1. Conclusions from Working Group 4: Improving Educational Quality for a Diverse Student Body Chair: Judith Eaton President Council for Higher Education Accreditation USA

2. …2… Introduction Academic quality has been a shared responsibility within institutions for most of the history of universities Academic quality has been based on a set of values: trust link between teaching and research institutional autonomy and academic freedom HE as a public good and serving the public interest

3. …3… Recent developments Greater intrusion of governments at national, regional and international levels represents a threat to academic values because: bureaucratic and over-regulatory approach HE as a private good and students as customers This approach can lead to: standardisation in a context where HE must address conflicting demands and a diversity of needs compliance and loss of HE’s ownership of quality loss of quality

4. …4… How do institutions sustain ownership of academic quality? Respond to globalisation through: Rethinking “liberal-arts” education and re-stating its importance Educating global citizens while contributing to the local community Respond to massification through: Developing appropriate sustainable practices for our work with students: e.g., Teaching methods that combine personalised learning paths within a team project Understanding better the diversity of students and using its richness in the classroom Respond to accountability demands by developing internal quality processes of all programmes and activities

5. …5… How do institutions sustain ownership of academic quality? Assert the university as the appropriate forum for continued reflection and dialogue on academic values as part of a strategy to sustain our academic quality Ensure a QA role for institutions at national level Pursue a supranational, mutual recognition approach: EUA must play a role in facilitating the interface of national processes Embrace diversity of institutional missions and standards and avoid a single set of quality standards

6. …6… Conclusion What did higher education do before government QA procedures?