Issues in Higher Education Quality Assurance

This article examines a range of policy issues which concern the quality assurance of higher education by regulatory bodies. There is a widespread consensus that the benefits of at least some forms of external quality assurance of higher education exceed the costs. This is probably a matter of faith more than the outcome of a considered analysis, but public policy in several countries has accepted it nevertheless.
There are important questions regarding the manner in which such quality assurance should be conducted. Issues to do with self-regulation, the use of independent ratings agencies, the role of the courts, the establishment of a government agency, and the public funding of private quality assurance bodies all deserve consideration.
Process matters become important once structural issues have been decided. These include quality assurance principles, internationalisation and national jurisdiction; the role of a quality assurance system in qualifications' design and development; what precisely is to be 'quality assured' in higher education; the standards to be used in quality assurance; linkages between quality assurance and public funding of higher education; compliance costs; and the utility of a National Qualifications Framework (NQF).
This article places considerable emphasis on a discussion of the deficiencies of the NQF approach. It argues that the emphasis placed on the development of an NQF in several systems of educational quality assurance is misplaced: an NQF cannot embrace the complexity of contemporary qualifications systems.
Claims to the effect that an NQF is a valuable addition to the sources of information available to national and international labour markets must be treated with scepticism. There are logical and practical issues to be considered in this regard. An NQF is arguably likely to mislead labour markets seriously under existing circumstances.     

Branding and Isomorphism: The Case of Higher Education

Since the New Public Management movement began, public and nonprofit organizations have been adopting and adapting businesslike practices, including branding and marketing. There remains a knowledge gap in understanding why organizational actors choose to allocate resources to adopt branding and marketing policies. This article explores organizational branding initiatives within the context of research extensive (N = 109) higher education institutions in the United States from 2006 to 2013. Seventy‐two universities (66 percent) have introduced branding initiatives since 2006. Findings suggest that the publicness of organizations influences branding and marketing isomorphism in nuanced ways and that organizations are more likely to adopt new branding initiatives to promote higher general performance. Organizations adopt branding strategies in response to national trends and efforts to capitalize on their own strong performance rather than mimicking stronger‐performing peers.     

高校内部教学质量保障体系的构建与完善

教育质量,是高等教育发展的核心内容。随着我国经济社会的快速发展,高等教育实现了跨越式发展,教育质量问题也越来越成为关系高校生存与发展的决定因素。建立适合我国国情的本科教育内部质量保障体系,是我国当前高等教育发展的重要任务之一。阐述了高校内部教学质量保障体系的内涵与构建,分析了现阶段高校内部教学质量保障体系普遍存在的问题,并提出了完善高校内部教学质量保障体系的一些建议。     

The Politics of Higher Education: University President Ideology and External Networking

While the importance of networking is increasingly recognized by practitioners and scholars alike, little is known about why significant variance is observed in how often and with whom organizational leaders network. Further, while we know that political ideology plays a critical role in shaping decision making within public organizations, current models of networking have largely failed to consider the importance of ideology in driving networking efforts. Using data from a 2012 survey of U.S. university presidents and the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System, this article explores the role that president ideology plays in shaping networking behavior with political principals. Findings suggest that the effect of ideology on external networking efforts is moderated by state policy maker ideology.     

The Politics of Governance Ratings

ABSTRACT

Some international organizations, and most prominently the World Bank, play a leading role in the supply of cross-country governance ratings. The paper draws on interviews of World Bank staff to understand why the World Bank produces cross-country comparable indicators and to bring to light the current controversies within the World Bank about existing indicators and future work on governance indicators. It also attempts to explain why so many external users rely on the Worldwide Governance Indicators, despite the limitations of these indicators and the large number of more meaningful, alternative indicators available. It argues that both robust and meaningful indicators and more qualitative research are necessary to give better reform advice to developing countries.     

Steering at a Distance: A New Paradigm of Public Governance in Dutch Higher Education

In the 1980s a new concept of government steering was developed at the Dutch ministry of Education and Sciences, called “steering at a distance.” It is a departure from “classical” government steering by means of legislation, prohibitions and regulations and a move towards more autonomy and self-responsibility for institutions of higher education. This new paradigm of public governance in Dutch higher education represents a drastic change both in a practical sense — the new steering concept has actually been carried out and implemented resulting in major institutional, legal, financial and planning changes — and in the scientific sense. The new concept departs from hierarchical, direct top-down control. Government is only one of the influencing actors in a complex network of many interrelated, more or less autonomous actors. The new concept contributes to the scientific body of knowledge on steering in complex interorganizational networks.     

Lander Governance in a Global Era: The Case of Hesse

Subnational governments in federal systems are among the institutionsbeing buffeted by economic trends and institutional developmentsassociated with globalization. While the national governments'ability to maintain policy autonomy in a global age is frequentlyexamined, less attention has been devoted to the subnationalleaders' capacity for responding to global circumstances whilestill preserving the traditions and priorities of their jurisdictions.This article explores the responses of a single German Land,Hesse, to international events between 1982 and 1999. The analysisconcentrates first on changes in governmental structure andprocedure that reflect developments in Hesse's global environment,and then on changes in economic and environmental policy, apolicy domain central to Hessian politics throughout the period.Hesse's political leadership has not been able to insulate theLand from global pressures, but by acknowledging their distinctcircumstances, they have shaped institutions and policies inways that have enhanced their ability to derive significantadvantage from trends originating outside their borders.     

Bureaucracy and Radical Politics: The Case of the Greater London Council

New Left Organizational Theory contains a powerful critique of bureaucracy, and in its place offers a model of collectivist organization. This rejection of bureaucracy, however, is inadequate for understanding left political strategy in the advanced capitalist state. The experience of the radical Greater London Council during the early 1980s suggests a more dialectical critique of bureaucracy, one that recognizes structural opportunities for the democratic transformation of bureaucracy. This study outlines a Gramscian organizational theory that goes beyond New Left Organizational Theory by suggesting a strategy of participatory centralization for radical politics within the state.     

The Settlement and Process of Devolution: Territorial Politics and Governance under the Welsh Assembly

Devolution has been the most notable feature of the Labour government's plan to modernize the constitution. Principal consideration is given to Wales and to events since the formation of the National Assembly, which are examined by recourse to theoretically informed analysis on territorial politics and the nature of governance. The central question concerns the extent to which the Assembly can develop an autonomous policy position. Contemporary theories argue that internal and external developments have left central government in a less powerful position, which potentially can further augment the prospects for devolution. Events prior to and after the formation of the Assembly question whether government has moved into a new phase of development. Central government still commands an extensive range of resources and powers, especially over territorial bodies. At the same time, comparative analysis shows that such institutional parameters need not remain fixed. There is institutional space within the state for these powers to be contested and that the continued significance of territory can act as the basis of such political struggle.     

大众化进程中的高等教育质量探析

高等教育质量是高等院校生存与发展的“命脉”。扭转目前高等教育质量不理想的局面,必须从树立质量意识、重建质量目标体系、加强教育教学管理、建立教育教学合作以及强化社会监督机制几方面下功夫。     

Local Pork-Barrel Politics in National Pre-Election Dates: The Case of Italy

Political representation in the national assemblies isgeographic and elected representatives care about whogains and who loses in their electoral districts. Since legislators are re-election oriented, theirchances of electoral success are directly associatedwith the net benefits delivered to their constituents. In this perspective, geography is not only the basisfor political organisation and representation, butalso the hallmark of distributive politics. In thiscontext, it is likely that locally elected politiciansand party leaders standing in national elections wouldtend to cooperate in pre-election dates. In thispaper we argue that local administrators have anincentive to manipulate local government outlays inconnection with national election dates to enhance there-election prospects of their national party leaders. In particular, given the matching character ofnational grants with local investment spending, weexpect that in pre-election dates local policy-makerswould be induced to raise investment outlays beyondtheir standard growth rate. This would determineinefficient local public spending as a result of thegeographically-based system of democraticrepresentation. The case study under our investigationis the behaviour of Italian local policy-makers inconnection with national election dates.     

Remaking the Chinese Leviathan: Market Transition and the Politics of Governance in China

Book reviewed: Dali Yang. Remaking the Chinese Leviathan: Market Transition and the Politics of Governance in China.
Reviewed by VICTOR SHIH