CHEA International Quality Group Annual Meeting. January 29 (evening) - January 30. Capital Hilton Hotel - Washington, DC. Click Here for a Registration Form and Hotel Reservation Information
CIQG Annual Meeting - Imperatives For Quality Assurance, International Standards and Innovation
OPENING DIALOGUE - DO WE WANT OR NEED A SINGLE SET OF INTERNATIONAL QUALITY STANDARDS?
As quality assurance becomes increasingly international, is a single set of international standards becoming an imperative? Alternatively, should quality assurance remain country- based or regional as well, continuing to respect cultural diversity and national sovereignty?
1. What are the arguments in favor of a single set of international quality standards?
2. What are the arguments against?
3. If we have international standards, what would they look like? Aspirational standards such as those in regional frameworks (e.g., ESG)? Outcomes-based or competency- based standards? Expectations of quality framed in quantitative terms, e.g., numbers of graduates, retention, employment? A mixture?
4. Right now, quality assurance processes vary. We have countries that have their own standards, and countries that have their own standards and also use regional standards. We have countries with and without qualifications frameworks. We have countries that do and do not rely on rankings (either formally or informally). Is current international quality assurance “working”? If so, what is the added value of a single set of international standards?
5. What makes quality assurance “international” – as compared to regional or country- based?
ARE RANKINGS BECOMING A FORM OF INTERNATIONAL QUALITY STANDARDS?
Global, regional and country-based rankings continue to grow in influence and numbers. Will rankings ultimately become de facto international standards to judge quality?
REGIONAL AND COUNTRY-BASED QUALITY STANDARDS: RECENT DEVELOPMENTS
Regional and country-based quality standards have each played a significant role in the organization of the work of assuring and improving quality. What are recent developments? What do we learn when examining various approaches?
POST-TRADITIONAL PROVIDERS OF HIGHER EDUCATION: WHAT ARE THE IMPLICATIONS FOR QUALITY ASSURANCE?
Higher education may be entering a “post-traditional” era in which the work of institutions (credentialing, teaching and learning, curriculum development, evaluation) is no longer confined to colleges and universities. Alternative providers are emerging, including MOOCs, low-cost providers of course offerings as well as competency-based offerings and assessment of prior learning. This “unbundling” or “disaggregation” of the key elements of higher education raises questions and challenges for quality assurance: How will traditional quality assurance address the emergence of post-traditional providers of educational offerings?
HOW MIGHT QUALITY ASSURANCE RESPOND?
Does the unbundling of higher education call for the unbundling of quality assurance? What might this mean? A Quality Platform: an international standard for post-traditional education?
CLOSING DISCUSSION HIGHER EDUCATION OUT OF THE BOX RESPONDING TO INNOVATIONS
What are key issues and insights that have emerged from today’s discussion? What type of quality assurance do we want to create going forward?
Council for Higher Education Accreditation
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L’assurance qualité de l’enseignement supérieur transfrontalier est le thème du projet Erasmus Mundus « QACHE » (Quality Assurance of Cross-Border Higher Education), sélectionné par la commission européenne en 2013 et coordonné par l’ENQA (the European Association for Quality Assurance in Higher Education). 
 Il s’agit du second projet Erasmus Mundus auquel participe l’AERES, après le projet « CEQUINT » qui vise à l’élaboration d’un label qualité de l’internationalisation des établissements. Dans le cadre de ce nouveau projet, l’AERES travaillera avec l’ENQA, les agences d’évaluation anglaise, espagnole et australienne (QAA, ANECA, TECSA), le conseil d’accréditation allemand GAC, le réseau des agences Asie-Pacifique APQN et le réseau arabe des agences qualité ANQAHE.
L’objectif du projet est de mieux évaluer les activités transfrontalières des établissements nationaux d’enseignement supérieur telles que les campus off-shore, les franchises d’établissement, les délocalisations. Ces activités, mal connues, sont rarement évaluées par le pays d’origine des établissements et répondent à des défis que les agences nationales d’assurance qualité souhaiteraient mieux cerner.
Dans un premier temps, un bilan de ces activités est à dresser par pays. S’agissant de l’AERES, quels établissements français sont concernés ? Des établissements étrangers choisissent-ils la France ? Quelles sont les motivations de ces choix ? Comment ces activités se concrétisent-elles ?… Ce travail s’appuiera sur différentes enquêtes, réalisées au cours du projet, qui serviront de base à la rédaction d’un rapport pour chaque pays. Dans un second temps, des événements régionaux seront organisés en Europe, dans les pays du Golfe et en Asie. A l’issue de ces rencontres, il est envisagé d’élaborer un code de bonnes pratiques ou des principes communs pour l’évaluation des activités transfrontalières. L’ensemble de ces travaux fera l’objet d’une conférence finale, organisée par l’organisme français d’évaluation à Paris, en novembre 2015.

International Conference on Quality in Higher Education (ICQH) aims to provide a multinational platform where the latest trends quality in higher education can be presented and discussed in a friendly environment with the aim to learn from each other. Prospective presenters are encouraged to submit proposals for papers and posters/demonstrations that offer new research or theoretical contributions. Presentations should be in Turkish and English and should address both theoretical issues and new research findings. 
Furthermore if  the presenter is unable to attend the oral presentation, video presentation choice is available. For further information on how to submit, please refer to the Video Presentation section on our website. For paper guidelines, please refer to the Paper Guidelines section. 
ICQH 2013 conference is supported by Sakarya University and Governers State University and will take place on December 12-14 2013 at  Sakarya University, Sakarya, Turkey.

Last week’s 8th European Quality Assurance Forum (EQAF) brought together more than 400 higher education stakeholders from 50 countries to discuss the latest developments and trends in quality assurance (QA). 
This year’s edition, held at the University of Gothenburg in Sweden, focused on the theme “Working together to take quality forward”. Therefore, over the three days, the majority of the plenary and parallel sessions discussed how both individuals and organisations can better understand the role that quality assurance plays in their daily lives, get involved and work together. The opening keynote on quality in higher education by Mats Alvesson from Lund University, and the panel discussion on working together in QA with representatives from different QA stakeholders (including teachers, employers, students and governments) both provoked lively discussions. The presentations and more information from last week’s event are now available on the event website. More...

By Harvey P. Weingarten. For more than 20 years, the Canadian higher education system has organized and managed itself to improve access: to increase participation rates and to grow. The results of this policy imperative have been spectacular. Over the last 20 years, enrolment in Canada’s postsecondary institutions has grown from 1.3 million to 2.0 million. The results have been particularly impressive in Ontario. From 2003-2008, for example, enrolments in Ontario universities grew 29 per cent from 302,000 to 389,000 and in colleges 11 per cent from 181,000 to 201,000. Postsecondary participation rates in Ontario rose from 33 per cent to 36 per cent and Ontario can boast one of the highest postsecondary attainment rates in Canada, if not the world. More...

La formation, et plus précisément la qualité des plans de professionnalisation proposés aux jeunes recrutés, est l’une des clés de la réussite des emplois d’avenir. Amicentre, l’association des présidents des missions locales de la région Centre, a choisi de proposer un appui aux missions locales.
Grâce à une subvention de la Direccte Centre, l’ARML a été renforcée, notamment pour soutenir l’ingénierie des parcours de professionnalisation, ainsi que l’échange et la mutualisation des bonnes pratiques. Dans ce cadre, des groupes de travail sont mobilisés par l’ARML pour observer la réalisation des plans de formation, analyser leurs évolutions dans le temps. Une journée d’échange a réuni 50 professionnels des missions locales autour de la qualité des parcours à construire. Suite...