UNESCO-OECD Guidelines on Quality Provision in Cross-Border Higher Education Dr. Antony Stella, Adviser National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) Bangalore, INDIA

Cross-Border Education (CBE) a)Movement of people across borders  Age old phenomenon b)Mobility of programmes and institutions  Recent origin  Developments in ICT  New forms of educational delivery  New providers

Four Views  View 1: CBE should be promoted in all forms – profit or no-profit - for academic reasons.  View 2: CBE is a disadvantage to developing countries and should be strictly regulated.  View 3: Trade in CBE is assuming a significant dimension. A facilitative framework that will promote quality CBE is essential.  View 4: At the moment CBE is a non-issue. Market forces and the national policies will take care of it.

View 1: Academic Rationale for CBE  intellectual enrichment  stimulus to academic programmes and research  multi-cultural understansing  knowledge development  human resource development  new forms of delivery of educational provisions  new opportunities for learners  mutual benefits  strengthen the national systems of education

View 1: Academic Rationale for CBE  examples osupported by NAFTA countries – Canada, Mexico and United States oAUCC survey 1999 on internationalization oAcademic rationales are the key drivers oNo off-shore branch campus of Canadian HEIs oUSA – CBE is uncommon in traditional US universities oActive players are the “for-profits” with trade point of view “positive approach to reduce the obstacles and to facilitate recognition of qualifications across borders"

View 2: CBE as a Disadvantage  Lack of capacity of the developing countries to participate effectively in the global trading system  Economic and revenue-generation rationales of CBE  threat to national sovereignty and culture  serious attack on the core values  uni-directional flow of CBE activities  detrimental to the developmental strategies "support to conventions, agreements and multilateral frameworks, outside of the trade policy regime”

View 3: Trade Point of View of CBE  increase in CBE operations  student mobility - a less satisfactory proxy for CBE  issue of consumer protection is real  mobility of professionals orecognition of qualifications across borders ochallenges to the national policies ochallenges the quality assurance frameworks “Build on opportunities and check the challenges”

View 4: CBE as a Non-Issue In fairly established higher education systems - minority of academia support this view.  low-volume of programme and institution mobility  student mobility as proxy for CBE  student mobility is covered by the national QA  market forces can handle other forms of CBE  examples of South Africa, Japan and Hong Kong “strengthen quality control at the national level”

Lack of national capacity for QA  Asia-Pacific o20 major national quality assurance efforts o15 countries in the region otwo-thirds are recent initiatives ouneven development in the national capacity oon-going changes in fairly stabilized systems ogaps in international co-operation oforeign providers are not adequately covered  risks to stakeholders olow-quality provisions oqualifications of limited value

A recent survey by the APQN  ensuring quality of exports - Australia, India, Malaysia and New Zealand  imports - Australia, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Mongolia, New Zealand and Philippines  ministries have a regulatory role  national frameworks for QA of CBE - not well developed  national policy frameworks vary  considerations other than educational

Emerging Scenario  Demand for higher education is rapidly expanding  Not all countries can adequately respond to this demand  Cross-border HE is also expanding rapidly  HE institutions tend to internationalise  Cross-border education has benefits and downsides:  Low quality provision including rogue providers  Lack of appropriate quality assurance systems in some countries  National QA systems focus on domestic delivery by domestic institutions  Low relevance for some importing countries  Insufficient International co-operation  Possible consequences:  Risks for students/learners  Harms for the education professions  Risks for importing countries "UNESCO-OECD guidelines respond to this scenario"

How did we get there? (background)  Both UNESCO and OECD have been working on the issue of quality assurance of cross-border higher education for some years  UNESCO Global Forum on International Quality Assurance, Accreditation and the recognition of Qualifications (since October 2002)  UNESCO/Norway Forum on Globalisation and Higher Education (May 2003)  OECD/CERI experts’ group on mapping international quality assurance, accreditation and recognition of qualifications [OECD (2004), Quality and Recognition in Higher Education: The Cross-border Challenge]

Background  Resolution of the 32nd session of the UNESCO General Conference "Higher Education and Globalisation: Assuring Quality of Global Higher Education and Promoting Access to the Knowledge Society as a Means for Sustainable Development" (15 October 2003)  OECD/CERI Governing Board meeting (29-30 October 2003) agreed to work on Guidelines  OECD/UNESCO/Norway Forum on "Trade in Educational Services: Managing the internationalisation of post- secondary education", Trondheim (3-4 November 2003): official launch of the project

Background  First drafting meeting, Paris-UNESCO 5-6 April 2004  Consultations with experts  Second drafting meeting, Tokyo, October 2004  Further consultations  Third and final drafting meeting, Paris-OECD, January 2005  Further feedback from member countries

What are the main objectives of the Guidelines?  The Guidelines aim at:  Ensuring the quality of cross-border provision of higher education  Protecting learners  Increasing transperancy in the recognition of qualifications  Strengthening co-operation among all stakeholders  Maximising the benefits and limiting the potential downsides of the internationalisation of higher education  They do not aim at reaching trade objectives (furthering trade in services and international investment liberalisation)

What are the main features of the Guidelines?  They are developed with an education perspective  They are voluntary and non-binding  They are elaborated jointly by the UNESCO and the OECD  All countries in the world have been invited to participate in the elaboration of Guidelines: nearly all 30 OECD countries and more than 30 non-OECD countries came to the drafting meetings  National and international NGOs are directly participating in the drafting meetings  The Guidelines are not just addressed to Governments, they address also 5 other groups of stakeholders: HE providers, student bodies, QA & A agencies, qualifications recognition and credential evaluation agencies, professional bodies

Guidelines for the Governments  facilitate the system of registration of cross-border higher education providers  establish quality assurance systems  promote information dissemination on the quality of the cross-border higher education  adhere to the UNESCO regional conventions on recognition of qualifications  explore bilateral or multilateral recognition agreements for recognition of qualifications  contribute to international level of information on recognised higher education institutions/providers

Guidelines for the HEIs  demonstrate a strong commitment to quality  take the responsibility for delivering qualifications comparable in standard  respect the competent quality assurance agencies of the receiving country  networking with other institutions for sharing of good practices  acknowledge each other’s qualifications as equivalent  respect the qualifications frameworks of the receiving countries  make public disclosure of relevant information to stakeholders

Guidelines for the Students  scrutinise the information available  give sufficient consideration in their decision making process  increase awareness of the students of the potential risks of low-quality provision  guide them to reliable information sources on cross-border higher education  take part in the development and implementation of the awareness and information dissemination strategies

Guidelines for the QAAs  include foreign and for-profit institutions/providers as well as other non-traditional modes of educational delivery in the scope of quality assurance  strengthen the network initiatives for the quality assurance agencies  discuss cross-border education issues  information dissemination on the quality assurance mechanism and its implications  adhere to ‘Code of Good Practice’  mutual recognition agreements with other agencies  making the assessment procedures open to international peers

Guidelines for the Qualifications recognition and …  built on the UNESCO regional conventions on recognition of qualifications  regional and international networks among these bodies  cooperation with quality assurance and accreditation agencies  strengthening contacts with HEIs and other bodies  collaboration and co-ordination with professional associations  using codes of practice’  providing clear information on their assessment procedures

Guidelines for the Professional recognition bodies  develop information channels on the professional recognition of foreign qualifications  maintain contacts with higher education institutions/providers as well as quality assurance and accreditation agencies and recognition and credential evaluation bodies  implement assessment procedures that accommodate learning outcomes and competence  provide international information on mutual recognition agreements for the professions

Is adopting the Guidelines sufficient?  The acheivement of the Guidelines’ objectives depends upon:  Dissemination efforts  Implementation process  Follow-up actions by various stakeholders  Interanational co-operation and networking  Building capacity  Improving information on cross-border HE providers and programmes  Assessment of implementation efforts  Revision of the Guidelines in light of cross-border HE developments

Thank you