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This paper aims to present findings from a benchmarking exercise by 24 higher education institutions (HEIs) about the use of the Australasian Council on Open, Distance and e-learning (ACODE) Benchmarks and its benchmarking process to provide data about technology-enhanced learning (TEL) environments.

Results of the first instalment of a major benchmarking activity of the robustness of the benchmarks and of the benchmarking process itself based on two surveys provided participants, one during the collaborative session between participants from the 24 HEIs and nine months later.

The most important conclusion was the interest and usefulness of the benchmarks for participating HEIs, especially the sharing of information between HEIs. Six recommendations from the data indicated the desire to formally endorse the benchmarks, facilitate a formal benchmarking activity every two years, postpone the merger of four benchmarks into two and create more online tools to share practice.

Data were collected and analysed through non-validated surveys based on ACODE’s need-to-know to develop baselines specific to the usefulness of the benchmarks themselves, the benchmarking process itself and next steps.

This paper provides a comparative view of how 24 universities approach online education and their use of the ACODE Benchmarks and how they facilitate HEI regulatory compliance.

ACODE Benchmarks are one of few institution-wide quality improvement tools or frameworks for TEL available for universities to use. The benchmarking exercise provides a process through which HEIs can learn from each other how to improve their approaches to e-learning activities to better serve student learning needs.

Reporting of how universities seen as leading practitioners in TEL pursue good/best practice, decision-making and reporting.

This paper aims to compare the ways in which a range of quality frameworks have been validated and to identify a number of factors that have an impact on validation processes.

Seven examples of published quality frameworks applicable to the field of e‐learning are described and the methods used to validate each of the frameworks are identified and compared. The article concludes by considering a range of factors that have the potential to have an impact on such validation processes.

Six methods of validation were found to have been used in relation to development of the seven frameworks that were examined: reviewing the research literature related to effectiveness in online learning; seeking input from an expert panel; undertaking empirical research; undertaking survey research; conducting pilot projects; and drawing on case studies. From the variety of approaches used and the ways in which they were used it was concluded that a recognised set of procedures for validation of quality frameworks has not yet emerged.

The most important limitation of this study is that its findings are dependent on the particular quality frameworks selected for inclusion.

The paper draws attention to the need for more attention to be paid to the development of methods of validation that are both objective and robust.

No previous studies were located that have looked specifically at the processes used to validate quality frameworks. This paper therefore provides some initial baseline data upon which to base future work.

Much of the current literature on category construction and maintenance has focused primarily on the disciplining effect of audiences that evaluate for conformity. This literature often characterizes categories as benign organizing devices that bring order to social life. However, categories are also contentious political and cultural productions. This is especially so, when the categories are hybrid. Employing a qualitative case study of an impact investing organization operating in Sub-Saharan Africa, we illustrate how the construction and maintenance of hybrid categories can have potentially advantageous effects for certain actors by shaping the architecture of knowledge and transferring legitimacy to otherwise illegitimate actors or nascent practices. The findings of this study highlight how some hybrid categories can be used to create and maintain unequal relations of power.

We utilise the problem of dirty hands to consider the ethical dimensions of commissions of inquiry, particularly commissions of inquiry conducted for the purposes of public policy. The Independent Local Government Review Panel (ILGRP) in NSW is used as an example for the purposes of discussion. Four questions endemic to considerations of dirty hands are derived from Coady (2014). The framework affords various insights into the ethical terrain of this particular inquiry and those undertaken for the purposes of public policy more generally. We argue that commissions of this type and the ILGRP in particular cannot be labelled examples of dirty hands and that the concept of determinatio from the work of St Thomas Aquinas sheds light as to the nature of moral claims around commissions. We also argue that a fruitful analysis is afforded by Wallis’ (2013) analytic framework of the ‘logic of fateful choices faced by the leaders of commissions of inquiry’. Nevertheless, confusion surrounding the nature and types of inquiries is partially responsible for accusations of their ethical incoherence.

The purpose of the paper is to discuss the factors that would increase or decrease the prospects to use research evidence in legislation in a developing country.

Both qualitative and quantitative research methods were used to identify the gaps in ability to utilise research evidence among policymakers. A combination of expert analysis of five policy brief formats, 13 self-administered semi-structured interviews with policymakers, focus group discussion and literature analysis informed data collection.

The incentives and motivations for research-based legislation are classified into three categories: those that concern legislators and researchers, those that concern legislators only and those that concern researchers only.

The work discusses the need for policymakers to make decisions based on facts. The findings are a reflection of a long interaction the author had with policymakers and researchers in Uganda.

The focus of this chapter is on micro-credentials in higher education. In the current complex and fluid context, there is a demand for higher education providers to be able to respond with flexible and targeted provision of learning opportunities. Crafting micro-credentials, or disaggregating credentials, can be effective in reaching target audiences. For students, the availability of micro-credentials allows them to satisfy immediate learning needs. For industry, micro-credentials can provide elements of vocational training. On the other hand, it is a challenge to design micro-credentials that provide the cognitive perspective associated with higher education to ensure an appreciation of an associated body of knowledge or field of study. Further, education offered by universities and other higher education providers needs to have the potential to support the ongoing academic life of the institution, which is dependent on teaching being informed by research and current understandings in the field, and the research area being refreshed with talent with an appreciation of their field of study and associated bodies of knowledge. This, therefore, can be seen as something of an eco-system, which is dependent for its sustenance on learners acquiring more than fragments of knowledge or information. There are consequences for devising policies and procedures for the design, recognition, and provision of micro-credentials in higher education. Policies and procedures need to explicitly relate micro-credentials to the current and emerging understandings in an academic discipline or field of study. Academic standards that apply to offering credentials need to be maintained. Associated staff support and development is a requirement.

Gender equality is a part of the United Nation’s championed sustainable development goal which reflects the global policy priority of bringing women to the table as decision-makers. The year 2021 has seen the highest record of women serving as heads of state and/or government and political representation at national parliaments. However, there seems to be a greater challenge for women to achieve equal political representation as the COVID-19 pandemic that hit the world in 2020 has slowed down women’s political progress at the global level. Until April 2021, COVID-19 has resulted in more than six million casualties and many countries have resorted to taking strict measures to contain the widespread of the virus especially prior to the administration of the vaccines. The strict measures taken by governments worldwide include border closures, extensive contact tracing, physical distancing, and restriction of movements. The pandemic is proven to be precarious not only to public health but also to democracy around the world as governments are given a free pass to silence protests, clamp down on opposition and critics as well as greater control over public movements by using COVID-19 management as a justification. This also has halted the progress made by women’s movements and political activists in championing women’s political representation. Malaysia is one of the countries that imposed long and strict COVID-19-related security and safety measures. This chapter seeks to analyse how COVID-19 is utilized by political institutions specifically the state to embrace or resist changes. COVID-19 is a possible critical juncture that provides opportunities for the state and political parties to renegotiate their structures, values, and positions in society to accommodate women. To explore the gendered responses of political institutions to COVID-19, this chapter identifies two areas to be examined within the Malaysian context (1) the gendered effects of the changes in state structures due to political instability during COVID-19, and (2) government policies that address women during the peak of the COVID-19 period. The results of this study will provide useful insights into the important factors that influence the utilisation of critical junctures either to break a new path or maintain the existing path dependency on political institutions’ policymaking related to gender issues.

While environmental sustainability may have been intensified by different occurrences such as global warming, increased carbon emission, loss of biodiversity and natural resource depletion, there are concerns that rising population combined with the quality of institutions have serious implications on the attainment of environmental sustainability. While this may seem factual, tackling environmental problems by adopting population reduction policies might not necessarily guarantee a sustainable environment without addressing the quality of institutions. This chapter examines the effect of population growth on environmental sustainability as well as the interactive effect of population growth and institutional quality on environmental sustainability in West Africa region, using data from 2006 to 2019. Adopting the System Generalized Method of Moment method, findings indicate that population growth has a positive but insignificant effect on environmental sustainability. Population growth when interacted with institutional quality had negative and significant effect on environmental sustainability. The result demonstrates that environmental problems cannot be effectively addressed through population policy alone, hence the additional need for strong and institutional quality to ensure environmental sustainability in the region.

Whilst online and blended learning approaches are now widely used by many higher education institutions, the extent and depth of eLearning implementation often depend more on the efforts of enthusiastic individual lecturers rather than effective institution-wide strategies. Innovation is thus frequently restricted to local settings and the enrichment of existing educational approaches rather than radically questioning current paradigms and creating new ways of delivering education. In recent years, there has been more urgency in calling for a deeper re-thinking of how higher education can be made more flexible, scalable and individualised not only at the level of courses but in a systemic and strategic way. This article describes a strategic approach to implementing blended learning at Management Center Innsbruck in Austria. I argue that the whole-of-programme approach taken in this case is an effective way to strategically introduce sustainable and scalable blended learning, and thus not only respond to but actively shape the disruption brought about by online education.