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This chapter examines the development of a quality assurance system for undergraduate education as one aspect of the transformation of education policy in China. The central structure of the chapter is the process/stages of policy development and implementation, with particular attention to the changes over time in central control versus institutional autonomy. The Chinese government has moved to a “steering at a distance” approach with ex post accountability, giving institutions of higher education greater autonomy for undergraduate education. Government authority continues to be strong, however, even though the mechanisms of control have changed. This study provides an analysis of quality assurance in Chinese higher education and the changing relationship between government and campuses, using the lens of policy development and implementation.

This chapter provides an in-depth examination of the quality assurance process in the higher education system of Iraq and the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI) in terms of standards, processes, and procedures. More specifically, the chapter aims to examine the impact of the quality assurance process on the quality development of education in Iraq and Kurdistan Region, as well as identify the challenges that staff (top management and faculty members) face at various higher education institutions therein. For this purpose, a qualitative/quantitative analysis was conducted, which involved reviewing existing official policies, reports, and forms; interviewing top officials (presidents, vice-presidents, quality assurance directors) at a few higher education institutions (public and private); and developing a survey questionnaire that detected the perspective of top officials and faculty members regarding the level of impact quality assurance has had on the development of higher education. A total of 284 university staff members were surveyed from different universities in Iraq and Kurdistan. A total of 29 universities from Iraq and Kurdistan were represented in the survey. The respondents came from a variety of colleges and departments at public and private universities, with 79% of respondents coming from public universities. Study results demonstrate that quality assurance has contributed significantly to the improvement of university staff performance. There are a number of recommendations made within this chapter for educational leaders, which could lead to the further development of quality practices and the upgrading of the higher education system.

This chapter offers a systematic review of research into quality assurance and quality management in higher education. It begins by considering quality as theory and discusses the methodology applied. The origin and meaning of the terms quality assurance and quality management, as they are used in higher education, and their application and practice, are then discussed. The issues and critiques that have been raised concerning quality assurance and management are identified, before some conclusions are reached.

The purpose of this paper is to describe and interpret the atypical case of Uruguay related to quality assurance, evaluation and accreditation of Higher Education in Uruguay.

To do so, a Higher Education conceptual framework is developed, focusing on quality assurance and formulating some “hypotheses” (conjectural ways of thinking within a qualitative tradition). The method to collect data includes the use of document observation, secondary information from official databases and interviews with an intentional sample of 10 experts and key informants. The analysis is developed through some conceptual dimensions emerging from the precedent sources (public policy and the role of the state, changes in the system of science, technology and innovation linked to Higher Education, the influence of the regional integration process and the weak public demand for quality assurance).

The paper also presents and discusses the atypical country’s experience regarding the lack of a national quality assurance policy and the structural dynamic of delaying main transformations by adopting graduate changes.

The study analyzes the recent process of Higher Education policies oriented to quality assurance in the two decades and a half between 1996 and 2021, focusing especially on the recent years (2019–2020).

The findings indicate that the Higher Education system needs to update its structure and shape, withdrawing fragmentation and consolidating a national system able to promote quality. The paper offers some inputs to strategic planning and debate.

Reforming Higher Education is key to change the social logic of High School, which still operates as a social selective mechanism, mainly oriented to the professional application rather than to knowledge production or management.

The paper contributes to the political and academic debate through some conceptual categories emerging from the study. The previous description of academic literature about Uruguay Higher Education quality assurance (QA) did not include either the new situation created by the approval of contradictory laws or the interpretation of this public policy arranged as a “structural dynamic of delay of the main transformations by adopting graduate and incremental changes”. Whether any originality could be found in the paper, it would be this way of interpreting the process of QA in Uruguay.

Worldwide, higher education is undergoing major changes in its organisation. In this context, the concept of quality assurance control has emerged as a primary instrument for evaluating performance and accountability in higher education systems. South Africa is the latest candidate for a nationally imported system of quality assurance in the wake of several policy and legal initiatives to transform higher education after the demise of apartheid. Several contemporary developments, notably the South African Higher Education Bill and the Education White Paper 3 (Higher Education) are part of the government’s commitment to transform higher education. This paper will briefly discuss the origins and nature of quality assurance in South Africa. The article also critically reviews a number of conceptual frameworks about quality in higher education in order to develop a better and shared understanding of, and appropriate responses to quality assurance.

The purpose of this paper is twofold: first, to highlight the congruence and roles of the balanced scorecard in the quality assurance practices in higher education institutions, and second, to propose a balanced scorecard model for higher education institutions.

A descriptive literature review was used to understand the balanced scorecard, quality assurance practice (System model) and characteristics of the higher education institutions.

Used appropriately, the philosophical tenets of the perspectives of the balanced scorecard seem to be congruent with the input, process and output dimensions of quality assurance practices. Thus, if the core functions of higher education are explicitly represented in each perspective, the balanced scorecard seems important for materializing the input, process and output dimensions of quality assurance in higher education institutions. It may help to track and measure the status of higher education institutions in each quality assurance dimension and ultimately help to align each dimension with the university’s vision.

The paper relied on the description of previous literature. Therefore, as it did not depend on the empirical evidences, the conclusions derived in the paper are more argumentative.

The paper will add an input to the ongoing discussions on the applications of the balanced scorecard to higher education institutions. Moreover, the proposed model of the balanced scorecard may help higher education managers to assess the performances of higher education institutions and their academic disciplines according to their areas of excellence.

This paper attempts to undertake a literature review on the balanced scorecard and its roles to the quality assurance practices in higher education. In addition, the congruence between the balanced scorecard and the contemporary characteristics of the higher education institutions is also explored.

This paper aims to investigate how global university rankings interact with quality and quality assurance in higher education along the two lines of investigation, that is, from the perspective of their relationship with the concept of quality (assurance) and the development of quality assurance policies in higher education, with particular emphasis on accreditation as the prevalent quality assurance approach.

The paper firstly conceptualises quality and quality assurance in higher education and critically examines the methodological construction of the four selected world university rankings and their references to “quality”. On this basis, it answers the two “how” questions: How is the concept of quality (assurance) in higher education perceived by world university rankings and how do they interact with quality assurance and accreditation policies in higher education? Answers are provided through the analysis of different documentary sources, such as academic literature, glossaries, international studies, institutional strategies and other documents, with particular focus on official websites of international ranking systems and individual higher education institutions, media announcements, and so on.

The paper argues that given their quantitative orientation, it is quite problematic to perceive world university rankings as a means of assessing or assuring the institutional quality. Like (international) accreditations, they may foster vertical differentiation of higher education systems and institutions. Because of their predominant accountability purpose, they cannot encourage improvements in the quality of higher education institutions.

Research results are beneficial to different higher education stakeholders (e.g. policymakers, institutional leadership, academics and students), as they offer them a comprehensive view on rankings’ ability to assess, assure or improve the quality in higher education.

The existing research focuses principally either on interactions of global university rankings with the concept of quality or with processes of quality assurance in higher education. The comprehensive and detailed analysis of their relationship with both concepts thus adds value to the prevailing scholarly debates.

Standards should provide a means for transparently comparing academic programmes delivered by higher education providers and the research activities they carry out. The purpose of this study is to investigate the different sets of standards related to the quality assurance of academic programmes in four countries with regard to the European Standards and Guidelines (ESG), developed by the European Association for Quality Assurance, for internal quality assurance within higher education institutions. The main aim is to find the convergence and divergence points and to test the consistency of terminologies in use which may impede international collaboration to develop one comprehensive international quality assurance system.

The study relied solely on desk-based research and no fieldwork or interviews were conducted for data collection; a point-by-point comparative approach has been applied to explore the standards related to quality assurance of academic programmes.

Although there is a great deal of convergence between the different sets of standards compared in this study, fundamental differences still exist.

This study compared the standards of academic programmes in four countries with the ESG. To generalise the findings of this study, future research may include other standards for comparison.

This study engages in the debate of how quality of higher education will remain maintained, in times, when higher education is facing challenges such as internationalisation, which requires new initiatives and integrated mechanisms to facilitate mutual recognition of qualifications of students and staff moving across borders.

The paper aims to establish a quality assurance framework for Chinese private higher education (PHE) in particular and for any newly-established higher education sector in general.

This research relied on published qualitative and quantitative data, existing literature, historical documents, and the authors' observations. It described the PHE growth context, analyzed the quality issue from three dimensions (academic, administrative, and relationship quality), and examined its quality assurance practice through three players.

The paper provides empirical insights about how quality and quality assurance issues have impacted on PHE development. To approach the issues, it suggests a “quality assurance triangle” framework that is composed of three PHE players (government, market, institution) and their joint association.

Because of the relative position of each player in current quality assurance, the success of its implementation in China depends on how the government establishes the triangle system and balances its dominating roles to ensure each of the players act independently and collaboratively.

This framework provides directions for establishing an appropriate quality assurance system for PHE in China.

This paper fulfills an identified need to setup a sound quality assurance system for PHE in China and contributes to quality assurance literature with a new framework.

This paper aims to determine how quality assurance practitioners in Vietnam describe their levels of professional knowledge and related skills, as well as identifying factors that interfere with the development of these skills.

Semi-structured were conducted with 22 quality assurance practitioners who were directly involved in quality assurance policy-making and implementation.

Thematic analysis identified that internal challenges for quality assurance staff were mostly related to their lack of knowledge, skills and experience in this area. Limited capacity in English communication was also reported as a major challenge for Vietnamese quality assurance specialists.

The paper concludes that regular capacity-building programmes can help quality assurance staff gain the necessary knowledge and skills to improve their work performance.