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.     

Stakeholder relationships in higher education

Tertiary Education and Management - The purpose of this study is to develop a stakeholder map to describe the most important stakeholders and the process of stakeholder relationships in higher...     

Quality assurance in Europe and the U.S.: Professional and political economic framing of higher education policy

In this article we study globalization in termsof the diffusion of quality assurance modelsand practices between two ``core' regions, theU.S. and Europe, as well as within Europe,concentrating particularly on Germany andAustria. We examine the timing of theemergence and diffusion of quality assuranceand relatedly of strategic managementpractices. We then consider the prominence ofU.S. models and voices in Europe, addressingthe professional and political economic framingof higher education policies. Finally, weexplore local variations in the meanings andpractices of quality assurance and strategicmanagement. We emphasize the ways in which inthese ``core' settings, professionals areimplicated in the diffusion and adaptation ofpolicies and practices in higher education,even as their activities are shaped by largerstructures of global professional and politicaleconomies.     

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.     

平衡计分卡在示范建设项目绩效管理中的应用

根据平衡计分卡的基本原理,结合示范院校建设项目绩效管理的实践,将示范建设项目目标转化为包括财务、客户、内部流程、学习提高等具体因素在内的绩效考核框架,以期为示范院校的绩效管理提供实用参考。     

平衡计分卡在中国饭店业的应用

平衡计分卡作为一种以信息为基础、将企业战略目标与企业业绩驱动因素相结合的战略管理系统,可以帮助企业实现四个方面的平衡：财务与非财务的平衡、内部与外部的平衡、长期与短期的平衡以及提前与滞后的平衡。中国饭店在应用平衡计分卡时应注意加强对管理层的培训,建立适合饭店自身发展的评价体系,加强对国有饭店体制的改革,加强饭店部门之间的沟通,建立协调的组织结构,加强高层管理者的参与力度。     

基于BSC的企业战略业绩评价研究——以W通信股份有限公司为例

本文通过介绍W通信公司竞争战略以及为实现战略目标构建的基于平衡计分卡的战略业绩评价体系实际案例,分析个案在战略业绩评价指标设置上存在的主要问题,最后根据平衡计分卡原理和战略目标对战略业绩评价指标提出改进建议。     

Stakeholders integration in higher education: supply chain approach

Supply chain management principles have emerged in the last decade as a strategic option to meet new challenges in global business environment. Viewing business environment as part of a chain, starting from raw material suppliers to end customers passing by producers, is at the heart of supply-chain management. Many management principles have emerged for better planning and controlling this chain to the benefit of all parties involved. This paper explores the implications of supply-chain management principles on higher education. First, a supply-chain view of higher education is described and its environment is analysed for the possibility of adopting supply-chain principles. Features that might be catalysts or hurdles towards these principles are identified. Second, a framework for supply-chain coordination and integration in higher education that takes into consideration these features are developed. Finally, existing practices that address supply-chain in higher education are identified and some new practices representing a natural extension of supply-chain management practices are suggested. A potential case study for implementing these concepts is presented.     

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.     

Embedding external referencing of standards into higher education: collaborative relationships are the key

External referencing of assessment and students’ achievement standards is a growing priority area within higher education, which is being pressured by government requirements to evidence outcome attainment. External referencing benefits stakeholders connected to higher education by helping to assure that assessments and standards within courses are appropriate and comparable among institutions. External referencing takes many forms, which have different resourcing requirements, outcomes, and operational strengths and challenges. This paper describes the External Referencing of Standards (ERoS) approach developed, tested and adopted by a university consortium. ERoS draws on the strengths of existing methodologies to produce an evolved model that is effective, efficient, transparent and open, capability building and sustainable. The model enables participants to communicate directly and construct peer relationships, and findings suggest this is a significant design strength. The process facilitates capability building, such that participants garnered insights valuable to enact quality assurance and enhancement of existing courses, and fosters connections that facilitate collaboration and peer-learning. ERoS successfully used open source collaborative tools to review work samples, which can be used to benchmark costed systems.     

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.     

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.     

平衡计分卡在河北省高校绩效管理中的应用

平衡计分卡着眼于组织的长远战略,重视非财务指标的管理,对于高校具有较强的适用性。将平衡计分卡引入高校,需在明确高校自身发展定位的基础上,从财务、客户、内部业务流程、学习和创新等四个方面构建平衡计分卡的评价指标体系。     

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.     

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 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.     

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.     

国有高等教育质量管理体系构建问题之我见

针对众多高校采用传统教育质量管理模式而问题突出的情形,提出应借鉴ISO9000族标准中蕴涵的现代教育质量观,构建国有高等教育质量管理体系以利于其发展的观点;同时,对构建过程中应关注的问题作了探讨.     

US accreditation in Mexico: quality in higher education as symbol,performance and translation

Quality practices in higher education involve more than mere compliance with standards and technical mandates; given the complexity of the decisions involved in quality in higher education, this concept, quality, can be analyzed as symbol and performance. This paper utilizes translation as heuristic to analyze the implementation of US institutional accreditation in Mexico. Such analysis unearths the power relations that underpin the emergent internationalization of quality practices in higher education.