Impact of quality assurance on cross-border higher education

Quality assurance has become a standard instrument of higher education policy since the late 1980s. Quality assurance mechanisms are expected to yield better institutional performance for one of three possible reasons: (a) compliance with the external pressure from a quality assurance or funding agency; (b) self-interest represented for example by the desire to attract students and research contracts; or (c) the professional ethos, which entails striving for quality as 'excellence' (Harvey and Green, 1993). External quality assurance might produce different institutional reactions depending on whether providers focus on compliance, interest or ethos. The literature often mentions superficial 'compliance culture' (van Vught, 1994) as opposed to a genuine 'quality culture' (EUA, 2006). To assess the potential impacts of external quality assurance on higher education institutions - their policies and management, practices and outcomes - this report takes a closer look into cross-border higher education. Cross-border higher education is a key element of internationalization in higher education, which is one of the main drivers of public policy worldwide. Cross-border higher education has been considered both an opportunity for excellence in dismal national higher education settings and a risk of substandard provision resulting from deficient regulation. Fears of so-called 'rogue providers' are widespread especially in fast-growing markets such South East Asia where demand for good higher education exceeds an insufficient local supply.

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Quality assurance has become a standard instrument of higher education policy since the late 1980s. Quality assurance mechanisms are expected to yield better institutional performance for one of three possible reasons: (a) compliance with the external pressure from a quality assurance or funding agency; (b) self-interest represented for example by the desire to attract students and research contracts; or (c) the professional ethos, which entails striving for quality as 'excellence' (Harvey and Green, 1993). External quality assurance might produce different institutional ...  [+] Show more