Evangelos A Afendras Centre for Learning & Quality

AIT

Is a link appropriate?

Reputation Name Image Psychological process

an element of automatic response to a visual or audio stimulus; as educationists we do not aim for automatic responses but for involvement of our stakeholders and comprehension of contents, not knee-jerk ‘buying of product’

People engaged in branding seek to develop or align the expectations behind the brand experience, creating the impression that a brand associated with a product or service has certain qualities or characteristics that make it special or unique

◦ from Wikipedia

Rank NBIa East Westb

1 Germany Singapore2 United Kindom Hong Kong3 Canada Malaysia4 France Taiwan5 Australia Australia6 Italy United Arab Emirates7 Switzerland Qatar8 Japan Monaco9 Sweden Canada10 United States United Kingdom

a NBI Index (Q4, 2007). Source: Anholt Nation Brands Index™ © 2005-2008 Simon Anholt.b East West Index: Source: East West Global Index 200 © 2008 East West Communications

“Management education is growing rapidly in many regions of the world and has become highly commodified and commercialized, with Western universities competing

in emerging markets for potentially lucrative localopportunities and foreign students or ‘consumers’.”

(Sturdy & Gabriel 2000)

They may be promoted to and by government agencies (e.g. the British Council) as tools for economic and political ‘development’ and, within the curriculum, the promise maybe to solve organizational problems in a rational/superior way. However, in attracting students, for instance through advertising and presentations in educational fairs, a different sales pitch is adopted: ‘‘Smelly breath? Try Colgate mouthwash’.

Problems with your career? Get an MBA’.

(Sturdy & Gabriel 2000)

What do we mean by:•Cross border education•Quality Assessment

and Accreditation•Branding in its relation to the above

types of cross-border educationregional, as in our case, vs ‘imported’

though specific conditions on the ground may differ, distance from ‘cross-border’ programmes is less, there is more compatibility , cultural closeness, mutual interests etc

• imported programmes (franchises)• imported brands (name and perhaps more)

• imported approaches (an almost universal practice)

• imported materials (eg textbooks or case studies)

• imported teaching staff• imported Medium of Instruction• Branding & educational hegemony

Quality: ‘The totality of features and characteristics of a product or service that bear on its ability to satisfy stated or implied needs’ (ISO 8402:1994, later subsumed under ISO 9000). In higher education, quality is an inherently debated term, and different understandings exist, summarised by Harvey & Green (1993) as:

•Quality as exceptional (‘excellence’)

•Quality as perfection of consistency (‘zero

errors’)

•Quality as fitness for purpose (mission-based

‘do what you promise’, or ‘delight customers’)

•Quality as value for money

•Quality as transformation

Quality Assessment and Accreditationaspects of QA: ethical, ideological, professional social, economic and strictly internal; macro/micro?

imported criteria for QA and external standards

are local needs and particularities taken into consideration?imported judges of QA (professional bodies, associations etc) EBIT, AACSP, Shanghai, FT

Public, Private and PPP

QA of all components of University praxis:

•Teaching/Learning•Research

•Community Service •Governance

... ‘Branding’ mostly on basis of research

• universities are meant to serve the communities around them, and address their needs –

do they?• insensitivity of universities to the surrounding

indigenous knowledge and practices, swept aside in favour of imported paradigms.

• Exclusive Research focus as opposed to Quality of Teaching / Learning

• Is the total cost of HE to the State (therefore citizens), consumers of private HE, and other stakeholders worth the actual benefits?

Breaking Ranks, OECD Observer No 269 October 2008

“Exhortations to become world class have tucked universities into a Procrustean bed of indicators.

Presidents anxiously cut back programmes, reorient their university’s mission...

...Deep excisions may be made into the social sciences and humanities to leave more room for the natural sciences and research”

Breaking Ranks, OECD Observer No 269 October 2008

“the easiest way to boost rankings

is to kill the Humanities”

Breaking Ranks, OECD Observer No 269 October 2008

“...it depends on what is being measured: while neither Shanghai nor Times rate French universities that highly, in the FT 2007 European Business Schools rankings six of the top 10 are French.”

Breaking Ranks, OECD Observer No 269 October 2008

“Only 8% members of the Scientific Research Society agreed that "peer review works well as it is." (Chubin and Hackett, 1990; p.192).

‘A recent U.S. Supreme Court decision and an analysis of the peer review system substantiate complaints about this fundamental aspect of scientific research.’ (Horrobin, 2001).

Horrobin concludes that peer review "is a non-validated charade whose processes generate results little better than does chance." (Horrobin, 2001). This has been statistically proven and reported by an increasing number of journal editors.”

From: Invitation to a Symposium on Peer Reviewing- International Conference on Knowledge Generation, Communication

and Management, July 10-13, 2009, in Orlando, Florida, USA

where are similar issues being addressed? EU, OECD, AHELO

catering to community needs: PRAM

governments and other stakeholders - including higher education institutions, student bodies, and organisations responsible for quality assurance, accreditation, and academic and professional recognition

UNESCO, OECD guidelines 2005

From HE hegemony to regional autonomy with international cooperation

Involvement of stakeholders and focus on community needs

Bring Learning/teaching, community service and governance into QA