The adoption of US accreditation by non-US universities is one of the most salient manifestations of the internationalization of quality assurance in higher education. This process has been conceptualized as an exercise of global position taking by which institutions with limited financial and symbolic resources become associated with more…

This article shows how the professional discourse on quality assurance in higher education is building on latent meaning structures that can be competing with each other and even subvert the messages on the manifest level. Taking the case of the Austrian higher education system as an example and employing a reconstructive-interpretative approach…

There is both a growing appreciation of teacher assessment capability for the improvement of school student learning and achievement and a commensurate drive for graduates in Australian Initial Teacher Education institutions to demonstrate impact on school student learning as part of a national accreditation process. We argue in this article that…

By the start of 2015 all University courses in Australia were required to be compliant with the new the Australian Qualifications Framework (AQF). Quality in higher education seeks to achieve three goals - quality of design, quality of conformance and quality of performance. This paper brings together a number of higher education principles such…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore the process of internationalization of higher education (HE) in the United Arab Emirates by examining the development of its HE system, and analyzing the components and results of internationalization. Design/methodology/approach: The study adopts a qualitative research methodology to analyze…

This study examines the provision of continuing professional development for vocational teachers and trainers across the seven countries that make up the region of the Western Balkans and Turkey. The study aims to inform policy makers and responsible agencies about the extent and character of provision but also to reveal how this provision is…

The paper analyses the impact of programme accreditation in Portugal further to the operations of the Agency for Assessment and Accreditation of Higher Education, which were initiated in 2009. Tracking the evolution of study programmes, the paper found that, out of the initial 5262 programmes on offer in 2009/2010, 40% have been either…

Objective: To obtain information on the current clinical research training status and evaluate the training needs comprehensively for medical staff in hospitals. Methods: This survey was initiated and conducted by the Health and Family Planning Commission of Shenzhen in conjunction with the Peking University Clinical Research Institute (Shenzhen)…

Purpose: This paper aims to investigate the potential benefits and limitations associated with aligning accreditation and academic program reviews in post-secondary institutions, using a descriptive case study approach. Design/methodology/approach: The paper describes two Canadian graduate programs that are subject to both external professional…

Which higher education paths will truly prepare students for the future is a big question with serious implications for students and families who invest their time and money, as well as for employers and communities that seek capable career candidates. It also leads to a bigger question: "Should graduates' employability be central to the…

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) is a federation of seven autonomous emirates that follow different economic models. There is a process for quality assurance at the federal level, however, each emirate takes its own approach to assure the quality of its institutions. This has resulted in different procedures and varying levels of oversight and…

Australian universities have been actively engaged in transnational education since the 1990s. The challenges of assuring quality have seen a changing regulatory framework increasingly designed to ensure equivalence of standards wherever a course of study is offered and however it is delivered. Transnational Higher Education has grown…

This paper shares the Irish adult educator's experiences of Quality Assurance (QA). Educators are found to be largely supportive of QA but contradictions emerge. These include philosophical tensions, inconsistent moderation and incongruence between the stated values of QA and a more powerful government-led employability discourse.

Objective: Since the 1990s studies on how stakeholders in higher education perceive quality have burgeoned. Nevertheless, the majority of studies on perception of quality in higher education focus on students and employers. The few studies on academics' perceptions of quality in higher education treat academics as a homogeneous group and,…

Purpose: This paper is one of seven in this volume that aims to elaborate different approaches to quality improvement in education. It delineates a methodology called Six Sigma. Design/methodology/approach: The paper presents the origins, theoretical foundations, core principles and a case study demonstrating an application of Six Sigma in a…