerships, and their effects within universities. Further, sections of the academic community and major media warn that industry links and university commercialisation efforts threaten traditional research and scientific values, and accepted norms of academic life including academic freedom. Survey data reported in the paper show that, on balance, industry - research links are working reasonably well for Australian science and technology academics. Some 36.7% of respondents in our sample drawn from three major Australian universities received industry research support and this group tended to be better qualified, more senior and more productive in research than academics without such partnerships. Respondents generally were well aware of both the benefits and risks of industry funding. On the positive side, respondents identified the main benefits as the provision of additional resources, support and enhanced career opportunities for students, opportunities to apply basic research results to industrial problems, less red tape than with government funding, and enhanced university prestige. On the negative side, respondents were concerned about threats to research autonomy, undesirable consequences associated with the commercialisation of knowledge, the low intellectual level of some contract work, reduced time of talented researchers available for teaching, and pressures on researchers to spend increased time on commercial activities.     

A comparison of three major instruments used for the assessment of university student experience: Toward a comprehensive and distributed approach

Higher education's rapid expansion is paired with growing social expectations of its benefits and concern on its teaching quality. In response to these, institutional/national surveys based on an array of theories are widely used in universities for quality assurance, enhancement, and benchmarking. This paper reviews three major types of instruments used for such purposes, including two distinct schools of theory that have guided the development of such assessment in the United States, Australia and the United Kingdom and then spread to the other parts of the world. The theories shaping the development of the two instruments, the dimensions assessed, and the challenges and criticisms involved when using such instruments for quality assurance are each discussed. This review concludes with a call for comparisons of different lines of research in this area, discussions on student learning experience that include more diverse characterizations of student experience across different educational contexts, development of tools to enable distributed leadership among teachers, and encouragement of students as partners for quality enhancement in higher education.     

党委书记任职经历对地方高校治理水平的影响——基于某省地方高校的实证分析

高校党委书记在高校治理中有着重要的地位与作用。借助高阶理论,基于我国中部某省省属公办本科高校党委书记任职经历和对高校章程实施情况开展专项督导的相关数据,实证分析高校党委书记的任职经历对其任职高校治理水平的影响。研究表明：地方高校党委书记的任职经历中,时任年龄、是否担任过校长、是否有海外经历、曾任副校级岗位个数对其任职高校的治理水平无明显影响;党委书记从上一层次高校调入的高校比党委书记从同一层次或低一层次高校调入的高校治理水平高;党委书记从高等教育系统内提拔的高校比党委书记从系统外调入的高校治理水平高;党委书记曾任职的单位越多,其所在高校治理水平的评分越低。研究结论对于提升我国地方高校治理水平与高校党委书记队伍建设具有积极的实践意义。     

Quality assurance in Australian higher education: historical and future development

Higher education policies related to quality assurance are implemented in many countries. The purposes of such policies are to ensure the provision for high-quality education, university accountability and transparency in the use of public funding and meeting the needs of the diverse stakeholders. The current Australian Higher Education Quality Assurance Framework was implemented in the year 2000. It can be described that the framework has been enjoyed by universities, academics and other providers in Australia. This paper provides a brief history of quality assurance, its evolution in higher education in Australia and current changes and trends in quality assurance in other developed countries. It then provides an analysis of the success and deficiencies of the current framework used in Australia and suggestions which may be helpful in the development of the new framework. The analysis includes the thoughts of the three authors based on their experience in managing quality and reviews in seven different institutions and the views of more than 40 participants who are staff members from 25 Australian universities.     

A key to the future: the attitudes and values of adolescent Europeans

Based on original empirical data collected from adolescents in Europe (N = 9003) this paper focuses the lifeworlds of young people. It analyses negative and positive patterns of attitude and combines them with further concepts: personal life perspectives, various key values and political attitudes. Technically, the attitude towards Europe acts as the dependent variable whereas the remaining concepts are used as independent variables. The empirical results show Turkish and Polish adolescents are more critical towards Europe than adolescents living in ‘old’ Europe. Furthermore, the data show that those who hold negative expectations about their personal futures are likely also to be Eurosceptical.