International Developments in Academic Audit Source: International Network of Quality Assurance Agencies in Higher Education INQAAHE Biennial Conference Wellington 29 March - 1 April 2005

Themes: o Effectiveness of Quality Assurance o Quality Assurance in Transnational Issues o Impacts on Diversity o Indigenous Peoples

Keynote Speakers: o Professor Denise Bradley - VC University South Australia o Professor Ranginui Walker - Retired o Sir John Daniel - President & CEO, The Commonwealth of Learning Organisation

Speakers o Phil Meade o Gareth Jones o Sarah Carr o Emma Hamilton

Quality Assurance Agencies: New Guidelines Standards & Guidelines for Quality Assurance in the European Higher Education Area: February 2005 INQAAHE Guidelines for Good Practice: January 2005 Guidelines for Quality Provision in Cross- Border Higher Education jointly elaborated by UNESCO and the OECD: March 2005

Standards & Guidelines - European HE Part 1: Guidelines for internal quality assurance within HEIs 1.1Policy and procedures for QA 1.2Approval, monitoring & review of programmes 1.3Assessment of students 1.4Quality assurance of teaching staff 1.5Learning resources and student support 1.6Information systems 1.7Public information

Standards & Guidelines - European HE Part 2:Standards for External Quality Assurance of HE (cont.) 2.1Use of internal quality assurance procedures 2.2Development of external quality assurance processes 2.3Criteria for decisions 2.4Processes fit for purpose 2.5Reporting 2.6Follow-up procedures 2.7Periodic reviews 2.8System - wide analyses

Standards & Guidelines - European HE Part 3: Standards for external quality assurance agencies (cont.) 3.1Procedures in part 2 to be used 3.2Official status 3.3Activities 3.4Resources 3.5Mission statement 3.6Independence 3.7External quality assurance criteria and processes used by agencies should be pre-defined and publicity available 3.8Accountability procedures for their own accountability

Guidelines for Quality Provision in Cross-Border Higher Education o UNESCO’S aim for cross-border education radically change cost structures to make it affordable keep young people learning in their country and stay there accessibility, availability, affordability needed o 4 billion poor people in the world who want a better life o There is 40% participation in HE in developed countries o If there was 35% participation in under-developed countries there would be 150 million extra students to serve

Guidelines for Quality Provision in Cross-Border Higher Education o A need for strong partnership with local institutions to make sure programmes are relevant o Providers need to take national priorities into account and refrain from academic dumping o Highly distributed, culturally sensitive, small scale operations are called for o A need to apply: o new technologies o e-learning and reusable learning objects o connectivity and free open source software o apply QA

Guidelines for Quality Provision in Cross-Border Higher Education o Students need to be protected from dubious suppliers o Foreign suppliers must agree to accredit graduates in own countries o Must partner with local institutions o QA concerns o Capacity building and long-term perspective called for

Australian Universities Quality Agency (AUQA) AUQA audits extended to State Accreditation Agencies State Agencies have developed legislation to prevent misuse of the university label and to protect use of the terms “university” and “degree”

The Australian - Wednesday March College amends offshore uni link Brendan O’Keefe A Sydney hypnotherapy college has removed references to an unaccredited overseas university and the degrees it offered after a prosecution threat from the NSW Department of Education and training …

Australian Universities Quality Agency (AUQA) AUQA uses National Protocols for Higher Education Approval Processes Protocol 1Criteria and processes for recognition of universities Protocol 2Overseas higher education institutions seeking to operate in Australia Protocol 3The accreditation of higher education courses to be offered by non-self accreditation agencies Protocol 4Delivery arrangement involving other organisations Protocol 5Endorsement of courses for overseas students

AUQA - Strengthening of processes o Visits to off-shore campuses o equivalence of entry & assessment standards o acknowledgement of graduates by professional accreditation bodies for registration purposes o provision of learning and support services o Visits to Partners operating in Australia o nature of MOU o use of university brand in advertising o standards; credit transfer o learning & support services o Drilling down - use of web-site - seeking additional information

AUQA Good Practice Database Examples: Massey Strategy Massey University Workloads Policy Academic Policy Formation (Massey): Collegial Participation in University Governance Ensuring Awareness of Plagiarism Policy (UNE) Improving Graduate Supervision and Completion Rates (RMIT) Integrating Graduate Attributes into UNE Courses

Review of the Queensland Studies Authority An alternative approach to standard audit with Self Review and Quality Portfolio followed by visit by External Audit Team

Review of the Queensland Studies Authority o Minister appoints an External Reviewer o External Reviewer consults with Reference Group comprising Key Stakeholders o Minister Releases Discussion Paper (prepared by External Reviewer approved by Cabinet) o Public Submissions called o Reviewer Prepares Report & states whether or not recommendations are supported by Stakeholders o Recommendations considered by Cabinet

INQAAHE Conference Indigenous Theme Professor Ranginui Walker Powerful address advocating for a bi-cultural educational experience for Mäori o Use of building and campus design structures sensitive to Mäori culture o Learning of Mäori language o Embedding of Mäori values in processes during provision of educational services Emerging role of World Indigenous Nations Higher Education Consortium WINHEC

Dr Manulani MEYER University of Hawaii at Hilo “Higher Education Quality Assurance and Indigenous Epistemology: Triangulating Our Way to Meaning” o The more specific we are about culture the more we head towards systems of universality, so specificity (not uniformity) leads to universality o Uniformity in QA leads to compliance o Message to young indigenous scholars “when you excel, don’t leave us for your culture will wither on the vine”

Elizabeth Bean (Lincoln University) Post-graduate Experience “Do the post-graduate students agree with the academic auditors?”

University of Otago CEQ Good Teaching Scale

Comparison of the CEQ overall satisfaction question: Otago mean score and Australian national score Australian National Mean = 0 Deviation from the weighted mean

University of Otago teaching evaluations 2002: “How effective was Dr X in teaching this course?” % of satisfied or highly satisfied responses

External research funding at the University of Otago 1994 – 2003

Number of PhD graduates at the University of Otago Note – change in way data was recorded in 1999 results in an anomaly during that year

PBRF quality evaluation score for New Zealand universities 2003

International Developments in Academic Audit Summary and Discussion