1. Quality Assurance in a Changing World María José Lemaitre INQAAHE Conference Abu Dhabi, March 2009

2. MJLINQAAHE, Abu Dhabi2 Some people say it is: Is the world changing?

3. What makes the world flatter? Growing need for highly skilled and educated workers and a link between educated manpower and economic development The expansion of secondary education systems; Increasing links to the international system, mobility and outsourcing as important factors Increasing democratization, scientisation and development planning MJLINQAAHE, Abu Dhabi3

4. Changes in the HE world: Expansion of tertiary education systems Diversification of provision More heterogeneous student bodies New funding arrangements Increasing focus on accountability and performance New forms of institutional governance Global networking, mobility and collaboration  Increased diversity of higher education systems MJLINQAAHE, Abu Dhabi4

5. MJLINQAAHE, Abu Dhabi5 Challenges for Higher Education: Teaching Need to re-define teaching, to answer to the needs of a varied population of students: Change the organization of teaching (short cycle programs, modular arrangements, links with the labor market, new packaging for traditional programs) Adjust to new curricular requirements (basic skills and knowledge, general competencies, ‘soft’ skills; greater flexibility, multiple career paths, articulation, capacity for life long learning) New pedagogical approaches (need to provide a structure for available information rather than providing information; focus on learning rather than teaching)

6. Challenges for Higher Education: Teaching Teaching becomes the central business of many HEIs  need to revalue teaching as a critical function Changes in the methods for evaluating academic staff New approaches to academic staff development Changes in academic organization Changes in the organization of resources and mechanisms for their allocation MJLINQAAHE, Abu Dhabi6

7. MJLINQAAHE, Abu Dhabi7 Challenges for Higher Education: Management Need to revise and specify institutional mission statements: Determination of main actual functions, and need to make institutional organization consistent with the adopted decisions Identification of the ways in which these functions will be developed Consideration of different stakeholders in these definitions

8. MJLINQAAHE, Abu Dhabi8 Challenges for Higher Education: Management Impact of new sources of funding Funding and institutional autonomy Privatization of decision making Requirement for accountability Assessment of outcomes in relation to stated purposes Internal quality assurance mechanisms Information systems to support decision making

9. MJLINQAAHE, Abu Dhabi9 Challenges for Higher Education: Management Consideration of globalization and international competition Cooperation mechanisms Competition mechanisms The requirements of national, regional and international integration Mechanisms to promote mobility International presence within a context of quality

10. IMPLICATIONS FOR QA MJLINQAAHE, Abu Dhabi10

11. Quality and diversity Quality within a TE system is increasingly associated with diversity: it enables TEIs to respond to a wider range of needs, from students and employers it stimulates social and professional mobility it provides opportunities for innovation Quality at the institutional level is still associated with traditional views (the zombie scene of TE) MJLINQAAHE, Abu Dhabi11

12. Barriers to diversity Centralized and uniform governmental policies Imitative behavior by lower status institutions Academic conservantism  QA mechanisms are a good vehicle for all these factors  QA mechanisms may actually make quality difficult, if not impossible when? MJLINQAAHE, Abu Dhabi12

13. When QA is seen as an end, not a means for improved quality QA is meant to promote quality, and help to meet developmental needs of TE But … QA is about evaluation, and evaluation is about power. Sometimes, it is easy to be tempted to build TE systems in the QA agency’s image  Need to learn about the system, to be in touch with international developments, good practices  Need to recognize and validate innovative practices  Need to use a wide range of consultants and reviewers MJLINQAAHE, Abu Dhabi13

14. When standards and procedures are too rigid or homogeneous Need to recognize and validate different institutional models, and learn about the features that make them effective Avoid standards that are too rigid, or the application of procedures or standards that are too homogeneous Find new ways to define quality, adaptable to different circumstances MJLINQAAHE, Abu Dhabi14

15. When standards are too prescriptive, or too formal Need to avoid prescribing a preferred way of doing things – TEIs are different, and there may be many different ways of achieving the desired outcome Standards that are too formal, or a strong focus on quantitative indicators make it difficult to pay attention to the substantive, underlying issues MJLINQAAHE, Abu Dhabi15

16. When QA loses its learning capacity HE is an essentially dynamic operation – its quality cannot be assured with a static process Need to be able to revise the definition of quality, the criteria, the procedures, the mechanisms for self and external review, on the basis of experience Need to learn – and to un-learn! Learning comes from a variety of sources: academic staff, external reviewers, internal and external stakeholders, international exchanges  Need to keep eyes and ears open MJLINQAAHE, Abu Dhabi16

17. When it demands compliance, and mistakes it for quality All guidelines for good practice stress that quality is the responsibility of TEIs, not of the QA agency Need to work towards the development of self regulation policies, mechanisms and procedures QA work should be done with TEIs, not to TEIs MJLINQAAHE, Abu Dhabi17

18. SO, WHAT IS A QA AGENCY TO DO? MJLINQAAHE, Abu Dhabi18

19. October, 2007María José Lemaitre19 A new approach to quality Doing the same but better Innovation and improvement Current situation Change: new issues, new approaches Improvement Innovation

20.  Promote institutional capacity for self regulation Promote and assess whether the TEI has in place: Clear purposes and goals, that can guide decision making at different institutional levels Policies and mechanisms that are consistent with purposes and goals Links between self assessment and planning Links between planning and allocation of resources Mechanisms for assessing whether objectives are being achieved Feed back into next cycle of planning MJLINQAAHE, Abu Dhabi20

21. Tertiary education is changing, and QA processes must change with it, or become irrelevant QA must become an essential part of institutional management and planning It is a process that takes time It must be done with TEIs, learning to trust them and to help them improve themselves MJLINQAAHE, Abu Dhabi21

22. May we have a great conference, and a good learning experience Thank you mariajoselemaitre@gmail.com MJLINQAAHE, Abu Dhabi22