Diane Grayson Director: Institutional Audits

…higher education has undergone deep changes that will shape the academic enterprise for decades to come. Perhaps the key engines of change consist of the massification of higher education in almost every country, the impact of information and communications technology and its impact on higher education, the "public good/ private good" debate, and the rise of the global knowledge economy and other manifestations of globalization…The 21st century revolution will continue to shape higher education in the coming decades. This continuing revolution is intensifying…Making higher education more inclusive requires not only moving historically underrepresented groups into higher education but also meeting their unique needs. Trends in Global Higher Education: Tracking an Academic Revolution (UNESCO 2009)

International Ubiquitous, powerful ICT Ready access to enormous amounts of information Globalisation Sustainability concerns Workplace mobility and career changes Recent Global economic recession High unemployment, especially among youth 21 st Century context Social and political upheaval }

National Lingering inequities Serial curriculum changes at school level Limited knowledge and skills of school-leavers Stringent labour laws

Total population in five-year age groups and sex (Census 2011, Statistics SA)

Throughput rates for 2005 cohort in 3-year degree programmes excluding UNISA (CHE VitalStats)

Cumulative throughput rates by race for 2005 cohort in 3-year degree programmes excluding UNISA (CHE VitalStats)

Massive investments in the higher education system have not produced better outcomes in the level of academic performance or graduation rates. While enrolment and attainment gaps have narrowed across different race groups, the quality of education for the vast majority has remained poor at all levels. The higher education therefore tends to be a low-participation, high-attrition system. National Planning Commission 2012

Higher education can no longer be owned by a community of disciplinary connoisseurs who transmit knowledge to students. Both the complexity and uncertainty of society and the economy will require institutions to continuously adapt while upholding standards. In practice, institutions will have to learn how best to serve the student community. Students have become the focal point of our learning approach in many areas of the world. ( Fostering Quality Teaching in Higher Education: Policies and Practices ) OECD Sept 2012

Convergence of imperatives for change National needs Social justice, Economic development Zeitgeist Universities taking responsibility for their students’success 21 st century skills Inter-personal, Information processing Life-long learning Students

Too often curricular reform efforts devolve into academic horse trading. Speaking with undergraduates helped save us from this fate, reminding us that our fundamental purpose was not to broker an accord among our faculty colleagues but to create new opportunities for our students to explore, think, and grow…. … We want our students not simply to succeed but to flourish; we want them to live not only usefully but also creatively, responsibly, and reflectively. (The Study of Undergraduate Education at Stanford University, January 2012) Stanford University

UK QAA-- Quality Assurance: “the means through which an institution ensures and confirms that the conditions are in place for students to achieve the standards set by it or by another awarding body” (QAA 2004), Quality Enhancement: “the process of taking deliberate steps at institutional level to improve the quality of learning opportunities....” (QAA 2006). Scottish QAA “has defined enhancement as taking deliberate steps to bring about improvement in the effectiveness of the learning experiences of students.” Second cycle– Quality enhancement

The enhancement of student learning with a view to producing an increased number of graduates with attributes that are personally, professionally and socially valuable. 1. enhanced student learning, leading to an 2. increased number of graduates that have 3. improved graduate attributes STUDENT SUCCESS Focus of the Quality Enhancement Project

1 st cycle Criteria specified from the beginning Individual focus-Institutions engaged sequentially One process used throughout (self-evaluation, visit, report, improvement plan, progress report) 2 nd cycle More inductive- themes will emerge during the process System focus-Institutions engaged simultaneously Different processes will be used at different stages Iterative Approach

Institutional submissions Analysis Feedback Collaboration Analysis Symposia, working groups Projects of other bodies Institutional capacity development Research projects Feedback

Collaboration is key We need collective impact resulting from collective engagement– combining our knowledge, skills, wisdom and experience. The problem is too big, too complicated, too important for fragmented, individualistic or ad hoc approaches.

Efforts to promote student success need to be coherent Research is needed to provide a sound theoretical and evidence base. Intellectual rigour is essential

During the past several decades greater societal demands for accountability have prevailed. This has obliged universities to demonstrate that learning is taking place. A greater emphasis is placed on measuring learning outcomes; it is no longer sufficient to measure the "inputs"-what is being taught and how the curriculum is delivered to the students. (UNESCO 2009, Trends in Global Higher Education: Tracking an Academic Revolution )

Benchmarks and codes of good practice for quality undergraduate provision Policy recommendations Tools and resources for improving student success Research Communities of practice Raise the bar for what can be expected of institutions in promoting student success in future audits Expected outcomes of the QEP

Teaching Curriculum Assessment Learning resources Student enrolment management Academic student support and development Non-academic student support and development Factors that affect student success (from 1 st cycle)

Enhancing… Teaching Curriculum Assessment Learning resources Student enrolment management Academic student support and development Non-academic student support and development University teachers Student support Learning environment Course and programme enrolment management

Can be tackled simultaneously by groups working in parallel. Enhancing university teachers Professional development, Reward and recogniton, workload, conditions of service, performance management Enhancing student support Career guidance and curriculum advising, life and academic skills, counselling, performance monitoring and referral Enhancing the learning environment Teaching and learning spaces, ICT infrastructure, access and resources, library Enhancing course and programme enrolment management Admissions, selection, placement, exclusions, pass rates in gateway courses, throughput Initial focus areas

1.Enhancement of the quality of undergraduate provision 2.Enhancement of the quality of graduates 3.A higher education system that is improving continuously as members of the higher education community reflect and collaborate to share good practice and solve shared problems. Beginning in 2014 The Quality Enhancement Project