Assessing Quality In Postsecondary Education

For many years the benefits conferred by a higher education went undisputed. But students, employers, governments, and taxpayers are now demanding evidence of educational quality and value. At the same time, fiscally strapped governments are raising questions about how institutions are funded and the role quality should play in setting funding levels. In the face of these mounting pressures, jurisdictions around the world are working toward designing meaningful indicators to measure the performance of postsecondary institutions that go beyond enrolment numbers, graduation rates, and ever-popular reputational rankings. Assessing Quality in Postsecondary Education: International Perspectives presents a collection of thought-provoking essays by world-renowned higher-education thinkers and policy experts that discuss ways of defining and measuring academic quality. The papers were presented at a conference convened by the Higher Education Quality Council of Ontario in May 2017 and provide valuable insight into this pressing issue and underscore the need for reform.

Measuring the Value of a Postsecondary Education is an insightful collection of essays that respond to current and pressing questions in the field of higher education: What do we mean by "quality" of education? What do courses and programs promise to deliver, and do they succeed? What do we know about improving learning outcomes, and is reform possible? Comprised of papers presented at a conference of experts convened by the Higher Education Quality Council of Ontario in 2011, the book begins by evaluating pioneering initiatives in Europe, and follows this with reports on efforts to measure and evaluate learning outcomes. Drawing on over two decades of work by international agencies, governments, and foundations in identifying and evaluating learning outcomes in higher education, Measuring the Value of a Postsecondary Education encourages educational institutions to draw on this evidence in revising course and program offerings. Bringing together international leaders and innovators in the field, this book is an important analysis of progress in enhancing learning quality and directions for future reform. Contributors include Jeana Abromeit (Alverno College), Roger Benjamin (Council for Aid to Education), Ken Dryden (Canadian politician), Michael Gallagher (Group of Eight), Virginia Hatchette (Postsecondary Education Quality Assessment Board), Jillian Kinzie (Indiana University), Diane Lalancette (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development), Holiday Hart McKiernan (Lumina Foundation), Robert Wagenaar (University of Groningen), and Lorne A. Whitehead (University of British Columbia).

For many years the benefits conferred by a higher education went undisputed. But students, employers, governments, and taxpayers are now demanding evidence of educational quality and value. At the same time, fiscally strapped governments are raising questions about how institutions are funded and the role quality should play in setting funding levels. In the face of these mounting pressures, jurisdictions around the world are working toward designing meaningful indicators to measure the performance of postsecondary institutions that go beyond enrolment numbers, graduation rates, and ever-popular reputational rankings. Assessing Quality in Postsecondary Education: International Perspectives presents a collection of thought-provoking essays by world-renowned higher-education thinkers and policy experts that discuss ways of defining and measuring academic quality. The papers were presented at a conference convened by the Higher Education Quality Council of Ontario in May 2017 and provide valuable insight into this pressing issue and underscore the need for reform.

Canada's universities have lost their autonomy. Under the guise of accountability, reformers from government and large corporations have undermined the original purposes of these institutions, insisting that they operate according to a business model. The chief tool used to effect this change is the performance indicator, a method of evaluation and ranking well suited to measuring sales per square foot, for example, but useless in assessing qualities such as critical thinking, creativity and wisdom. Evaluating use of performance indicators in Canada, the United States, United Kingdom and New Zealand, the authors challenge readers to look beyond this narrow, business-based measure of value, and to consider more creative and effective methods of evaluation. Counting Out the Scholars is a penetrating analysis of current methods of performance evaluation in the university, one that offers alternatives to the prevailing orthodoxy.

This volume presents the major outcomes of the third edition of the Future of Higher Education – Bologna Process Researchers Conference (FOHE-BPRC 3) which was held on 27-29 November 2017. It acknowledges the importance of a continued dialogue between researchers and decision-makers and benefits from the experience already acquired, this way enabling the higher education community to bring its input into the 2018-2020 European Higher Education Area (EHEA) priorities. The Future of Higher Education – Bologna Process Researchers Conference (FOHE-BPRC) has already established itself as a landmark in the European higher education environment. The two previous editions (17-19 October 2011, 24-26 November 2014), with approximately 200 European and international participants each, covering more than 50 countries each, were organized prior to the Ministerial Conferences, thus encouraging a consistent dialogue between researchers and policy makers. The main conclusions of the FOHE Conferences were presented at the EHEA Ministerial Conferences (2012 and 2015), in order to make the voice of researchers better heard by European policy and decision makers. This volume is dedicated to continuing the collection of evidence and research-based policymaking and further narrowing the gap between policy and research within the EHEA and broader global contexts. It aims to identify the research areas that require more attention prior to the anniversary 2020 EHEA Ministerial Conference, with an emphasis on the new issues on rise in the academic and educational community. This book gives a platform for discussion on key issues between researchers, various direct higher education actors, decision-makers, and the wider public. This book is published under an open access CC BY license.

The basic structure of universities and colleges in Ontario - one focused primarily on expansion and greater access and put in place in the 1960s - is outdated. The system is now large enough, the eligible age group for entering post-secondary studies is shrinking, and participation rates are as high as they are likely to go. In Rethinking Higher Education, George Fallis argues that policy-makers should shift their attention away from growth and towards improving and diversifying the range of programs available and creating new means of program delivery. He calls for increases in honours undergraduate programs and polytechnic education and envisions a group of research-intensive universities responsible for doctoral education. The existing design, Fallis contends, neglects the specific needs of graduate education and research, layering it on top of a system designed for undergraduate education. In addition, there is disconnection between Ontario's Ministry of Training, Colleges, and Universities and the research missions of the universities and colleges themselves. Fallis recommends that Ontario establish a system for documenting and assessing the quality of research published at universities. Thought-provoking and thoroughly argued, Rethinking Higher Education provides a detailed design for higher education in the twenty-first century.

A helpful study of pertinent issues relating to university education.