Browsing by Author "Uvalic-Trumbic, Stamenka"
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- ItemOpen AccessAdapting Quality Assurance to Innovative Programmes(2016-11) Uvalic-Trumbic, Stamenka; Daniel, JohnPromoting equity by opening up higher education has posed challenges to quality assurance and even to the definition of quality in higher education. However, certain fundamental principles underpin all forms of higher education, no matter what the curricula or delivery mode. // Quality assurance needs to find news ways to adapt to innovative providers and programmes of higher education. This paper reports on four developments that relate to this need. // Paper ID 411
- ItemOpen AccessBlended Learning - What Mix? Flexible Learning - How Supple?(2016-11) Daniel, John; Uvalic-Trumbic, StamenkaOnline technology already permeates higher education - whether programmes are formally offered online or not. We adopt the definitions of the Babson surveys in distinguishing between face-to-face, blended, and online learning. We ask first whether the current fashion for blended learning is a rearguard action against the trend to move much of higher education towards fully online learning, or whether blended learning has special merits. If so, what are those merits? // Flexible learning is a term also used to describe various combinations of classroom and online teaching. Is flexibility a purely positive phenomenon or does it have limits? If so, what are those limits? // Finally, we hear that higher education is being unbundled. How far can it be unbundled without falling apart and losing the respect of the public on whom it depends? // Paper ID 410
- ItemOpen AccessGuiding Learners in New Higher Education Spaces: What Role for UNESCO?(2008) Uvalic-Trumbic, StamenkaThe pace of change in higher education is accelerating. Enrolment rates of around 40-50 % of the relevant age group are now thought necessary for a country to function well in a competitive and interdependent world. In 2004, there were 132 million students (including part time students) enrolled in tertiary education globally. A further massive increase in the demand for higher education can be expected as countries understand its role as a driver of development.// Learners are becoming a more diversified group. Traditional learners from the 18-22 age cohorts, who now have different and changing needs for flexibility and diversity in their studies, are being joined by new types of students.// Life-long learners are a steadily growing group. They come not only from adult populations and working professionals but also from degree holders whose diplomas become obsolete and need updating to guarantee employment. // In response to this rapid growth in demand, there is an increasing diversity of providers. Tertiary education is becoming a marketplace with plenty of dubious providers, bogus institutions and degree mills offering fake or low quality degrees. Distance learning is a preferred mode for many of these dubious providers. Are there efficient ways to alert learners to these and help them make informed choices? How will students find their way around in a myriad of competing offerings? Learner protection and empowerment become crucially important. Assessing the quality of this diverse provision becomes a crucial issue.// UNESCO has launched some initiatives aimed at protecting and guiding learners: the Guidelines on Quality Provision in Cross-border Higher Education, the Portal of recognised higher education institutions and other tools aimed at alerting students to bogus institutions. It responds to the theme of protecting young people by providing them access to reliable information to guide their life choices. // As part of the debate on cross-border higher education, the presentation will focus on the development of the Portal of recognized higher education institutions and some challenges it raises as a reliable tool for information sharing. The related challenge of degree mills and bogus institutions will also be addressed: how to develop suggestions for effective international practice as one of the responses to this growing problem, especially from the perspective of developing countries. // Paper ID 329
- ItemOpen AccessThe UNESCO/OECD Guidelines for Quality in Cross-Border Higher Education(2006-10) Uvalic-Trumbic, StamenkaPCF4 // One of the responses put forward internationally through the UNESCO-OECD Guidelines on Quality Provision in Cross-Border Higher Education, aim to promote mutual trust and international cooperation in quality assurance and the recognition of qualifications, in particular those provided across borders. The objective is to strengthen the notion of sharing responsibility for quality higher education between providers and receivers of higher education and to protect students, through a joint effort of the six stakeholders addressed by the guidelines. Dialogue and sharing, access, transparency and reliability of information remain key notions of this instrument. It also underlines that policy-making in higher education reflects national priorities, and should be an important element in cross-border provision, including e-learning. The Guidelines, launched in 2005, constitute a first step in capacity building and assisting national policy makers develop robust quality assurance systems. // It is against this background that we should explore what can UNESCO do, in partnership with other international organizations, to promote trust and confidence in post-secondary e-learning by empowering learners to assess its quality and assist capacity building for quality assurance of cross-border ICT-assisted higher education. // Paper ID 393