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Quality Assurance in Higher Education – its Global Future
Richard Lewis
OECD/France International Conference8 – 9 December 2008
Conservatoire National des Arts et MétiersParis
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Outline of Presentation
• Where we are
• Where we are going
• Where we might be going
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Where we were
Historically Higher Education (or rather Universities) were very special. No external QA (checks on whether a good job was being done) or internal QA (other than at the original appointment of teaching staff). Why
• Protection of academic freedom• Who is knowledgeable enough to monitor an
academic - quis custodiet ipsos custodes?
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Growth since 1991
The International Network of Quality Assurance Agencies in Higher Education (INQAAHE) or the Network, was established in 1991.
Its core membership are the regional and national quality assurance and accreditation agencies.
When it was founded INQAAHE had members from only 11 countries which, more or less, represented all the countries that had at that time systems, in some cases partial systems, of external quality assurance in higher education.
In July 2008 it had 154 full members from 78 countries with a few more still to come.
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Factors contributing to the growth of external quality assurance 1
• The recognition in many countries of the need for greater accountability for the use of scarce national resources.
• The growth in higher education that has occurred in many countries.
• The increased diversity in HE provision including the establishment of binary systems, and the growth in distance learning.
• In some countries there was a trade off between the reduction of direct governmental control of higher educational institutions and the introduction of external quality assurance arrangements.
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Factors contributing to the growth of external quality assurance 2
• The increase in some countries in the number of private, including “for profit”, providers.
• Regional developments, for example in Europe and South America, aimed at creating a higher education space which encourages student mobility and the mutual recognition of qualifications.
• The ever increasing internationalisation of higher education including the growth in cross -border providers and the need for the mutual recognition of qualifications and higher education credits
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The “traditional” five stage quality assurance model
A survey of the INQAAHE data base (www.inqaahe.org) revealed that virtually all agencies stated that used the following approach
• Sets of regulations and guidelines formulated• A self evaluation prepared by the institution• The appointment of a peer group whose review of the
institution or programme would start with a review of the self evaluation
• Site visits by the peer group.• The publication of a report or, in some cases, only the
decision
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But there are Differences -The Hard/Soft Divide
• Format of the self-study
• Conduct of the review including direct observation
• Grading
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Emerging Trends - 1
QA for enhancement
• Greater emphasis on Internal QA and the encouragement of an institutional “Quality Culture”
Much greater use of Explicit Statements of Requirements
• Qualification Frameworks
• Subject Benchmarks
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Emerging Trends - 2
Greater Focus on Outputs• Direct – What a student has learnt• Indirect – Where a graduate has gone
The breaking down of national boundaries
Hard to soft or is it hard to harder?• In some countries increasing government
involvement
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Possible Future Developments - 1
The emergence of a Global External Quality Assurance Agency
• Emergence of Regional Meta-Accreditors • Related developments in the world of
Professional Accreditation
Consequences• Increased conformity and standardisation –
improved mutual recognition of qualifications and the elimination of very poor provision.
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Possible Future Developments - 2
The death of HE as we know it.
• Massification of HE and growth of HE outside traditional Universities – more teaching done by non researchers.
• Will, overtime, the barrier between “specially treated HE” and the rest of the education sector shift to the PG level?
