Royal Ministry of Education and Research

UNESCO/OECD WORK ON GUIDELINES FOR QUALITY

PROVISION------------------

Jan S. Levy, Norwegian Ministry of Education and Research

Chair of UNESCO/OECD Guidelines group

UFD

Major drivers

More providers –

New providers

Reduced transparency – increasing need for guidance

General globalisation – GATS

Increased demand from learners and societies

Need for an educational

response

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Types of cross-border education activities

Type Main forms Examples Size

1. People

Students/trainees Student mobility -Full study abroad for a foreign degree or qualification- Part of academic partnership for home degree or joint degree-Exchange programmes

Probably the largest share of cross border education

Professors/trainers Academic /trainer mobility - For professional development- As part of an academic partnership- Employment in foreign university- To teach in a branch institution abroad

An old tradition in the education sector, which should grow given the emphasis on mobility of professionals and internationalisation of education more generally

2. Programmes

Educational programmes

Academic partnershipsE-learning

- Joint course or a programme with a foreign institution- E-learning programmes- Selling/franchising a course to a foreign institution

Academic partnerships represent the largest share of these activities. E-learning and franchising are small but rapidly growing

3. Institutions/ providers

Foreign campusesForeign investments

- Opening of a foreign campus- Buying (part of) a foreign educational institution- Creation of an educational provider abroad

A trend increasing very quickly form a low starting point

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Providers and provision

Old and new institutions – innovative for-profit organisations

Partnerships – both traditional academic and new types including commercial elements.

Using all modes of provision – traditional - e-learning – and first of all blended

Cross-border activity puts the notions “foreign” and “domestic” in a haze

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The demand side – students and societies

Individual demand– Full degree programmes– Single courses/semesters

Exchange programmes National development strategies

– As a means to growth– As an effect of growth

E-learning as import strategy

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Reduced transparency – increased need for guidance

Higher complexity– Speed of change, new provision,

increased range of choices Challenging for the individual learner But also for societies – especially

countries with short domestic academic traditions

Need for capacity building – also in QA Diploma mills – accreditation mills

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Globalisation – GATS

Globalisation: The flow of technology, economy, knowledge, people, values and ideas across international borders.

Either we like it or not – we are profiting from it in our everyday life

GATS is an approach to meet the trade related challenges

Trade in education is there now. We may address it through GATS or chose not to do it.

Eventually, trade will not disappear, but we may throw away a tool for controlling it.

But GATS will nor secure quality provision, neither help the learners and societies to do informed choices

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There is a need for an educational response

What should we achieve?– Learners need to be protected from the risks of

misinformation, low-quality provision and qualifications of limited validity

– Qualifications should be readable and transparent in order to increase their international validity and portability

– Qualifications should be recognised internationally with as few difficulties as possible

– National quality assurance and accreditation agencies need to intensify their international cooperation in order to increase their mutual understanding

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The educational response (2)

Who should take responsibility of the response?– Organisations with high degree of legitimacy in

the world of education– Global organisations, encompassing

governments and stakeholders– UNESCO and OECD joining forces– Soft laws – Legal instruments

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The educational response (3)

How could it be implemented?– Developing guidelines on quality provision in

higher education– Higher education institutions– Quality assurance and accreditation

agencies– Information centres of recognition– Professional bodies – Governments

– Development of reliable information tools for learners/students/institutions

– Global Database on nationally approved providers/provision

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Ongoing work

Working group open to all OECD/UNESCO members and stakeholders

Three drafting sessions– 5 – 6 April 2004 in Paris– 14 – 15 October 2004 in Tokyo– 17 – 18 January in Paris

Expert groups

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For UNESCO – part of the larger Agenda

The action is a direct follow up of the conclusions at the 1st Global Forum, calling for the development of policy framework and guiding principles to meet the challenges from globalisation

Furthermore, UNESCO General Conference last October decided on a Resolution on Higher Education and Globalisation: Promoting quality and access to the knowledge society as a means for sustainable development

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Over-ambitious…Or?

Bold steps – or is it just as we see it? Do we apply different quality control

standards to everyday consuming than to education?

Learners/students need information Even Institutions/countries may lack

information What about a “woolmark”?

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Thank you

References:

UNESCO Website: http://www.unesco.org/education/amq/guidelines/qualityprovision.html

OECD Website:

http://www.oecd.org/edu/internationalisation/guidelines