International Developments in Academic Audit

1
International Developments in Academic Audit

• Source International Network of Quality
  Assurance Agencies in Higher Education INQAAHE
  Biennial Conference
• Wellington 29 March - 1 April 2005

2
Themes

• Effectiveness of Quality Assurance
• Quality Assurance in Transnational Issues
• Impacts on Diversity
• Indigenous Peoples

3
Keynote Speakers

• Professor Denise Bradley - VC University South
  Australia
• Professor Ranginui Walker - Retired
• Sir John Daniel - President CEO, The
  Commonwealth of Learning Organisation

4
Speakers

• Phil Meade
• Gareth Jones
• Sarah Carr
• Emma Hamilton

5
Quality Assurance Agencies New Guidelines

• Standards Guidelines for Quality Assurance in
  the European Higher Education Area February 2005
• INQAAHE Guidelines for Good Practice January
  2005
• Guidelines for Quality Provision in Cross-Border
  Higher Education jointly elaborated by UNESCO and
  the OECD March 2005

6
Standards Guidelines - European HE

• Part 1 Guidelines for internal quality
  assurance within HEIs
• 1.1 Policy and procedures for QA
• 1.2 Approval, monitoring review of
  programmes
• 1.3 Assessment of students
• 1.4 Quality assurance of teaching staff
• 1.5 Learning resources and student support
• 1.6 Information systems
• 1.7 Public information

7
Standards Guidelines - European HE

• Part 2 Standards for External Quality
  Assurance of HE (cont.)
• 2.1 Use of internal quality assurance procedures
• 2.2 Development of external quality assurance
  processes
• 2.3 Criteria for decisions
• 2.4 Processes fit for purpose
• 2.5 Reporting
• 2.6 Follow-up procedures
• 2.7 Periodic reviews
• 2.8 System - wide analyses

8
Standards Guidelines - European HE

• Part 3 Standards for external quality assurance
• agencies (cont.)
• 3.1 Procedures in part 2 to be used
• 3.2 Official status
• 3.3 Activities
• 3.4 Resources
• 3.5 Mission statement
• 3.6 Independence
• 3.7 External quality assurance criteria and
  processes used by agencies should be
  pre-defined and publicity available
• 3.8 Accountability procedures for their own
  accountability

9
Guidelines for Quality Provision in Cross-Border
Higher Education

• UNESCOS aim for cross-border education
• radically change cost structures to make it
  affordable
• keep young people learning in their country and
  stay there
• accessibility, availability, affordability
  needed
• 4 billion poor people in the world who want a
  better life
• There is 40 participation in HE in developed
  countries
• If there was 35 participation in
  under-developed countries there would be 150
  million extra students to serve

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Guidelines for Quality Provision in Cross-Border
Higher Education

• A need for strong partnership with local
  institutions to make sure programmes are
  relevant
• Providers need to take national priorities into
  account and refrain from academic dumping
• Highly distributed, culturally sensitive, small
  scale operations are called for
• A need to apply
• new technologies
• e-learning and reusable learning objects
• connectivity and free open source software
• apply QA

11
Guidelines for Quality Provision in Cross-Border
Higher Education

• Students need to be protected from dubious
• suppliers
• Foreign suppliers must agree to accredit
  graduates in own countries
• Must partner with local institutions
• QA concerns
• Capacity building and long-term perspective
• called for

12
Australian Universities Quality Agency (AUQA)

• AUQA audits extended to State Accreditation
  Agencies
• State Agencies have developed legislation to
  prevent misuse of the university label and to
  protect use of the terms university and degree

13
The Australian - Wednesday March 30 2005

• College amends offshore uni link
• Brendan OKeefe
• A Sydney hypnotherapy college has removed
• references to an unaccredited overseas university
• and the degrees it offered after a prosecution
  threat
• from the NSW Department of Education and training

14
Australian Universities Quality Agency (AUQA)

• AUQA uses National Protocols for Higher
  Education Approval Processes
• Protocol 1 Criteria and processes for
  recognition of universities
• Protocol 2 Overseas higher education institutions
  seeking to operate in Australia
• Protocol 3 The accreditation of higher education
  courses to be offered by non-self
  accreditation agencies
• Protocol 4 Delivery arrangement involving other
  organisations
• Protocol 5 Endorsement of courses for overseas
  students

15
AUQA - Strengthening of processes

• Visits to off-shore campuses
• equivalence of entry assessment standards
• acknowledgement of graduates by professional
  accreditation bodies for registration
  purposes
• provision of learning and support services
• Visits to Partners operating in Australia
• nature of MOU
• use of university brand in advertising
• standards credit transfer
• learning support services
• Drilling down - use of web-site - seeking
  additional information

16
AUQA Good Practice

• Database
• Examples
• Mäori _at_ Massey Strategy
• Massey University Workloads Policy
• Academic Policy Formation (Massey) Collegial
  Participation in University Governance
• Ensuring Awareness of Plagiarism Policy (UNE)
• Improving Graduate Supervision and Completion
  Rates (RMIT)
• Integrating Graduate Attributes into UNE Courses

17
Review of the Queensland Studies Authority

• An alternative approach to standard audit with
  Self Review and Quality Portfolio followed by
  visit by External Audit Team

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Review of the Queensland Studies Authority

• Minister appoints an External Reviewer
• External Reviewer consults with Reference Group
  comprising Key Stakeholders
• Minister Releases Discussion Paper (prepared by
• External Reviewer approved by Cabinet)
• Public Submissions called
• Reviewer Prepares Report states whether or not
  recommendations are supported by Stakeholders
• Recommendations considered by Cabinet

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INQAAHE Conference Indigenous Theme
Professor Ranginui Walker

• Powerful address advocating for a bi-cultural
  educational experience for Mäori
• Use of building and campus design structures
  sensitive to Mäori culture
• Learning of Mäori language
• Embedding of Mäori values in processes during
  provision of educational services
• Emerging role of World Indigenous Nations Higher
  Education Consortium WINHEC

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Dr Manulani MEYERUniversity of Hawaii at Hilo

• Higher Education Quality Assurance and
  Indigenous
• Epistemology Triangulating Our Way to Meaning
  
• The more specific we are about culture the more
  we head towards systems of universality, so
  specificity (not uniformity) leads to
  universality
• Uniformity in QA leads to compliance
• Message to young indigenous scholars when you
  excel, dont leave us for your culture will
  wither on the vine

21
Elizabeth Bean(Lincoln University)
Post-graduate Experience

• Do the post-graduate students agree with the
  academic auditors?

22
University of Otago CEQ Good Teaching Scale
1995-2002
23
Comparison of the CEQ overall satisfaction
question Otago mean score and Australian
national score
Deviation from the weighted mean
Australian National Mean 0
24
University of Otago teaching evaluations 2002
How effective was Dr X in teaching this course?
of satisfied or highly satisfied responses
25
External research funding at the University of
Otago 1994 2003
26
Number of PhD graduates at the University of
Otago 1995 - 2003 Note change in way data was
recorded in 1999 results in an anomaly during
that year
27
PBRF quality evaluation score for New Zealand
universities 2003
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International Developments in Academic Audit

• Summary
• and
• Discussion