Learning Standards And The Assessment Of Quality In Higher Education Contested Policy Trajectories

This book analyses accountability and quality policies relating to learning standards and examines their implications for assessment in higher education. Whilst primarily focusing on the Australian setting, this analysis is located within a broader frame of reference that includes the United Kingdom (UK), the United States of America (US), and the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). Across these settings, comparative measures of learning have been seen as a policy ‘solution’ to the problem of ‘proving quality’ in a globalised and increasingly competitive higher education market. Comparative measures of learning depend on the specification of learning standards. Learning standards attempt to articulate the capabilities expected of graduates, and students’ achievement of these is determined through the practices of assessment carried out within institutions. Quality policy, learning standards and assessment practices all intersect within the broader umbrella of accountability, with relevance to governments, higher education providers, employers, parents, and students. The findings reported in this book highlight a number of policy influences, including the rising demands for national and international comparative data on learning standards to compare quality and inform student choice in a globally competitive market.

This book explores quality assessment and enhancement in higher education in Africa to illustrate the need to develop quality practices in measuring effective education and continually search for permanent improvement. The book demonstrates that technological and socio-economic trends, innovations, and inventions of the twenty-first century demand that additional attention be placed upon education for national, regional, and international development. Since conventions for quality assessment and enhancement need to be defined and systematic structures constructed to develop quality practices, the book shows how quality in higher education within Africa has been established and advanced to provide a framework for monitoring, auditing, and reviewing assessment and enhancement. Though the book considers African complexities and diversity, it incorporates global trends and utilises an international focus that enables readers to devise appropriate strategies for developing and enhancing quality and standards in higher education in both continental Africa and beyond. Illustrating why quality assessment and enhancement should be embraced in all aspects including inputs, processes, outputs and outcomes in educational settings globally, this book will be of interest to policymakers and scholars in the fields of Higher Education, Quality and Global Studies, African Education, African Studies and Management and Administration, Leadership and Professional Development Studies.

In any engineering field (including manufacturing, construction, transportation, aerospace, food and agriculture, oil and gas, etc.), ensuring product quality is fundamental to achieving success. Quality assurance (QA) and quality control (QC) are integral components of managing quality. According to the American Society for Quality (ASQ), QA is defined as the part of quality management that focuses on instilling confidence in meeting quality requirements, while QC is concerned with fulfilling those requirements. QA instills confidence internally within the engineering organization’s management and externally with customers, government agencies, regulators, certifiers, and other stakeholders. QA primarily examines how processes are carried out or how products are made, while QC concentrates on product inspection. When QA and QC collaborate effectively, organizational efficiency is enhanced, resulting in superior products. Quality Control and Quality Assurance - Techniques and Applications explores various aspects of quality, including quality planning, QC, QA, and quality enhancement. It covers topics related to QA such as total quality management (TQM), failure testing, process and product quality assurance (PPQA), and statistical process control (SPC). QC includes chapters describing process control, control charts, acceptance sampling, and product quality assessment. For meaningful and easy traceability, the chapters are divided into four sections: “Basics of QA/QC”; “Applications of QA/QC in Industry”; “Applications of QA/QC in Healthcare”; and “Applications of QA/QC in Education”. Covering the latest practices, techniques, and applications in QC and QA, this book is a valuable resource for engineering and business students, practicing engineers, engineering managers, and third-party agencies.

This book advances new views on higher education design, steps beyond prevailing problems and perspectives, and stimulates broader contributions. The 2020 pandemic has shocked already fragile business and academic models, and the time is ripe for innovating global online education, shifting towards Asia and lifelong learning, and investing in 21st century institutions and partnerships. Rather than dwell on dystopian discontents, the book charts narratives for developing the industry and the field. It is written for commercial, governmental and collegial communities to inject major research-driven insights into contemporary transformations and research.

This book contributes to the understanding of the responsibilities of Higher Education in the evolving societal, political and economic landscape. It raises questions about its role in society, its responsibility towards students and staff, and its intended impact.

The quality of higher education is a hot topic, especially as students around the world are asked to pay more towards their own education, and expect to get what they pay for. In addition, league tables, both national and international, have come to dominate discussion, with several governments, and many institutions, setting themselves the goal of improving their ratings. In this volume Professor Turner examines the assumptions that are being made about what counts as quality, and what the traditional purposes of universities are. But with the growth of mass higher education, and the rise of student centred approaches to learning and teaching, it has become increasingly clear that high quality education is education that meets the needs of the student at that particular moment, and promotes their future development. After examining a range of different approaches to the quality of higher education and its measurement, Professor Turner develops an approach to benchmarking and quality enhancement that is better suited to the ethos of individualised learning, and uses it to critique the philosophies that have dominated debates about quality to date. This book will be of interest to scholars of higher education, but also has something important to add to debates that engage policy makers in higher education. It provides a background to the historical development of universities which might help postgraduate students ad new members of faculty understand the process in which they are engaged.

As higher education becomes a key determinant for economic competitiveness, institutions face increasing pressure to demonstrate their fitness to meet the needs of society and individuals. Blending innovative research with richly contextualised examples this unique Research Handbook provides authoritative insights from around the globe on how best to understand, assess and improve quality, performance and accountability in higher education.

Assessment in Higher Education brings together in one place most of the major issues confronting higher education in the 1990s. These include enhancing student access, development, and success in higher education; transforming admissions testing to meet expanding educational needs; resolving the politics of accountability by assessing quality outcomes of higher education; assuring fair assessment responsive to human diversity; and facing the technological future of higher education. An integrative thread that weaves through all of these issues is the concept of equity, especially as it bears on social justice in education and on fairness in assessment. Another integrative thread is the role of computer and multimedia technology not only in improving the efficiency and power of all the functions of higher education assessment, but also in revolutionizing the delivery of higher education itself.