Australia’s Transnational Education Quality

Strategy

Anne Forster President

Open & Distance Learning Association of Australia

International Forum on Online Education(IFOE 2006) : Quality Assurance October 14-15, 2006, Beijing, China

Five key points

• Online learning is integrated in all forms of delivery in Australia with parity of esteem in qualifications

• The link between Quality and perceived value creates multiple perspectives and QA approaches

• Australia’s dependence on cross border education trade is reflected in increasing rigor of QA processes

• Australia’s TNE Quality strategy is aimed at enhancing learning outcomes, improving practice and growing market share in both Vocational education and higher education

• Professional development and shared resources to improve practices and integrity of TNE established in key centres of excellence: eg AII, IDP, IEAA and TNEF

Online study guides

Physical resources: books, labs,

Classrooms &study groups

Blended Learning

Online Collaborative workspaces

Same timediscussions

Web based resources

Online-learning?

“Interaction and independence,

getting the mixture right”

Globalisation, the knowledge economy and education

• World-wide flow and integration of people, knowledge and money

• Participation as a basic human right• Access, affordability, lifelong learning• Elite and mass education divide• Quality based on brand/price/research rankings• Quality based on performance outcomes to fit

the purpose

PRICE

VALUE QUALITY

PRODUCT

CUSTOMERSERVICE

TEACHING&

LEARNING

CONTENT/LEARNING

RESOURCES

ACCREDITATION

E-COMMERCE

LEARNERSUPPORT

(adapted from source: Standing Stones Consulting Ltd, 2000)

Buyer: Individual, family, corporation, government?

COMPLEXITY

Graduation/ CRM

Community Building

Researchers & experts

Development banks

ICT providers GovernmentsPolicy makersQuality

Agencies

External Partners

RecruitmentInformation

& AdviceMarketing &

ResearchCustomer/

Sales

Assessment

Interaction

Teaching

Product Identificatio

n

Initiation

Design

Development

Production

Delivery

Resources Process

E- Business Process

Lifelong learning

Professional learning

Career change

Private Investors

Mod

el a

dapt

ed fr

om S

tand

ing

Ston

es 2

000

Delivery process

A quality framework for technology and learning processes:

CEN/ISSS Workshop on Learning Technologies

• Strategic Planning• Program framework,

– blueprint

• Course development: – infrastructure, – design, – pedagogy,

• Motivation: – materials, – assessments, – student support, – evaluation

• Marketing and student recruitment strategy and processes

• Induction and orientation• Realisation/implementation• Cooperation with experts,

sponsors, instructors, industry• Student support• Teacher support• Evaluation • Central database

Selecting a quality system

• CEN model for the classification of quality approaches in eLearning: CWA 15533 (2006)

• European Committee for Standardisation

ELearning is complex and context specific

There is a diversity of quality

approaches

1. Analyse quality needs2. Analyse different quality approaches3. Select best fit4. Adapt, apply and recycle

Context and diversity

• Elite online– protect

competitiveness– Closed re intellectual

property– Brand & Research

rankings– Income $

• Mass online– protect effectiveness &

efficiency– Open education

resources– Access, affordability,

equivalence– Learning Outcomes

Top 100 research universities 2005 data from Shanghai Jiao Tong University Institute of Higher

Education

USA 53

UK 11

Germany 5

Japan 5

Canada 4

France 4

Sweden 4

Switzerland 3

Netherlands 2

Australia 2

others 7

Others: Israel, Finland, Denmark, Austria, Norway, Russia, Italy each 1.

Source Simon Marginson

Mega Universities (<100,000 students)

Indira Gandhi National Open University 1,400,000

Shanghai Television University 1,300,000

Anadolu University Turkey 600,000

Bangaladesh Open University 600,000

China Central Radio and TV University 500,000

Allama Iqbal Open University 448,512

Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico 290,000

University of South Africa 250,000

Korea National Open University 210,578

Universidad Nacional de Educacion a Distancia, Spain 200,000

Payame Noor University Iran 183,000

Open University UK 180,000

Impact of brand rankingsref: Marginson 2006

• Rankings perpetuate biases,– favour English-speaking science-strong universities

• Rankings use data based on student choice &– financial inputs

– Research publications/citations

– student-staff ratios

• Data does not reveal – the quality of teaching or

– professional preparation

• Rankings reflect and manufacture university reputation. – They are self-reinforcing

– They block genuine merit and upward mobility

A culture of quality

QA survey of mega universities (Jung, 2005)• An institutional culture that

– Promotes internal QA system– Values capacity building for implementing QA– Stresses link between QA and public

accountanbility– Focuses on learning rather than teaching

• See also Commonwealth of learning; www.col.org

Institution & program level Accreditation & quality processes

• CHEA: Council for Higher Education Accreditation (USA)– Reviews Q of Distance (online) Learning through the accreditation

process

– External review of institutions & programs

– Diverse approaches

• EFMD CEL: European Foundation for Management Development Accreditation of eLearning enhanced management courses– Programme strategy: stakeholder relevance of ICT?

– Pedagogy: added value of ICT to the learning?

– Economics: efficient and effective?

– Organisation: appropriate systems?

– Technology: functionality and accessibility?

– Culture: Change and innovation considerations?

Australia’s QA Culture

• AQF articulates vocational education and HE• Parity of qualifications independent of mode of

delivery• Universities are self-accrediting: subject to

external and internal QA• Government QA through research and teaching

performance fund• External audit agencies (AUQA) and professional

accreditation• Alignment with international standards and

approaches, eg Bologna process

Transnational education: defined

• UNESCO and OECD guidelines for Quality Provision in Cross-Border Higher education:

• …when students follow a course or programme of study that has been produced, and is continuing to be maintained, in a country different from the one in which they are residing…

Exporters of cross-border degrees

2003 OECD data

USA 28%

UK 12%

Germany 11%France 10%

Australia 9%

Japan 4%

Russian Fed. 3%

Spain 3%

others 20%

Largest Australian providers

Institution* More than 50% of international students off-shore

International students 2004

International fee revenues 2004 $sm

Proportion of all revenues 2004

1 Monash U 17,077 160.3 19.5%

2 RMIT U * 15,132 122.8 25.2%

3 Curtin UT * 14,319 96.4 23.2%

4 Central Queensland U 10,460 97.1 39.5%

5 U South Australia * 10,257 51.3 16.2%

6 U Sydney 9806 124.3 12.7%

7 U NSW 9481 116.4 15.0%

8 U Melbourne 9215 154.8 14.7%

9 Macquarie U 8725 83.6 24.5%

10 Charles Sturt U * 8429 13.7 6.4%

11 U Southern Queensland *

8333 20.9 16.0%

12 U Wollongong 7940 55.2 20.6%

U Southern California (2004-05)

6846

Australia’s Commitment to Quality in the Global Education Market

• Preserving Australia’s competitive position. • Australia is the third largest exporter of

education in the world. • Education is Australia’s sixth largest export

earner ($5.7 billion in 2004). • Australia’s commitment to quality and to the

integrity of its transnational education provision, is upheld by Federal and State governments and by all 44 approved providers.

Australia’s trading position

• Current focus on capacity to sustain competitive position in the elite market

• Global future will depend on capacity to shift to being a mass supplier– Leverage existing capacity– Scale design of programs– Develop cost effective distribution and support

systems– Manage partnerships

Australia’s TNE strategy:key areas for action

• better communication of Australia’s QA arrangements to all stakeholders;

• increased access to data and information;

• strengthened national quality framework.

Identifying good practice

• Industry-led projects commissioned by the Australian Vice-Chancellors’ Committee

• Good practice in quality delivery of education to students residing outside Australia. – selection and management of partners; – determining the equivalence of the student

experience; – delivery in languages other than English; and – staff development and training.