Background Note

The quality assurance of higher education has become an important global trend.
Nearly half of all countries worldwide have created quality assurance mechanisms, of one type or another, during the last decade or two. The following factors help explain this trend:

• Due to the rapid expansion of higher education systems, there is now a more diverse range of providers of higher education, comprising public and private institutions, cross-border institutions and distance education organizations.
• Globalization has brought with it an increasing level of academic fraud, or fake credentials. This increases the demand for trustworthy organizations that can establish confidence using quality assurance methods.
• The quality of public higher education institutions has suffered in many countries due to economic constraints and a shift in priorities from advanced levels to basic education.

There are strong expectations that quality assurance mechanisms will ensure continuous quality control and improvement. Quality assurance is linked to professional mobility, and a growing number of regional and international integration processes. This raises the need for more effective mechanisms for the professional recognition of higher education credentials.

Quality assurance is both a national and an institutional responsibility.
 
Quality assurance has two underlying broad objectives: control/accountability and improvement. Control/accountability relates to processes which assess whether minimum standards are in place in a higher education institution or programme. Quality improvement identifies developmental processes, such as the strengths and weaknesses of institutions and their academic provision.

I. Internal quality assurance (IQA) refers to each institution’s or programme’s policies and mechanisms for ensuring that it is fulfilling its own purposes, as well as the standards that apply to higher education in general, or to the profession or discipline in particular.
II. External quality assurance (EQA) refers to the actions of an external body, possibly a quality assurance agency, which assesses the operation of the institution or its programmes, to determine whether it is meeting the agreed standards. EQA systems include accreditation, assessment or audit. 

 Strategy

UNESCO promotes policy dialogue and contributes to enhancing quality education, strengthening research capacities in higher education institutions, and knowledge sharing across borders. Most of the Gulf Cooperation Countries encouraged private sectors to invest in higher education and hosted many foreign universities and created what is knows as "education cities", competing among themselves, in a business sense to attract nationals and foreign students. The quality of the programmes provided by governments and private sector universities are questioned and quality assurance deemed necessary, especially in the cross-border provision of higher education as well as dialogue between exporting and importing countries. UNESCO Doha office will support a sub regional symposium, intending to facilitate networking among the massive private universities and government ones, enabling them to promote guidelines for quality of higher education. The symposium will be preceded by analytical research for the status of quality assurance used among these universities.

The general aim of the symposium/workshop will be to discuss:

• Guidelines for quality provision on cross-border higher education
• National Experience in facing challenges of cross border of higher education
• Implication of cross-border education
• Quality assurance mechanisms in Transnational Institutions

Timing & Venue

It is proposed to commence on 26-27 June 2011 in Kuwait, venue will be finalized at a later date.

Participants:

 
Two participants from each member state in addition to a number from the host country, as well as UNESCO consultants. Each country will be represented by one representing Higher Education Department of Quality assurance and the other will be from a transnational/cross border Institution and each will present a paper/working document on the respective theme. The AOU- Kuwait will be inviting the participants from a transnational/cross border Institution.

Organizing Body:

UNESCO Doha with cooperation of AOU Kuwait:
For information kindly contact (Ms.) Tayseir Abdel-Aziz +974 4113290 ext 225
t.abdel-aziz(at)unesco.org