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HIGHER EDUCATION AND QUALITY ASSURANCE

HIGHER EDUCATION AND QUALITY ASSURANCE. Trends and Tensions in Asia Deane Neubauer & John N. Hawkins. High Level of Interest in QA. Conferences in Region

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HIGHER EDUCATION AND QUALITY ASSURANCE

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  1. HIGHER EDUCATION AND QUALITY ASSURANCE Trends and Tensions in Asia Deane Neubauer & John N. Hawkins

  2. High Level of Interest in QA • Conferences in Region • Associations of Universities of Asia and the Pacific 2006: “Towards and Asia-Pacific Quality Assurance and Accreditation in Higher Education” 200+ attendees • OECD 2006: “Higher Education Quality, Equity and Efficiency” • UNESCO Paris • The Street (China, France, India)

  3. Some Fundamental Contradictions • Context of “decentralization” in HE, but centralization in QA? • QA greeted both with enthusiasm and cynicism? • Broad political-economic forces and factors: neo-liberalism, managerialism, corporatization

  4. Why QA? Why Now? • Massification + increased diversity = demand for more information among stakeholders • HEIs can use it for branding purposes • Governments can use it for increased control and leverage

  5. Some Basic Shifts • From “bottom up” to an increase in external influences • Shift on continuum of control from less to more • Emphasis on accountability rather than performance? • HE governance shift from collegial to managerial; QM seeks to spread the message • Evaluative culture is here for better or worse

  6. Factors, Forces & Rationales • HE more diverse, more available, more international, less money to go around, private sector has expanded, changing governance patterns=more competition • Accountability for public funding in context of withdrawal of central support • Need for better information to make funding decisions w/in HEIs • Improve quality of performance • Inform stakeholders (parents, students, etc.) • League tables, rankings • Rise of private sector

  7. Search for a General Model of QA • National coordinating body (links to MOE) • Institutional self evaluation • External evaluation by peers • Published reports • Follow-up • Levels: system, institutional, basic unit, individual • Mechanisms: rewards, changing policies or structures, changing HE cultures

  8. Reward Mechanisms • Should QA be linked to funding? • Region-wide concern with status-allocation, accreditation • League tables, rankings (goal to get in the top 100) • Much disagreement on methodology, who should conduct rankings, etc.

  9. Policy and Structure Change • Incremental change (w/in institution) v. fundamental change (external)--Clark • Latter can result in mergers or termination of units • Does policy change really matter? HEI entrenched interests very good at subverting policy directives • Difficult to determine what cause what

  10. The Culture of HEIs • HE culture naturally opposes change • Clark’s notion of the “happy anarchy” • QA is meant to change all of that • QA seeks to change boundaries, realign landscape between HEIs and state and stakeholders • Strengthen one factor over another • Replace tribal culture with system-wide accountability measures

  11. Formal QA a Relatively New Phenomenon • Two-thirds of QA systems in A/P region have been established in last decade • From simple to complex processes • Multiple definitions; INQAAHE offers one: “. . .quality assurance may be related to a program, an institution or a whole higher education system. In each case, QA is all of those attitudes, objects, actions, and procedures which through their existence and use, and together with the quality control activities , ensure that appropriate academic standards are being maintained and enhanced in and by each program.” Antony 2006 Key phrase is: “appropriate academic standards”

  12. Discussion • QA in Asia arises from variety of impulses and motives • “becoming globally or regionally competitive (Singapore, China, Japan, Taiwan) • Develop “world class” model institutions (China, India, Singapore and Hong Kong) • QA for locally specific purposes (Indonesia, Cambodia, Vietnam, Thailand)

  13. Discussion • Mechanisms are diverse • Centralized (Cambodia, Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia (?)) • C primary DC secondary (Japan, China, Taiwan) • C & DC mixed (India, Singapore, Hong Kong, Pakistan) • Problem of cross border QA--few in the region have the capacity to ensure quality of cross border efforts

  14. Current Changes in the QA Environment • Changes in the U.S. model from capacity indicators to performance indicators—student learning outcomes • Accountability as a new paradigm • Pressures for a generalized international standard

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