Australias Transnational Education Quality Strategy

1
Australias Transnational Education Quality
Strategy
International Forum on Online Education(IFOE
2006) Quality Assurance October 14-15, 2006,
Beijing, China

• Anne Forster President
• Open Distance Learning Association of Australia

2
Five key points

• Online learning is integrated in all forms of
  delivery in Australia with parity of esteem in
  qualifications
• The link between Quality and perceived value
  creates multiple perspectives and QA approaches
• Australias dependence on cross border education
  trade is reflected in increasing rigor of QA
  processes
• Australias TNE Quality strategy is aimed at
  enhancing learning outcomes, improving practice
  and growing market share in both Vocational
  education and higher education
• Professional development and shared resources to
  improve practices and integrity of TNE
  established in key centres of excellence eg AII,
  IDP, IEAA and TNEF

3
Online-learning? Interaction and independence,
getting the mixture right
4
Globalisation, the knowledge economy and education

• World-wide flow and integration of people,
  knowledge and money
• Participation as a basic human right
• Access, affordability, lifelong learning
• Elite and mass education divide
• Quality based on brand/price/research rankings
• Quality based on performance outcomes to fit the
  purpose

5
TEACHING LEARNING
PRICE
CONTENT/ LEARNING RESOURCES
PRODUCT
ACCREDITATION
VALUE
QUALITY
E-COMMERCE
Buyer Individual, family, corporation,
government?
CUSTOMER SERVICE
LEARNER SUPPORT
(adapted from source Standing Stones Consulting
Ltd, 2000)
6
COMPLEXITY
Delivery process
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A quality framework for technology and learning
processes CEN/ISSS Workshop on Learning
Technologies

• Strategic Planning
• Program framework,
• blueprint
• Course development
• infrastructure,
• design,
• pedagogy,
• Motivation
• materials,
• assessments,
• student support,
• evaluation

• Marketing and student recruitment strategy and
  processes
• Induction and orientation
• Realisation/implementation
• Cooperation with experts, sponsors, instructors,
  industry
• Student support
• Teacher support
• Evaluation
• Central database

8
Selecting a quality system

• CEN model for the classification of quality
  approaches in eLearning CWA 15533 (2006)
• European Committee for Standardisation

There is a diversity of quality approaches
ELearning is complex and context specific

• Analyse quality needs
• Analyse different quality approaches
• Select best fit
• Adapt, apply and recycle

9
Context and diversity

• Elite online
• protect competitiveness
• Closed re intellectual property
• Brand Research rankings
• Income

• Mass online
• protect effectiveness efficiency
• Open education resources
• Access, affordability, equivalence
• Learning Outcomes

10
Top 100 research universities 2005 data from
Shanghai Jiao Tong University Institute of Higher
Education
Others Israel, Finland, Denmark, Austria,
Norway, Russia, Italy each 1.
Source Simon Marginson
11
Mega Universities (lt100,000 students)
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Impact of brand rankingsref Marginson 2006

• Rankings perpetuate biases,
• favour English-speaking science-strong
  universities
• Rankings use data based on student choice
• financial inputs
• Research publications/citations
• student-staff ratios
• Data does not reveal
• the quality of teaching or
• professional preparation
• Rankings reflect and manufacture university
  reputation.
• They are self-reinforcing
• They block genuine merit and upward mobility

13
A culture of quality

• QA survey of mega universities (Jung, 2005)
• An institutional culture that
• Promotes internal QA system
• Values capacity building for implementing QA
• Stresses link between QA and public
  accountanbility
• Focuses on learning rather than teaching
• See also Commonwealth of learning www.col.org

14
Institution program level Accreditation
quality processes

• CHEA Council for Higher Education Accreditation
  (USA)
• Reviews Q of Distance (online) Learning through
  the accreditation process
• External review of institutions programs
• Diverse approaches
• EFMD CEL European Foundation for Management
  Development Accreditation of eLearning enhanced
  management courses
• Programme strategy stakeholder relevance of ICT?
• Pedagogy added value of ICT to the learning?
• Economics efficient and effective?
• Organisation appropriate systems?
• Technology functionality and accessibility?
• Culture Change and innovation considerations?

15
Australias QA Culture

• AQF articulates vocational education and HE
• Parity of qualifications independent of mode of
  delivery
• Universities are self-accrediting subject to
  external and internal QA
• Government QA through research and teaching
  performance fund
• External audit agencies (AUQA) and professional
  accreditation
• Alignment with international standards and
  approaches, eg Bologna process

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Transnational education defined

• UNESCO and OECD guidelines for Quality Provision
  in Cross-Border Higher education
• when students follow a course or programme of
  study that has been produced, and is continuing
  to be maintained, in a country different from the
  one in which they are residing

17
Exporters of cross-border degrees 2003 OECD data
18
Largest Australian providers
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Australias Commitment to Quality in the Global
Education Market

• Preserving Australias competitive position.
• Australia is the third largest exporter of
  education in the world.
• Education is Australias sixth largest export
  earner (5.7 billion in 2004).
• Australias commitment to quality and to the
  integrity of its transnational education
  provision, is upheld by Federal and State
  governments and by all 44 approved providers.

20
Australias trading position

• Current focus on capacity to sustain competitive
  position in the elite market
• Global future will depend on capacity to shift to
  being a mass supplier
• Leverage existing capacity
• Scale design of programs
• Develop cost effective distribution and support
  systems
• Manage partnerships

21
Australias TNE strategykey areas for action

• better communication of Australias QA
  arrangements to all stakeholders
• increased access to data and information
• strengthened national quality framework.

22
Identifying good practice

• Industry-led projects commissioned by the
  Australian Vice-Chancellors Committee
• Good practice in quality delivery of education to
  students residing outside Australia.
• selection and management of partners
• determining the equivalence of the student
  experience
• delivery in languages other than English and
• staff development and training.