scholarly journals Quality Assurance and Audit in New Zealand Universities: A Review and Case Study

Author(s):  
John Codd ◽  
Keith Sullivan

Along with other institutions of higher education, the New Zealand universities are responding to pressures for increased accountability by developing policies and procedures for the maintenance of quality assurance and control. This paper reviews these developments, with a particular focus on the role of the New Zealand Universities Academic Audit Unit (AAU). In the period February to August 1996, the first full academic audit was undertaken by the AAU at Victoria University of Wellington (VUW). Taking this as a case study, the paper examines some of the issues surrounding quality assurance and audit in higher education and presents a critical review of current directions.

2004 ◽  
Vol 23 (4) ◽  
pp. 104-113
Author(s):  
R. W. Pretorius

In view of the controversy which characterises systems for quality assurance in higher education worldwide, this article provides a critical review of the theory and practice of quality in the higher education sector.  The state of affairs in South Africa is also reviewed, with the focus on the new system for quality assurance which is currently being implemented.  Despite good intentions, however, the new system in South Africa tends to be over-burocratic, with limited potential for deepseated change and quality improvement as a result of the focus on accountability rather than on continuous improvement. Real improvement is an internally driven process, which cannot be achieved through burocratic measurement and control.  In line with what has been experienced internationally, this article argues that a more flexible approach to the meaning of quality in the context of higher educaction is required in South Africa.  Apart from defining and assuring quality, this approach should also be directed at its improvement.  However, the point of departure has to be quality improvement, and not quality assurance and control.


2021 ◽  
pp. 209653112097665
Author(s):  
Carlos Mendoza ◽  
Fred Dervin ◽  
Mei Yuan ◽  
Heidi Layne

Purpose: Meeting “others,” especially so-called “local” students, is usually seen as a sign of success for intercultural learning and integration in research on study abroad and internationalization of higher education. Previous studies have focused on how international students themselves describe their (mis-)encounters. In this article, the authors consider lecturers’ voices about this phenomenon. Lecturers have an influence on the students’ experiences since they spend a lot of time together in and outside class. Design/Approach/Methods: Using a thematic analysis and social network analysis of interview data with lecturers, and a critical perspective toward the dichotomy of “local” versus “international” students, a university in Finland, a popular destination thanks to its positive image in global education, serves as a case study. Findings: The article identifies privileges, limits, and (missed) opportunities of encounters, as shared by the lecturers in focus group discussions. Furthermore, the lecturers created hierarchies in the way they describedthe encounters between different kinds of students. Some signs of pluralizing both local and international students were also found in some lecturers’ discourses. Originality/Value: The article ends with recommendations for institutions regarding the lecturers’ problematic role of gatekeepers in student encounters and the limiting categories used in institutions of higher education to refer to students.


Author(s):  
Nina Batechko

The article outlines the conceptual framework for adapting Ukrainian higher education to the Standards and Recommendations for Quality Assurance in the European higher education area. The role of the Bologna Declaration in ensuring the quality of higher education in Europe has been explained. The conceptual foundations and the essence of standards and recommendations on quality assurance in the European higher education area have been defined. The Ukrainian realities of the adaptation of higher education of Ukraine to the educational European standards of quality have been characterized.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jordan Taylor ◽  
Paula Gleeson ◽  
Tania Teague ◽  
Michelle DiGiacomo

The role of unpaid and informal care is a crucial part of the health and social care system in Australia and internationally. As carers in Australia have received statutory recognition, concerted efforts to foster engagement in carer participation in work and education has followed. However, little is known about the strategies and policies that higher education institutions have implemented to support the inclusion of carers. This study has three components: first, it employs a review of evidence for interventions to support to support carers; second, it reviews existing higher education institutions’ policies to gauge the extent of inclusive support made available to student carers, and; third it conducts interviews with staff from five higher education institutions with concerted carer policies in Australia were held to discuss their institutions’ policies, and experiences as practitioners of carer inclusion and support. Results indicate difficulty in identifying carers to offer support services, the relatively recent measures taken to accommodate carers in higher education, extending similar measures which are in place for students with a disability, and difficulties accommodating flexibility in rigid institutional settings. A synthesis of these findings were used to produce a framework of strategies, policies and procedures of inclusion to support carers in higher education.


2019 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 1-27
Author(s):  
Ashley Floyd Kuntz

Abstract Student protests have developed on campuses throughout the country in response to controversial speakers. Overwhelmingly, these protests have been framed as conflicts over the right to free speech and the importance of free inquiry on college campuses. This essay reframes conflicts like these as moral disagreements over the role of individuals and institutions in producing and disseminating knowledge that supports or undermines justice within a pluralistic, democratic society. Using the specific case of Charles Murray’s visit to Middlebury College in spring 2017 and drawing insight from social moral epistemology, the essay aims to clarify the moral concerns at stake in clashes over controversial speakers and to identify possibilities to advance the moral aims of institutions of higher education in response to such events.


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