Historical Progress Towards Quality Higher

Transcript:Historical Progress Towards Quality Higher:
Historical Progress Towards Quality Higher Education Professor Ved Prakash Former Chairman University Grants Commission New Delhi, India Significance of the Discourse on Quality Assurance in HE Higher Education Quality Assurance in HE: An Evolving Discourse Critical for social, economic and technological development. Creation of new knowledge, paramount concern of higher education. Developing young minds to grapple with the emerging concerns and imperatives of future. Facilitator in designing interventions to ensure equity. Platform for breaking the isolation across knowledge domains to usher in multi and interdisciplinary. Quality Assurance in HE: An Evolving Discourse Blossoming of qualitative aspects of knowledge. Setting up of newer institutions with a predominant focus on quality. Uneven distribution of resources favoring smaller systems. Institutions thrived on patronage of governments. Quality Assurance in HE: An Evolving Discourse Most countries go for “massification” for achieving higher GER. Focus on enhancing access made quality of higher education a casualty. Mismatch between demand and supply led to emergence of private entrepreneurship in higher education. Quality-a dominant lacuna concern in most private institutions. Quality Assurance in HE: An Evolving Discourse Curricular design lack inculcation of spirit of enquiry, courage to question, creativity, problem solving and decision making skills – important ingredients of quality teaching and learning. Ensuring access with equity and quality – a real challenge. Making available HE at affordable cost - another challenge. Identity and governance crises- other challenges. Quality Assessment Higher Education Quality Assessment Increasing emphasis on Quality management in HE Many governments have set up agencies for quality assessment. Voluntary/ mandatory arrangements put in place. Subject assessment, academic audits and innovative approaches mandated. Accreditation with varying academic standards. Some practices are costlier, but all these aim at improving learning and assuring academic standards. Quality Assessment Quality rankings by some rely upon information gleaned from surveys. Valid and useful academic quality information produced. Most countries seeking effective national framework for academic quality. Degree framework and subject benchmarks with learning outcomes emerging. State mandated external assessment of internal quality assurance. Quality Assessment Comprehensive program accreditation needed. Internal self evaluation and external review by international experts considered vital. Due attention needed for specific institutional, national and regional context. Policy Shifts Higher Education Policy Shifts Looking at quality in transformation (transforming the lives of students & people at large) & renewed focus on governance. Religious, political and social pressures shape up quality across globe. Universities continuously undergoing transformation. System striving hard to