Improving Quality within Higher Education Institutions: The Roles of External Quality Agencies in Lower Income Countries

David Kavanamur ； Jeanette Baird

《Higher Education Quality Assurance in a Changing World: Envisioning the future of Asia Pacific The Proceedings of 2013-2014 APQN Conferences》 2013-2014 (2016/12) Pp. 25-42

https://doi.org/10.6680/2013-2014APQN.02

摘要

Lower income countries around the world have established external quality assurance agencies as part of their higher education reform agendas. However, external quality assurance reviews of themselves may provide little more than a mildly disruptive change within institutions without leading to either good internal quality assurance within institutions or to sustainable quality improvements to higher education. Focusing on publicly-funded institutions of higher education, we argue that external quality agencies in less developed countries need to adopt a broader remit than just the conduct of reviews. Specifically, three further and overlapping areas of change need to be embraced by such external quality agencies: ． Ongoing scaffolding and support of quality assurance mechanisms within institutions. ． Design of internal quality assurance mechanisms that are responsive to particular cultural norms and values, and ． Support for reform of the relationship between government and higher education institutions, including collaborative governance, national data collections and funding models.

關鍵字

Higher Education ； Quality ； Development ； Quality Assurance