Browse by: "2013"

The last decades have witnessed an increased concern in higher education over accountability, quality and productivity, and a struggle to meet increasingly complex challenges. This is more so in Middle East and North African (MENA) economies that witnessed a large expansion as a result of a high social demand and massification policies adopted by governments in public institutions. These policies also allowed the private sector to expand to meet the increasing demand. As a consequence, higher education institutions were faced with serious challenges related to quality because the quantitative expansions took place at the expense of quality (UNESCO, 2010). Although 14 out of 20 MENA economies established national bodies for quality assurance and accreditation, quality issues are still challenging higher education institutions in the region. The author presents the achievements, challenges and issues in quality in higher education in the region. She also briefly presents several international organisations’ initiatives and perspectives on quality in higher education in the region, and attempts to propose a set of suggestions and recommendations to move the systems to higher standards that are compatible with international ones.
This paper covers the following 20 economies in the MENA region: Algeria, Bahrain, Djibouti, Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, Oman, the Palestinian Authority, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan*, Syria, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates, Yemen. Please note that wherever the term “the region” is used in the article, it refers to these economies.

China has made huge strides in expanding access to higher education since the 1980s. The main approach to achieve mass higher education was cost-sharing reforms of tertiary education. This article examines the policy reforms that affected tuition, fees and subsidies for tertiary students since the end of the 1980s and looks at the effects in terms of equity and access. It also examines institutional responses to the various policy changes as they competed for state funds. Using relevant literature, officially published statistical data and results from the related surveys, it identifies the patterns of inequality among four disadvantaged groups. Finally, it analyses the major determinants/contributors to inequality of access to higher education including state and institutional policies and practices, and tuition-related and student-support related factors.

Organisational culture and external quality assurance have both been presented as significant drivers of effectiveness, efficiency and excellence in higher education institutions. However, these assumptions have not been critically examined given the philosophical, conceptual and methodological contestations surrounding both constructs. A meta-theoretical analysis of organisational culture and external quality assurance was conducted followed by an empirical study into their interrelationship. The study found that organisational culture was ephemeral, multidimensional and characterised simultaneously by conflict, consensus and indifference and was in a constant state of flux. In addition, external quality assurance appears to have purposes that go beyond its stated morally just and public good motives. The research revealed that organisational culture demonstrated managerial, collegial, transformative and political characteristics, which closely resonated with the role of external quality assurance as an agent of control, empowerment, transformation and of the state, respectively. The study concluded that authentic and enduring academic quality would most likely result within the university when the empowerment and transformation roles strengthen the collegial and transformative cultures.

In this paper, the authors discuss the rationale behind making talent development at the PhD, post-doctoral and early career levels an equal fourth pillar of the university’s mission, alongside the more traditional pillars of the triple helix. Using Denmark and Aarhus University as a case study, the paper describes how increased institutional autonomy, and the critical mass that resulted from mergers, permitted organisational restructuring that supports the development of this talent strategy and its implementation.
The “quadruple helix” model at Aarhus University is intended to support strategies that involve multiple disciplines and cut across the four key missions of the university: research, education, knowledge exchange and talent development. Most importantly, the organisational model increases the university’s ability to address the challenges and opportunities of the global knowledge society while maintaining quality and expanding supply.