Transcript Cycle 2

Diane Grayson
Director: Institutional Audits
Trends in Global Higher Education: Tracking an
Academic Revolution (UNESCO 2009)
…higher education has undergone deep changes that will shape
the academic enterprise for decades to come. Perhaps the key
engines of change consist of the massification of higher
education in almost every country, the impact of information
and communications technology and its impact on higher
education, the "public good/ private good" debate, and the rise
of the global knowledge economy and other manifestations of
globalization…The 21st century revolution will continue to shape
higher education in the coming decades.
This continuing revolution is intensifying…Making higher
education more inclusive requires not only moving historically
underrepresented groups into higher education but also meeting
their unique needs.
21st Century context
International
Ubiquitous, powerful ICT
Ready access to enormous amounts of information
Globalisation
Sustainability concerns
Workplace mobility and career changes
Recent
Global economic recession
High unemployment, especially among youth
}
Social and
political
upheaval
National
Lingering inequities
Serial curriculum changes at school level
Limited knowledge and skills of school-leavers
Stringent labour laws
Total population in five-year age groups and sex (Census
2011, Statistics SA)
Throughput rates for 2005 cohort in 3-year degree
programmes excluding UNISA (CHE VitalStats)
Cumulative throughput rates by race for 2005 cohort in 3-year
degree programmes excluding UNISA (CHE VitalStats)
National Planning Commission 2012
Massive investments in the higher education system have
not produced better outcomes in the level of academic
performance or graduation rates. While enrolment and
attainment gaps have narrowed across different race
groups, the quality of education for the vast majority has
remained poor at all levels. The higher education
therefore tends to be a low-participation, high-attrition
system.
OECD Sept 2012
Higher education can no longer be owned by a community
of disciplinary connoisseurs who transmit knowledge to
students. Both the complexity and uncertainty of society
and the economy will require institutions to continuously
adapt while upholding standards. In practice, institutions
will have to learn how best to serve the student
community. Students have become the focal point of our
learning approach in many areas of the world.
(Fostering Quality Teaching in Higher Education: Policies
and Practices)
Convergence of imperatives for change
Zeitgeist
Universities taking responsibility
for their students’success
Students
National needs
Social justice,
Economic
development
21st century skills
Inter-personal,
Information processing
Life-long learning
Stanford University
Too often curricular reform efforts devolve into
academic
horse
trading.
Speaking
with
undergraduates helped save us from this fate,
reminding us that our fundamental purpose was not to
broker an accord among our faculty colleagues but to
create new opportunities for our students to explore,
think, and grow…. …We want our students not simply
to succeed but to flourish; we want them to live not
only usefully but also creatively, responsibly, and
reflectively.
(The Study of Undergraduate Education at Stanford
University, January 2012)
Second cycle– Quality enhancement
UK QAA-- Quality Assurance:
“the means through which an institution ensures and confirms
that the conditions are in place for students to achieve the
standards set by it or by another awarding body” (QAA 2004),
Quality Enhancement:
“the process of taking deliberate steps at institutional level to
improve the quality of learning opportunities....” (QAA 2006).
Scottish QAA
“has defined enhancement as taking deliberate steps to bring
about improvement in the effectiveness of the learning
experiences of students.”
Focus of the Quality Enhancement Project
The enhancement of student learning with a view to
producing an increased number of graduates with
attributes that are personally, professionally and
socially valuable.
1. enhanced student learning, leading to an
2. increased number of graduates that have
3. improved graduate attributes
STUDENT SUCCESS
Approach
1st cycle
Criteria specified from the beginning
Individual focus-Institutions engaged sequentially
One process used throughout (self-evaluation, visit,
report, improvement plan, progress report)
2nd cycle
More inductive- themes will emerge during the process
System focus-Institutions engaged simultaneously
Different processes will be used at different stages
Iterative
Institutional submissions
Analysis
Feedback
Feedback
Collaboration
Institutional
capacity
development
Analysis
Symposia,
working groups
Research
projects
Projects
of other
bodies
Collaboration is key
We need collective impact resulting from collective
engagement– combining our knowledge, skills, wisdom
and experience.
The problem is too big, too complicated, too important for
fragmented, individualistic or ad hoc approaches.
Intellectual rigour is essential
Efforts to promote student success need to be
coherent
Research is needed to provide a sound theoretical
and evidence base.
During the past several decades greater societal
demands for accountability have prevailed. This has
obliged universities to demonstrate that learning is
taking place. A greater emphasis is placed on
measuring learning outcomes; it is no longer sufficient
to measure the "inputs"-what is being taught and how
the curriculum is delivered to the students.
(UNESCO 2009, Trends in Global Higher Education:
Tracking an Academic Revolution )
Expected outcomes of the QEP
• Benchmarks and codes of good practice for quality
undergraduate provision
• Policy recommendations
• Tools and resources for improving student success
• Research
• Communities of practice
Raise the bar for what can be expected of institutions
in promoting student success in future audits
Factors that affect student success
(from 1st cycle)
• Teaching
• Curriculum
• Assessment
• Learning resources
• Student enrolment management
• Academic student support and development
• Non-academic student support and development
Enhancing…
Curriculum
Learning
resources
Student
enrolment
management
Academic
student
support and
development
University
teachers
Teaching
Student support
Learning
environment
Course and
programme
enrolment
management
Assessment
Non-academic
student support
and development
Initial focus areas
Can be tackled simultaneously by groups working in parallel.
Enhancing university teachers
Professional development, Reward and recogniton, workload, conditions
of service, performance management
Enhancing student support
Career guidance and curriculum advising, life and academic skills,
counselling, performance monitoring and referral
Enhancing the learning environment
Teaching and learning spaces, ICT infrastructure, access and resources,
library
Enhancing course and programme enrolment management
Admissions, selection, placement, exclusions, pass rates in gateway
courses, throughput
Beginning in 2014
The Quality Enhancement Project
1. Enhancement of the quality of undergraduate
provision
2. Enhancement of the quality of graduates
3. A higher education system that is improving
continuously as members of the higher
education community reflect and collaborate to
share good practice and solve shared
problems.