Transcript Royal Ministry of Education and Research UNESCO/OECD WORK ON GUIDELINES FOR QUALITY PROVISION -----------------Jan S.

Royal Ministry of Education and Research
UNESCO/OECD WORK ON
GUIDELINES FOR QUALITY
PROVISION
-----------------Jan S. Levy, Norwegian Ministry of Education and Research
Chair of UNESCO/OECD Guidelines group
Project overview
UFD

Common project UNESCO-OECD

With relevance both for exporting and importing
countries

Last year’s OECD forum on trade

Consumer protection Learner protection

Concrete goals:
– Guidelines for quality provision
– Information tools to help learners, institutions and
authorities
Major drivers
UFD
More providers –
New providers
General globalisation –
GATS
Need for an
educational
response
Reduced
transparency –
increasing need
for guidance
Increased demand from
learners and societies
There is a need for an
educational response
UFD

What should we achieve?
– Learners need to be protected from the risks of
misinformation, low-quality provision and qualifications
of limited validity
– Qualifications should be readable and transparent in
order to increase their international validity and
portability
– Qualifications should be recognised internationally with
as few difficulties as possible
– National quality assurance and accreditation agencies
need to intensify their international cooperation in order
to increase their mutual understanding
The educational response (2)
UFD

Who should take responsibility of the
response?
– Organisations with high degree of legitimacy in the
world of education
– Global organisations, encompassing governments and
stakeholders
– UNESCO and OECD joining forces
– Soft laws
– Legal instruments
The educational response (3)
UFD

How could it be implemented?
– Developing guidelines on quality provision in higher
education
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Governments
Higher education institutions
Quality assurance and accreditation agencies
Student bodies
Information centres of recognition
Professional bodies
– Development of reliable information tools for
learners/students/institutions
– Global Database on nationally approved providers/provision
Ongoing work
UFD

Working group open to all OECD/UNESCO
members and stakeholders

Three drafting sessions
– 5 – 6 April 2004 in Paris
– 14 – 15 October 2004 in Tokyo
– 17 – 18 January in Paris

Expert groups
Some considerations
UFD

How to make the Guidelines credible both in exporting
and importing countries

The guidelines should contribute to sustainable
competence building in developing countries

The guidelines must promote the full inclusion of
stakeholders

How to identify and regulate the market for agents/
brokers

How could we assure that quality is maintained were
degrees provided nationally also is provided crossborder?

How to make the guidelines visible and give relevant
Over-ambitious…Or?
UFD

Bold steps – or is it just as we see it?

Do we apply different quality control standards to
everyday consuming than to education?

Learners/students need information

Even Institutions/countries may lack information

What about a woolmark?
Thank you
UFD
Type
Types of cross-border education
activities
Main forms
Examples
Size
UFD
1. People
Students/trainees
Student mobility
-Full study abroad for a foreign degree or qualification
- Part of academic partnership for home degree or joint
degree
-Exchange programmes
Probably the largest share of
cross border education
Professors/trainers
Academic /trainer mobility
- For professional development
- As part of an academic partnership
- Employment in foreign university
- To teach in a branch institution abroad
An old tradition in the education
sector, which should grow given the
emphasis on mobility of
professionals and
internationalisation of education
more generally
Academic partnerships
E-learning
- Joint course or a programme with a foreign
institution
- E-learning programmes
- Selling/franchising a course to a foreign institution
Academic partnerships
represent the largest share of
these activities. E-learning
and franchising are small but
rapidly growing
Foreign campuses
Foreign investments
- Opening of a foreign campus
- Buying (part of) a foreign educational institution
- Creation of an educational provider abroad
A trend increasing very
quickly form a low starting
point
2. Programmes
Educational
programmes
3. Institutions/
providers