scholarly journals Arab Open and Virtual Universities

Author(s):  
David Porcaro

The landscape of online and virtual universities has been expanding in the Arab world in the past decade. Enrollments are rising steadily, allowing access to higher education for students at home and overseas. As growth continues, more centralization, institution-created content, and quality assurance may be required.

2018 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 401
Author(s):  
Sardar Ali Shah ◽  
Usharani Balasingam ◽  
Saroja Dhanapal

Legal education in Pakistan was initiated before independence and dates back to the 1800s. The first legal education institution was established under the name of ‘University Law College’ in 1868. Currently, there are more than 150 institutions offering law programs, which include universities and law colleges. These institutions are regulated by the Pakistan Bar Council (PBC) and Higher Education Commission (HEC). Over the past decades, there have been a lot of concerns raised on the quality assurance mechanism with regards to legal education in Pakistan. In line with this, the objectives of the current study is to identify and analyse the roles and responsibilities of the HEC and the PBC as regulators of legal education in the country as well as to identify the strengths and weaknesses within this regulatory system as a result of an overlapping of powers between the two bodies. The article ends with recommendations for improvement.


Author(s):  
Amir Manzoor

Today, open and distance-learning universities are regarded as a groundbreaking option to expand access to higher education. Economies of scale supported by a large number of enrolments have fueled the growth of open and distance learning institutions (ODLIs) across the globe. At the same time, many have raised serious concerns about the quality of education provided by ODLIs. This chapter presents a comparative case analysis of quality assurance (QA) programs in distance education at two large open and distance learning universities in Pakistan. The study explored QA policies and their implementation in the context of management practices and structures and internal and external environmental factors.


2019 ◽  
Vol 24 (3) ◽  
pp. 314-336 ◽  
Author(s):  
José Guimón ◽  
Rajneesh Narula

During the past two decades, a growing number of universities, mainly from developed countries, have established branch campuses in developing countries. From the developing country perspective, attracting foreign universities can help mitigate financial constraints and capacity shortages that impair the state’s ability to provide greater access to higher education, while also improving teaching and research in general. However, foreign universities may also be detrimental if they crowd out their domestic counterparts. We explore different scenarios and policy options for developing countries aiming to attract foreign universities, building upon a review of four case studies from Chile, China, Kazakhstan, and Malaysia. Our analysis illustrates how host countries can provide incentives to align incoming foreign universities to complement and strengthen the areas of weakness in their higher education systems. We also reflect on how policy-makers can deal with the challenges associated with the dual embeddedness of international branch campuses.


Author(s):  
Insung Jung ◽  
Tat Meng Wong ◽  
Chen Li ◽  
Sanjaa Baigaltugs ◽  
Tian Belawati

With the phenomenal expansion of distance education in Asia during the past three decades, there has been growing public demand for quality and accountability in distance education. This study investigates the national quality assurance systems for distance education at the higher education level in Asia with the aim of contributing to a better understanding of the current level of development of quality assurance in Asian distance education and to offer potential directions for policy makers when developing and elaborating quality assurance systems for distance education. The analysis of the existing quality assurance frameworks in the 11 countries/territories selected reveals that the level of quality assurance policy integration in the overall national quality assurance in higher education policy framework varies considerably. The purpose of quality assurance, policy frameworks, methods, and instruments in place are generally tailored to each country’s particular circumstances. There are, however, obvious commonalities that underpin these different quality assurance efforts. <br /><br />


Author(s):  
Nanette Svenson

Higher education in the developing world has changed dramatically over the past two decades, mainly as a result of increasing globalization. The most impacting of these forces come from two directions: economic and political. How the two factors interact and the kind of system they produce depend largely upon the quality-assurance mechanisms implemented.


2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 91-112
Author(s):  
Rosine Zgheib ◽  
Amira Van Loan

As global marketplace competition increases, higher education institutions (HEIs) in the Arab world purposefully integrate international and intercultural dimensions into their curriculum, known as internationalization at home (IaH), to empower graduates with the tools necessary to strengthen their economies and be productive global citizens. The purpose of this research is to report changes in the internationalization strategies of fourteen randomly selected Arab world HEIs by looking at six IaH indicators in their mission statements, course descriptions, and strategic plans. The results prioritize internationalization in the HEIs’ mission statements with a twenty per cent increase in the number of indicators between academic years 2014–15 and 2019–20. Additionally, through course descriptions/titles, we found some universities were offering up to 350 courses promoted per indicator, with others offering as few as one course per indicator. We also found sixty-five per cent of the HEIs do not have explicit strategic plans, or rather no or implicit strategic plans incorporating internationalization. As the Arab world attempts to strengthen its economies, HEIs should continue to increase IaH efforts by infusing more of the indicators in their mission statements, courses, and strategic plans.


2020 ◽  
Vol 22 (3) ◽  
pp. 538-545 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hans De Wit

Internationalization has been over the past three decades one of the key focus points of (inter)national and institutional policies for higher education, with two related components: internationalization abroad, and internationalization at home. The 'abroad' component: mobility of students, faculty and programs, has been more predominant than the 'at home' component: internationalization of the curriculum and learning outcomes, perceived as a neoliberal and western paradigm. What will be the future of internationalization? Do we see a return from competition to cooperation?  What will be the impact of the changing global economic, ecological and political context? These questions will be addressed in a critical analytical way in this paper, taking into account the impact of Covid-19 on the internationalization of higher education.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Flavia de Mattos Donadelli

The Brazilian Higher Education (HE) sector, following a global trend of rapid transformation, has undergone marked changes over the past two decades. These changes have involved the design of quality assurance tools as instruments for regulatory governance. In presenting an overview of the recent history and characteristics of quality assurance in the Brazilian HE sector, this paper contextualises the Brazilian experience according to broader conceptual frameworks and discusses how and why regulatory governance in this sector has so radically changed.


Author(s):  
Peter J. Gray

Quality assurance has been defined as a means of “control over the standards, delivery, and validation of higher education” (Brock, 2007, p. 25). Over the past twenty-five years (one could say 2500 years) calls for quality assurance have caused tension inside and with regards to the outcomes of higher education. These tensions stem from differing purposes, perceptions, and processes for quality assurance on the part of the groups that compete to control these elements. In essence, it is a matter of language and power (Ewell, 1989), that is, whoever defines the language of quality assurance purposes, perceptions, and processes has the power to control higher education. Inside higher education those in different disciplines may have quite divergent views of quality assurance. Often these views are divided along the lines of the sciences and humanities, as characterized by Snow (1961). In addition, the more applied or profession-oriented disciplines, such as engineering, business, health professions, and teacher education, have their own expectations related to the standards, delivery, and validation of higher education. It is often the case that faculty and administrative cultures within an institution have differing views related to purposes, perceptions, and processes of quality assurance.


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