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1.
Abstract

The Dealing Report in the UK supported the use of benchmarking in higher education, taking as its stimulus the use of benchmarking in industrial and commercial contexts. The UK Government's concern regarding academic standards has raised the question of whether benchmarking could be applied to them.

This article reports on a pilot study of the benchmarking of academic standards in the UK, and demonstrates ‐ with reference to empirical data ‐ that benchmarking in this context needs to be approached differently from benchmarking in industrial/commercial milieux, since it requires a combination of finely‐drawn comparisons and professional judgements if valid conclusions are to be drawn. It is argued that the complexity which underpins academic standards is inimical to the production of statements about standards that will be applicable across the span of a diverse national system of higher education. The argument presented can be applied, mutatis mutandis, to systems of higher education beyond the UK.  相似文献   

2.
The paper presents a case-study about the experience of leading sector-wide change from within a national agency. This experience is analysed in relation to the literature on leadership and change and against the back-drop of wider social, economic and political changes affecting higher education in the UK -- changes that have parallels in other countries. From the literature, the author draws out certain 'principles' about leading change and highlights the activities that were developed in practice. The case that is discussed is that of the 3-year 'Graduate Standards Programme' mounted by the former Higher Education Quality Council in the UK. This Programme (the GSP) was formally set up to define and establish threshold standards for undergraduate degrees in the UK, but also sought to examine UK approaches to defining and assuring standards in the light of far-reaching changes affecting the higher education system. Lessons about leadership, managing change and quality enhancement in an academic context are drawn out. The author concludes that 'good process' is more important than the static notion of 'good practice' when seeking to create and lead change in higher education.  相似文献   

3.
There is growing international concern to regulate and assure standards in higher education. External peer review of assessment, often called external examining, is a well-established approach to assuring standards. Australian higher education is one of several systems without a history of external examining for undergraduate programmes that is currently considering the approach. What can entrants to external examining at that level learn from the UK higher education system's long history of external examining? To that end, this paper reports on a mixed methods research project designed to investigate current practices in how academic standards are conceived, constructed and applied by external examiners and debates the implications of the findings for the development of external examining in other countries. The findings suggest that the potential of experienced peers in a subject discipline to provide the assurance of standards is limited. It concludes by presenting various possible enhancements that might be considered.  相似文献   

4.
The professionalisation of teaching in higher education has been increasingly prioritised across the globe in response to changes in the scale and nature of higher education brought about by massification, marketisation and managerialism. The UK experience has been characterised by the application of codified professional standards and this is of wider interest as perhaps the most developed attempt to formalise and systematise approaches to teacher development utilising such standards. Increasingly, this has focused on the ongoing development of existing staff in addition to new entrants to the profession. Institutional schemes underpinned by the United Kingdom Professional Standards Framework have rapidly spread throughout the sector offering a route for experienced staff to achieve fellowships of the UK Higher Education Academy. However, research into the effects of such schemes on individual participants and institutions has been limited. This article analyses the impact of such a scheme within the Faculty of Health and Social Sciences at Leeds Beckett University in the UK, drawing on data derived from in-depth interviews with scheme participants. Practice theories were applied as a frame for analysis of the developmental impact of the scheme through exploration of the practices involved in participation and how these meshed with other practices related to teaching and learning. This suggested that whilst such schemes may be an acceptable form of retrospective benchmarking, the ongoing developmental impact may be limited.  相似文献   

5.
美、英、德、日专业学位研究生教育质量评估维度研究   总被引：1，自引：0，他引：1  
美、英、德、日等国对专业学位研究生教育质量的评估采取了多种不同的维度,包括学术声誉-求职就业成功率-招生标准、行业用人标准、毕业生学习产出、通用标准和专业标准、教育构成要素、教育服务质量等,为我国的专业学位研究生教育质量评估提供了参考。  相似文献   

6.
Assessment regulations in higher education, which are important for assuring threshold academic standards, reflect institutional cultures and histories, and are shaped by pragmatic concerns about quality indicators such as retention and progression rates, as well as principles of equity. This paper articulates some of the tensions that confront higher education institutions in the development and revision of regulatory frameworks, and describes a survey of assessment regulations from a sample of UK higher education institutions for the first year of undergraduate study. The survey identifies key variations in regulatory policy and practice that challenge assumptions about comparability of academic standards between higher education institutions. These findings imply that student success and progression may not be a simple reflection of academic attainment, and raise questions about notions of equity. It is intended that this research will contribute to informed discussion in the sector about academic standards and the regulatory frameworks underpinning first-year assessment policy and practice, and thus potentially lead to more transparent and consistent practice.  相似文献   

7.
This paper sets out to explore the meanings and implications of academic standards in mass higher education. It attempts this in the context of the rapid expansion that has recently taken place in the UK. In doing so it draws on, and examines, selected themes that have emerged from the Higher Education Quality Council's 'Graduate Standards Programme' (though it does not attempt to give a full account of the findings of that work).
It begins by discussing some of the implications of the ways in which UK HE has become a mass system. It then moves on to consider the roles of explicitness and professionalism in the establishment and assurance of academic standards, and their relationship to issues of public accountability. Having explored the possible tensions between professionalism and accountability, the paper questions whether it is helpful to frame discussions of standards in terms of a notional opposition between subjective and objective. It concludes by proposing another way of conceptualising standards, and discusses their possible future development in UK higher education.  相似文献   

8.
The term ‘applied track’ in UK further education has been used to refer to the applied A level, the vocational, coursework-based version of the traditional academic A level. Vocational and coursework-based courses are often criticised for being easier than academic courses, for only attracting students who do not satisfy the requirements to take academic courses and for not developing in students the skills they need to be successful in higher education. This paper considers the extent to which these criticisms may be justified and explores the reasons why students chose to take an applied A level. The study involved 666 students at a large, mixed sex sixth form college in the UK, who were taking both applied and academic A levels. Although statistical analysis showed that students on the applied course performed worse than students on two academic courses once their different GCSE scores had been accounted for, it was also found that the applied students were relatively well qualified, that they were generally well motivated and hard working, and that they were extremely satisfied with the course. Finally, it is suggested that perhaps universities are misguided in assuming that applied courses do not develop in students the skills that they need to be successful in higher education.  相似文献   

9.
Generic skills development is increasingly being embedded into UK higher education curricula to improve the employability and lifelong learning skills of graduates. At the same time universities are being required to benchmark their curricular outcomes against national and employer standards. This paper presents and discusses the results of a study mapping the outcomes, delivery, learning and assessment of an embedded generic skills curriculum and benchmarking these against externally agreed standards. By collecting data from students, supervisors and curriculum documentation across the whole five year course in a UK medical school it evaluates the success of the generic skills programme in achieving its objectives. It goes on to discuss how data from the maps might also be used to encourage student learning. It recommends the adoption of this methodology to map embedded skills curricula with the aim of highlighting skills delivery for curriculum designers and skills development for students.  相似文献   

10.
Construction education is context-laden, navigating and reflecting the byzantine influences of period, place and person. Despite considerable rhetoric, in UK higher education and construction studies in particular the importance of contextualized teaching is being devalued. Over the past decade a growing number of new teaching staff to university lecturing has limited or no industrial experience of the construction sector. This paper explores the rise of the career academic in construction education and implications for teaching standards and student learning. Whilst career academics exhibit research skills and afford funding possibilities that universities find appealing, pedagogical studies suggest that experience-led, contextualized teaching offer students enhanced educational value. Policy-making and pedagogical strategies that continue to value research at the expense of teaching excellence coupled with recruitment of career academics as opposed to industry professionals present new challenges for construction education, teaching and student learning.  相似文献   

11.
Abstract

The paper presents a case‐study about the experience of leading sector‐wide change from within a national agency. This experience is analysed in relation to the literature on leadership and change and against the back‐drop of wider social, economic and political changes affecting higher education in the UK ‐ changes that have parallels in other countries. From the literature, the author draws out certain ‘principles’ about leading change and highlights the activities that were developed in practice. The case that is discussed is that of the 3‐year ‘Graduate Standards Programme’ mounted by the former Higher Education Quality Council in the UK. This Programme (the GSP) was formally set up to define and establish threshold standards for undergraduate degrees in the UK, but also sought to examine UK approaches to defining and assuring standards in the light of far‐reaching changes affecting the higher education system. Lessons about leadership, managing change and quality enhancement in an academic context are drawn out. The author concludes that ‘good process’ is more important than the static notion of ‘good practice’ when seeking to create and lead change in higher education.  相似文献   

12.
The quality assurance ‘regime’ that spans the higher education sector internationally is underpinned by a number of unchallenged assumptions. Nowhere is this more apparent than within the external examiner system in the UK, an instrument for the professional self-regulation of higher education. One such assumption is that external examiners are assessment literate. Within higher education assessment literacy is a concept in its infancy, but one that has the capacity to reverse the deterioration of confidence in academic standards. Whilst the concept is becoming integrated into the sectorial vernacular, its fluid and negotiated nature is under-conceptualised. The primary aim of this article lies in investigating the extent of external examiners’ assessment literacy and to use this as a base to initiate a discussion surrounding the development of a shared discourse of assessment literacy, thereby providing a tool for greater conceptualisation.  相似文献   

13.
Drawing on the findings of a recent national survey, this article examines the extent to which higher education institutions in the United Kingdom meet the minimum standards recommended by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) for the management of work‐related stressors. A comparison is also made between the average weekly working hours reported in the current survey with those found in two previous studies of the higher education sector (1998 and 2004). A sample of 9,740 academic and academic‐related employees working in higher education institutions in the UK completed a measure of seven job‐related stressors (or psychosocial hazards) (that is, demands, control, support from colleagues and managers, interpersonal relationships, role clarity and involvement in organisational change). With one exception (job control), levels of job‐related stressors in the higher education sector exceeded the benchmarks stipulated by the HSE. Stressors relating to change, role, job demands and managerial support were particularly high. Recommendations made by the HSE for interim and longer‐term targets to be achieved for the management of each stressor category are provided. Findings also revealed that average working hours remain high in the sector, with many employees continuing to exceed the weekly limit set by the UK Working Time Directive. The utility of the HSE approach in higher education institutions and ways in which the sector might work towards meeting the HSE management standards and consequently enhance employee well‐being are considered.  相似文献   

14.
高等教育标杆管理的研究现状与发展趋势   总被引：1，自引：0，他引：1  
标杆管理是20世纪90年代以来重要的管理工具之一.高等教育标杆管理经过十几年的发展,也已成为发达国家院校研究中较为普遍使用的一种定量分析方法.本文较为全面地介绍了英、美、澳大利亚以及欧洲大陆高等教育标杆管理研究机构的研究工作和成效,讨论了高等教育标杆管理的起源、问题和趋势,对我国相关研究会有一定的启示.  相似文献   

15.
高职教育质量标准的制定必须与社会经济发展需要紧密相连。高职教育培养的是高级技术应用型人才。高职教育应将学术课程、专业课程、生产实习课程统一计划、统一安排。使高职课程教育自成体系。高职教育同社会需要、市场需求的结合程度直接关系到高职教育的生命力。用人单位的评价是最根本的评价。高职教育质量评价最终要落在培养学生上。  相似文献   

16.
Although the conceptual distinction between academic standards and the quality of learning opportunities is fundamental to an understanding of the role of quality assurance in higher education, the distinction, and its implications, have not always been well understood in the case of transnational higher education. This paper explores both the source of academic standards and the criteria by which the quality of learning opportunities can be judged. It is argued that the distinction is of particular importance in the context of transnational education, because whilst judgements about quality may legitimately be susceptible to a degree of cultural influence, the same is not true of judgements about academic standards. It is suggested that a lack of attention to the logical distinction between standards and quality has hampered efforts by regulatory régimes around the world to develop coherent policies with respect to hosting transnational higher education provision.  相似文献   

17.
学生是高等教育的消费者吗——来自国外的相关讨论   总被引：1，自引：0，他引：1  
在高等教育领域实施全面质量管理很难确定谁是消费者.由于学生学费只是部分教育成本,学生与高校双向选择,学生与教师互相评估,这使得将学生看作消费者面临很多问题.将学生看作消费者会引起学生的短视、逃避责任、学术标准降低与师生对抗等教育问题.在高等教育领域,学生还被界定为原材料、劳动者、学习者、产品、伙伴、利益相关人,等等,但所有这些界定都存在商业文化与学术文化的冲突.  相似文献   

18.
This article argues that the individual academic is all but absent from the assumptive worlds of policymakers in UK higher education. It is taken for granted in research on academic identity that those who work in higher education as teachers and researchers refer to themselves as, and indeed are referred to by others as, ‘academics’. Evidence is drawn from a study of policymakers in the UK to demonstrate that the word ‘academic’ is not a part of the lexicon of higher education policymaking. Moreover, the concept of the academic is cast into shade by an overwhelming emphasis on ‘the student experience’, and, from another direction, by a location of professional academic accountability at the level of the higher education institution rather than the individual. The article concludes with an exploration of what work this absence of the academic in policy does in disrupting the possibilities for engagement between the worlds of academia and policymaking and in perpetuating the discourses of marketisation and new management in higher education. It also suggests understanding the assumptive worlds of policymakers is a crucial counterbalance to a growing body of literature on academic responses to change, some of which has tended towards the self‐referential.  相似文献   

19.
This article considers the role of academic standards in the wider context of the problem faced by modem societies of how to reconcile the survival and provision of elite higher education with the emergence of mass education. From the advantage of an outside perspective it examines the division between higher and further education and reflects on the implications of that separation and on the costs and consequences of the academic standards that characterise the British system of elite higher education. It considers the prospects for the emergence from further education of a truly mass system of institutions marked by lower per capita costs and lower standards standing alongside and linked with a system of higher education marked by very high academic standards. The article concludes that what is still lacking is a general recognition that all degree-granting higher education is only a part, albeit a central part, of a broad system of post-secondary and continuing education, marked by a diversity of standard, mission and cost, which has as its mission the advanced education of a whole society and not just its leadership.  相似文献   

20.
全面质量管理旨在通过TQM的目标管理来实现人力和物力资源的有效利用,虽然它最初起源于工业企业,但近年来却引起了高等教育领域的关注.本文结合高等教育的特点,对其在高等教育领域的实施原则进行了分析扣探索.  相似文献   

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