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Article
Publication date: 1 March 1991

Mary Sellen

Accrediting agencies come in two sizes, the large regional associations that determine academic standards throughout the United States such as the Western Association of Schools…

Abstract

Accrediting agencies come in two sizes, the large regional associations that determine academic standards throughout the United States such as the Western Association of Schools and Colleges or North Central Association of Colleges and Schools, and smaller specialized agencies that determine specific criteria for academic programs such as Accrediting Bureau of Engineering Technology (ABET) or American Psychological Association (APA). On the surface, both types of accreditation are voluntary. However, essentials in the world of academia, such as government, state and local funding, are dependent on, at a minimum, regional accreditation. Thus, regional accreditation is sought by all. In the current world of tight funding, however, the role of specialized accreditation is taking on significance even though it plays a different, but similar role.

Details

Collection Building, vol. 11 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0160-4953

Article
Publication date: 2 May 2023

Ahmad Bukhori Muslim, Fuad Abdul Hamied, Moh Fakry Gaffar, Maria Elvira Asuan, Syakirah Samsudin, Watsatree Diteeyont, Margana Margana, Ani Wilujeng Suryani, Jessie PNG, Rini Solihat, Tina Priyantin, Nina Cassandra, Gunadi Gunadi and Sumalee Sitthikorn

This study aims to explore some benefits and challenges of establishing an international accreditation for teacher education institutions (TEIs) by AsTEN Quality Assurance Agency…

Abstract

Purpose

This study aims to explore some benefits and challenges of establishing an international accreditation for teacher education institutions (TEIs) by AsTEN Quality Assurance Agency. This specific accreditation agency is expected to improve the quality of teaching, learning and research at TEIs in ASEAN region.

Design/methodology/approach

The qualitative study generates data from questionnaires and online semi-structured interviews among ASEAN academics. They work as teacher educators in Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand and Malaysia.

Findings

As findings show, participating academics from Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand and Brunei Darussalam believe that it is necessary to have a specific international accreditation agency that can properly accommodate particular standards of teacher education. This accommodation is expected to increase the governance of quality teaching, learning and researching to prepare more competent and professional future teachers. Participating academics also acknowledge some potential challenges this specific accreditation agency may have, including local acceptance by national governments in ASEAN region and global acknowledgement from international accrediting agencies, mostly based in Global North countries.

Research limitations/implications

The study only involves academics in five ASEAN countries of Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines so that it may have less international acceptance.

Practical/social implications

The study also identifies aspects and mechanisms of blended online-onsite international accreditation application for TEIs, which grows its significance because of technological advancement, efficiency and prolonged COVID-19 pandemic.

Originality/value

The study provides a digital accreditation system for TEIs, particularly in ASEAN region. This originality is important in this era of Internet of Things.

Details

Quality Assurance in Education, vol. 31 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0968-4883

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 20 May 2019

Nhung Thi Tuyet Pham and Valerie Paton

Adequacy of full-time faculty is a fundamental indicator used by US accreditors to ensure quality learning environments. This paper aims to explore institutional responses to one…

Abstract

Purpose

Adequacy of full-time faculty is a fundamental indicator used by US accreditors to ensure quality learning environments. This paper aims to explore institutional responses to one US regional accreditor to identify themes related to adequacy of faculty in support of institutional missions over a two-year period.

Design/methodology/approach

A qualitative design was used to examine eighteen institutional narratives. The research question was “What themes are identified by institutions to document adequacy of full-time faculty for compliance with accreditation?” The highest level of degree awarded was used to organize emergent themes from institutional narratives (e.g. associate, baccalaureate, master’s and doctoral level institutions).

Findings

The study identified five themes: definition of full-time faculty; variation in assessment measures used to demonstrate adequacy of full-time faculty; institutional characteristics and full-time faculty; responsibilities of full-time faculty; and relationship between full-time faculty and student learning outcomes. The findings showed that the institutions used multiple assessment measurements to demonstrate compliance.

Research limitations/implications

The research design was limited to one US regional accreditation agency; therefore, the acceptable evidence related to adequacy of full-time faculty may differ among accrediting bodies, which would impact the institutional narrative and methods for demonstrating compliance. Second, some of the institutional groupings included only one or two narratives.

Practical implications

The finding of this study could have important implications for the research and practice of evaluating faculty in accreditation reviews.

Originality/value

There have been limited studies on accreditation narratives focused on the adequacy of full-time faculty. This study offers findings that may be of benefit to non-US and US higher education institutions in planning for faculty staffing patterns to support fulfillment of the institutional mission.

Details

Quality Assurance in Education, vol. 27 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0968-4883

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 19 May 2022

Enrique Martínez Larrechea and Adriana Chiancone

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.

Abstract

Purpose

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.

Design/methodology/approach

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).

Findings

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.

Research limitations/implications

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).

Practical implications

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.

Social implications

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.

Originality/value

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.

Details

Quality Assurance in Education, vol. 30 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0968-4883

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 3 April 2017

Judy R. Wilkerson

Understanding and navigating the differences in standards, and the roots and rationales underlying accreditation reviews, is necessary for all institutions that seek multiple…

Abstract

Purpose

Understanding and navigating the differences in standards, and the roots and rationales underlying accreditation reviews, is necessary for all institutions that seek multiple accreditations. The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate a method to assist institutional-level leaders and assessment practitioners analyze and align these differences in various national or international agency requirements, to develop a framework for assessment and data collection. The proposed method is demonstrated by using multiple accreditors’ standards from the USA.

Design/methodology/approach

Guided by a set of process questions, a review and content analysis of national standards and 12 accreditation agency requirements from the USA was conducted using Web-based, documentary sources. An operational definition of institutional quality was derived based on the core themes that emerged. Examples of evidence matched to each core theme were outlined to suggest an assessment framework. The 12 US agency requirements were compared and contrasted with the core themes and validated.

Findings

In the USA, recognition requirements set by two national bodies, the US Department of Education and Council of Higher Education Accreditation, drive the standards applied by various agencies that accredit institutions and programs. Six themes emerged from their requirements, serving as a core framework for designing institutional assessment systems. The themes are student achievement and continuous improvement; curriculum quality; faculty; facilities, equipment and supplies; fiscal and administrative capacity; and student support services, admissions and information-gathering systems. While the 12 sampled accreditation agencies generally used these core themes, divergences were found in how they treated the themes in published requirements.

Practical implications

Where multiple US or other accreditations are sought, the approach recommended could facilitate the work of institutional accreditation leaders and practitioners in establishing assessment systems that reduce redundancy while also maximizing efficiency in assessment and data collection.

Originality/value

There is little guidance in the literature on how institutional leaders and practitioners confronting the challenges of accreditation can negotiate multiple, and sometimes conflicting, sets of requirements. This paper demonstrates a possible solution strategy. Outside the general utility of the demonstrated method, the findings and core assessment framework produced could be useful for institutions seeking accreditation through the agencies in the study sample, in both the USA and overseas.

Details

Quality Assurance in Education, vol. 25 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0968-4883

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 2 September 2014

Richard Bieker

– The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the impact of AACSB accreditation on the autonomy and costs of limited resource institutions whose missions are primarily teaching.

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the impact of AACSB accreditation on the autonomy and costs of limited resource institutions whose missions are primarily teaching.

Design/methodology/approach

To evaluate the research questions, a content analysis of all publications in the EBSCO Business Source Premier Database for the period January 1, 1990 through December 15, 2012 was conducted.

Findings

The findings indicate that in the process of becoming AACSB accredited, faculty members of the subject institutions shift their focus more toward research and less toward teaching activities, and that the institutions become less autonomous and more like their benchmark AACSB institutions. In addition, the costs of AACSB accreditation are likely to be significant for the subject institutions.

Research limitations/implications

The findings of the study point to the need for additional theoretical and empirical research related to the research questions. First, there is a need to formulate a conceptual framework for clearly identifying and measuring the implicit and explicit costs, including all of the opportunity costs, associated with accreditation. In addition, there is a compelling need to develop a conceptual framework and measurement system that will allow business schools to better assess their quality and productivity. For limited resource institutions whose missions are primarily teaching this system should comport with the schools’ teaching missions.

Practical implications

The findings suggest that the subject institutions seeking AACSB accreditation should carefully consider a number of questions before pursing accreditation. First, is the institution's mission congruent with AACSB standards or will its mission have to be changed? If AACSB accreditation is deemed to be appropriate, how will the associated changes in resource needs and resource allocation serve to further the institution's mission? And, what are the incremental costs of accreditation, and does the institution have the resource base to sustain accreditation?

Originality/value

The study is the first to conduct a detailed content analysis to evaluate some of the costs and benefits of AACSB accreditation for limited resource institutions whose missions are primarily teaching.

Details

Journal of Applied Research in Higher Education, vol. 6 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2050-7003

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 14 August 2014

Jane Knight

In the last decade, the speed and intensity with which regional level connections are expanding in all areas of the world has been remarkable. Higher education in Africa is no…

Abstract

In the last decade, the speed and intensity with which regional level connections are expanding in all areas of the world has been remarkable. Higher education in Africa is no exception. This chapter focuses on African policies and programme initiatives to further higher education regionalization. Regionalization is defined as the process of ‘building closer collaboration and alignment among higher education actors and systems in a designated area or framework, commonly called a region’. An analytical framework, consisting of functional, organizational and political approaches, is applied to the evolution of higher education regionalization at the continental level in Africa through a close examination of the progress related to the implementation of the “African Union Strategy for the Harmonization of Higher Education Programmes.” Special emphasis is given to the harmonization of degree structures and the recognition of qualifications through sub-regional qualification frameworks. Key issues and challenges such as rationales, governance, benefits and risks, unintended consequences, language, engagement for all and innovation are raised at the end of the chapter to stimulate further reflection and exploration of the complex process of higher education regionalization.

Details

The Development of Higher Education in Africa: Prospects and Challenges
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78190-699-6

Article
Publication date: 16 May 2008

Geri Hockfield Malandra

The purpose of this paper is to broadly describe and provide insight into the national dialogue in the USA concerning accountability for educational results in academic

1231

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to broadly describe and provide insight into the national dialogue in the USA concerning accountability for educational results in academic institutions.

Design/methodology/approach

The approach takes the form of a thorough survey of the key questions, current issues, and organizational players in this national dialogue.

Findings

Policy makers and educators should use the present opportunity to work together, focusing not on narrow one‐size‐fits‐all measures but on the improvement of a new generation of complementary approaches.

Originality/value

The paper presents a clear articulation and discussion of the key questions that are driving the national dialogue on this topic.

Details

On the Horizon, vol. 16 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1074-8121

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 20 August 2019

Nizar Mohammad Alsharari

The purpose of this paper is to explore the internationalization market of higher education (HE) globally and HE field. It examines the internationalization status of HE in Jordan…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to explore the internationalization market of higher education (HE) globally and HE field. It examines the internationalization status of HE in Jordan as influenced by institutional perspectives as an example from developing countries.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper adopts a quantitative research design that includes a statistical and SWOT analysis of HE in Jordan. Data were collected from different courses: documents and archival records, websites analysis, surveys, interviews with professors and administrators, and an SWOT analysis as well as TOWS matrix. The latter has been constructed as a picture of internationalized education in the Jordan that can be used as a basis for decision making and strategies for higher education institutions (HEIs).

Findings

The study findings reveal that it is important for Jordan to endorse itself as an “education hub” in the Middle East and to educate its community to the level of skills required by globalization. The challenges of internationalizing HE are revealed by the SWOT analysis and TOWS matrix that highlight a wide range of opportunities and strengths that encourages the Jordan HE system to accelerate internationalization. The opportunities include overall improvement in the quality of education, the diffusion of technology and creating a globally competent workforce. The internationalization status in Jordan HE is still in its embryonic stage. The HE should take serious steps toward the internationalization including admission of international students, foreign postgraduate students, international accreditation, global ranking, online education and smart education. These steps will help the universities leaders to improve their universities position internationally and financially.

Research limitations/implications

The findings reveal implications for HE policy and strategy in the development of internationalized HE in the Jordan. The study shows how SWOT analysis and TOWS matrix can provide a solid platform against which particular case studies can be measured in terms of opportunities for and challenges of development. It also provides institutional perspectives with practical implications, focusing on some of the critical issues in this developing field for HE policy and strategy alike. A major threat to the Jordan progress in developing its HE sector identified in this study is external accreditation being seen as a signal of high quality, when more realistic standards are perhaps more relevant to the local population.

Originality/value

The paper is one of the very few studies in the area of the internationalization of HE in the Jordan that can contribute to the sustainability of the international dimension of HEIs. The opportunities and threats recognized in this paper can inform strategy for more balanced development of the Jordan’s internationalized HE, and for raising the quality of education overall.

Details

International Journal of Educational Management, vol. 34 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0951-354X

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 2 September 2010

Cheryl J. Craig

Through the use of narrative inquiry, this self-study focuses on my teacher education practices. A flashback in time probes the influence of four simultaneous accountability…

Abstract

Through the use of narrative inquiry, this self-study focuses on my teacher education practices. A flashback in time probes the influence of four simultaneous accountability reviews – a national accreditation review, a regional accreditation review, a university system review, and local campus review – on my personal experiences and identity within academia. The recollection provides a public view of private practice, explores the hidden curriculum of accountability, reveals cover stories personally and collectively lived, and illuminates how my knowledge of accountability became heightened. Through drawing on multiple forms of evidence, I reconstruct a series of changes I lived that had to do with human subjects’ reviews, course syllabi requirements, student assignments, grading procedures, and personal productivity. The self-inquiry lays bare individual and institutional compromises that were made to achieve acceptable measures of success as determined by external agencies. Reflections on what occurred in the aftermath of the reviews are also included. Most of all, hard lessons learned amid multiple accountability agendas are brought forward for discussion and analysis, not only by me, but by the national and international teacher education communities whose memberships face similar demands for performativity, the European equivalent of accountability. The accumulation of self-studies such as mine will help to show the incipit nature of the accountability phenomenon and its pernicious impact on teacher educator's work and personal images of teaching. Research such as this will demonstrate how desperately productive change is needed in the fields of teaching and teacher education.

Details

Tensions in Teacher Preparation: Accountability, Assessment, and Accreditation
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-0-85724-100-9

1 – 10 of over 4000