Working with Academic Partnerships, Sir John Daniel and Stamenka Uvalic-Trumbic have released a Guide to Quality in Post-Traditional Online Higher Education Guide. This is a follow up publication to the well-received Quality in Online Learning report published in 2013. This second Guide addresses quality in MOOCs, OER, Open Badges and more, and has been authored by Neil Butcher from South Africa.
The original Quality in Online Learning report was primarily concerned with online learning in formal higher education, i.e. with formally assessed courses and programmes leading to credentials. Recent years, however, have seen the multiplication of alternative or ‘post-traditional’ elements of higher education. These include new types of informal short courses and approaches to certification, growing openness in access to intellectual capital, and a lively diversification of teaching and learning methods. Guide to Quality in Post-Traditional Online Higher Education.pdf. More...

The E4 Group (European Association for Quality Assurance in Higher Education (ENQA), European Students’ Union (ESU), European University Association (EUA), European Association of Institutions in Higher Education (EURASHE)), in cooperation with Education International (EI), BUSINESSEUROPE and European Quality Assurance Register for Higher Education (EQAR) have on 18 March published a joint proposal for a revised version of the “Standards and Guidelines for quality assurance in the European Higher Education Area (ESG)”.

• The full proposal for the revised ESG can be downloaded here
• The current ESG can be downloaded here (they are available in 12 languages). More...

The E4 Group (European Association for Quality Assurance in Higher Education (ENQA), European Students’ Union (ESU), European University Association (EUA), European Association of Institutions in Higher Education (EURASHE)), in cooperation with Education International (EI), BUSINESSEUROPE and European Quality Assurance Register for Higher Education (EQAR) have today (18 March) published a joint proposal for a revised version of the “Standards and Guidelines for quality assurance in the European Higher Education Area (ESG)”.

• The full proposal for the revised ESG can be downloaded here
• The current ESG can be downloaded here (they are available in 12 languages). More...

9th European Quality Assurance Forum: Changing education – QA and the shift from teaching to learning
Hosted by the University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain, 13-15 November 2014
The European Quality Assurance Forum (EQAF) provides a unique platform for the higher education and quality assurance (QA) communities to monitor, shape and anticipate developments in the field. The main purpose of the Forum is to foster a dialogue on QA that bridges national boundaries and leads to a truly European discussion on QA in higher education, and to create a common European understanding of QA through discussions and networking among different stakeholder groups.
The 9th European Quality Assurance Forum, co-organised by ENQA, ESU, EUA and EURASHE, will take place at the University of Barcelona, Spain, on 13-15 November 2014.
Through a mix of plenary and parallel sessions, the 2014 EQAF, entitled “Changing education – QA and the shift from teaching to learning”, will combine practice-oriented or research-based discussions that will take place in the paper sessions and workshops with presentations of current developments in quality assurance. More...

QAA. (2014) Exploring themes to improve quality for students . Exploring themes to improve quality for students, ( ). pp. 1-35.

Abstract

Theme(s) and sub-theme(s): Quality assurance and enhancement > Student engagement, Quality assurance and enhancement > Enhancement of the learning experience

The Governor of Odisha State in India has expressed his concern over the poor quality of Indian Universities. His remarks came at the opening of the annual meeting of the Association of Indian Universities at KIIT University Bhubaneswar and have been widely reported in the Indian media. He said, “Despite an ever-growing number of varsities, quality education is still a dream. We have over 650 universities, 16 National Institutes of Technology and 30 lakh [100,000] colleges across the country. But, we have sacrificed quality in our mad scramble for quantity.”
This is just the latest in a series of complaints and arguments about the deficiencies of  higher education in India and its neighbours, Pakistan and Bangladesh. Such complaints have been voiced for three or four decades but recently the issue has intensified because of the failure of any Indian university to make it into  the top 200 of the three best known international rankings, QS, Times Higher Education and the Academic Ranking of World Universities produced by Shanghai Jiao Tong University. Only one Indian institution reached the top 500 of the Shanghai rankings while a handful were found at the lower levels of the world rankings. More...