Bridging the Gap between Reviewers and Institutions on Quality Assurance of Higher Education

Karen Hui-Jung Chen

《Higher Education Evaluation and Development》 9卷2期 (2015/12) Pp. 35-53

https://doi.org/10.6197/HEED.2015.0902.03

並列摘要

Peer review has been an important method for quality assurance of higher education worldwide. However, it has been noticed that reviewers’ decisions are influenced by different contexts. The aim of this study is to explore the different views between reviewers and institutions on educational quality of the programs by analyzing the reports of the two-stage appeals of the program accreditation in Taiwan. These appeals consist of 1,156 reports of the 1st stage and 86 reports of the 2nd stage from 2006 to 2010. We investigated the major concerns for institutions to file appeals and the way reviewers responding to the appeals. Results showed that institutions filed the 1st stage appeals for providing more evidence, unjustified conclusion of on-site visit reports, and lack of context analysis of the program. On the other hand, analysis revealed the reviewers replied to the 1st appeals majorly with reclaiming the conclusion of on-site visit reports, interpretation of validity of information, showing the evaluation reasoning and interpretation. Comparing the contents of the 1st and 2nd stage appeals indicates that the institutions tend to provide more information to the reviewers to reconsider the results in the 2nd stage than the 1st stage, with the former offering comprehesive information with explicit evaluation reasoning. It implies that the reviewer training should be focused on the capability of knowledge of qualitative methods, especially on data collection, validity and reliability. This study provides a foundation for the design of trainings of the reviewers and the institutions to enhance the evaluation process.

並列關鍵字

Quality Assurance ； Appeals ； Reviewer Training ； Peer Review ； Higher Education

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