Quality Assurance in a Changing World

1. QualityAssurance in a Changing World María José Lemaitre INQAAHE Conference Abu Dhabi, March 2009

2. Is the world changing? • Some people say it is: INQAAHE, Abu Dhabi

3. What makes the world flatter? Growing need for highly skilled and educated workers and a link between educated manpower and economic development The expansion of secondary education systems; Increasing links to the international system, mobility and outsourcing as important factors Increasing democratization, scientisation and development planning INQAAHE, Abu Dhabi

4. Changes in the HE world: Expansion of tertiary education systems Diversification of provision More heterogeneous student bodies New funding arrangements Increasing focus on accountability and performance New forms of institutional governance Global networking, mobility and collaboration Increased diversity of higher education systems INQAAHE, Abu Dhabi

5. ChallengesforHigherEducation: Teaching • Needto re-define teaching, toanswertotheneeds of a variedpopulation of students: • Change the organization of teaching (short cycle programs, modular arrangements, links with the labor market, new packaging for traditional programs) • Adjust to new curricular requirements (basic skills and knowledge, general competencies, ‘soft’ skills; greater flexibility, multiple career paths, articulation, capacity for life long learning) • New pedagogical approaches (need to provide a structure for available information rather than providing information; focus on learning rather than teaching) INQAAHE, Abu Dhabi

6. Challenges for Higher Education: Teaching Teachingbecomesthe central business of manyHEIs need to revalue teaching as a criticalfunction • Changes in themethodsforevaluatingacademicstaff • New approachestoacademicstaffdevelopment • Changes in academicorganization • Changes in theorganization of resources and mechanismsfortheirallocation INQAAHE, Abu Dhabi

7. Challenges for Higher Education: Management • Need to revise and specify institutional mission statements: • Determination of main actual functions, and need to make institutional organization consistent with the adopted decisions • Identification of the ways in which these functions will be developed • Consideration of different stakeholders in these definitions INQAAHE, Abu Dhabi

8. Challenges for Higher Education: Management • Impact of new sources of funding • Funding and institutional autonomy • Privatization of decision making • Requirement for accountability • Assessment of outcomes in relation to stated purposes • Internal quality assurance mechanisms • Information systems to support decision making INQAAHE, Abu Dhabi

9. Challenges for Higher Education: Management • Consideration of globalization and international competition • Cooperation mechanisms • Competition mechanisms • The requirements of national, regional and international integration • Mechanisms to promote mobility • International presence within a context of quality INQAAHE, Abu Dhabi

10. Implications for QA INQAAHE, Abu Dhabi

11. Quality and diversity Quality within a TE system is increasingly associated with diversity: it enables TEIs to respond to a wider range of needs, from students and employers it stimulates social and professional mobility it provides opportunities for innovation Quality at the institutional level is still associated with traditional views (the zombie scene of TE) INQAAHE, Abu Dhabi

12. Barriers to diversity Centralized and uniform governmental policies Imitative behavior by lower status institutions Academic conservantism QA mechanisms are a good vehicle for all these factors QA mechanisms may actually make quality difficult, if not impossible when? INQAAHE, Abu Dhabi

13. When QA is seen as an end, not a means for improved quality QA is meant to promote quality, and help to meet developmental needs of TE But … QA is about evaluation, and evaluation is about power. Sometimes, it is easy to be tempted to build TE systems in the QA agency’s image Need to learn about the system, to be in touch with international developments, good practices Need to recognize and validate innovative practices Need to use a wide range of consultants and reviewers INQAAHE, Abu Dhabi

14. When standards and procedures are too rigid or homogeneous Need to recognize and validate different institutional models, and learn about the features that make them effective Avoid standards that are too rigid, or the application of procedures or standards that are too homogeneous Find new ways to define quality, adaptable to different circumstances INQAAHE, Abu Dhabi

15. When standards are too prescriptive, or too formal Need to avoid prescribing a preferred way of doing things – TEIs are different, and there may be many different ways of achieving the desired outcome Standards that are too formal, or a strong focus on quantitative indicators make it difficult to pay attention to the substantive, underlying issues INQAAHE, Abu Dhabi

16. When QA loses its learning capacity HE is an essentially dynamic operation – its quality cannot be assured with a static process Need to be able to revise the definition of quality, the criteria, the procedures, the mechanisms for self and external review, on the basis of experience Need to learn – and to un-learn! Learning comes from a variety of sources: academic staff, external reviewers, internal and external stakeholders, international exchanges  Need to keep eyes and ears open INQAAHE, Abu Dhabi

17. When it demands compliance, and mistakes it for quality All guidelines for good practice stress that quality is the responsibility of TEIs, not of the QA agency Need to work towards the development of self regulation policies, mechanisms and procedures QA work should be done with TEIs, not to TEIs INQAAHE, Abu Dhabi

18. So, whatis a QA agencyto do? INQAAHE, Abu Dhabi

19. A new approachtoquality Improvement Innovation María José Lemaitre

20. Promote institutional capacity for self regulation Promote and assess whether the TEI has in place: Clear purposes and goals, that can guide decision making at different institutional levels Policies and mechanisms that are consistent with purposes and goals Links between self assessment and planning Links between planning and allocation of resources Mechanisms for assessing whether objectives are being achieved Feed back into next cycle of planning INQAAHE, Abu Dhabi

21. Tertiary education is changing, and QA processes must change with it, or become irrelevant QA must become an essential part of institutional management and planning It is a process that takes time It must be done with TEIs, learning to trust them and to help them improve themselves INQAAHE, Abu Dhabi

22. May we have a great conference, and a good learning experience Thank you mariajoselemaitre@gmail.com INQAAHE, Abu Dhabi