Shaping
a New Vision of Higher Education
Article
11. Qualitative evaluation
- Quality
in higher education is a multidimensional concept, which
should embrace all its functions, and activities: teaching
and academic programmes, research and scholarship, staffing,
students, buildings, faculties, equipment, services the
community and the academic environment. Internal self-evaluation
and external review, conducted openly by independent specialist,
if possible with international expertise, are vital for
enhancing quality, independent national bodies should be
established and comparative standards of quality, recognized
at international level, should be defined. Due attention
should be paid to the specific institutional, national and
regional contexts in order to take into account diversity
and to avoid uniformity. Stakeholders should be an integral
part of the institutional evaluation process.
- Quality
also requires that higher education should be characterized
by its international dimension: exchange of knowledge, interactive
networking, mobility of teachers and students, and international
research projects, while taking into account the national
cultural values and circumstances.
- To
attain and sustain national, regional or international quality
certain components are particularly relevant, notably careful
selection of staff and continuous staff development, in
particular through the promotion of appropriate programmes
for academic staff development, including teaching/learning
methodology and mobility between countries between higher
education institutions, and between higher education institutions
and the world of work, as well as student mobility within
and between countries. The new information technologies
are an important tool in this process, owing to their impact
on the acquisition of knowledge and know-how.
See
the entire World Conference on Higher Education Framework
of Action
|
