Sustainable Development and Quality Assurance in Higher Education

Transformation of Learning and Society

Z. Fadeeva, L. Galkute, C. Mader, G. Scott, Z. Fadeeva, L. Galkute, C. Mader, G. Scott, Kenneth A. Loparo

• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
• Year: 2014
• ISBN:
  9781137459145
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Comparative Education

To help address the challenges of sustainable development, higher education institutions must transform themselves, bringing together best practice in quality management for tertiary education with best practice in education for sustainable development. This book provides tested strategies and pathways for undertaking this successfully.

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Assessment for Transformation – Higher Education Thrives in Redefining Quality Systems

Zinaida Fadeeva, Laima Galkute, Clemens Mader and Geoff Scott

A new role for higher education in the 21st century

Higher education has a unique opportunity to provide learning for the future and help the world address the rapidly unfolding social, cultural, economic and environmental sustainability challenges of the 21st century. However, to fulfil this role at the regional, national and international levels, higher education institutions themselves have to undergo critical transformation towards sustainable development in their philosophy and practices and put in place the quality assurance systems to ensure that this transformation is consistently implemented and effective.

‘Quality’ is a term much used in many contexts, including in education at all levels across the world. A key objective of this book is to illuminate what is meant by this concept in the distinctive context of tertiary education, to develop a shared understanding of the need to transform it and to provide proven and feasible ways in which to achieve this. It is common to hear university educators defining ‘quality’ as meaning ‘fitness for purpose’ but the authors in this volume look not only at learning designs, research and engagement processes being ‘fit for purpose’ to ensure productive research, teaching, engagement projects and campus operations but also at the very fundamental purpose of 21st-century higher education itself. That is, they argue that quality should not only be defined as fitness for purpose but also as being very much about fitness of purpose. And from this standpoint they then go on to look at higher education’s fitness for transformation as a key driver for sustainable development and societal improvement.

Most higher education systems around the world have put in place a range of quality assurance, auditing and accreditation systems over the past three decades. There has been a general shift from looking at simple quality control systems to building internal capability for continuous quality assessment and improvement. Box 1.1 gives definitions of quality assurance and quality management provided by UNESCO-CEPES:

Box 1.1 Definitions

Quality assurance:

An all-embracing term referring to an ongoing, continuous process of evaluating (assessing, monitoring, guaranteeing, maintaining, and improving) the quality of a higher education system, institutions, or programmes. As a regulatory mechanism, quality assurance focuses on both accountability and improvement, providing information and judgments (not ranking) through an agreed upon and consistent process and well-established criteria.

Quality management

An aggregate of measures taken regularly at system or institutional level in order to assure the quality of higher education with an emphasis on improving quality as a whole. As a generic term, it covers all activities that ensure fulfilment of the quality policy and the quality objectives and responsibilities and implements them through quality planning, quality control, quality assurance, and quality improvement mechanisms.

Quality assurance is often considered as a part of the quality management of higher education, while sometimes the two terms are used synonymously.

Source: UNESCO-CEPES, 2007.

This book seeks to link key developments and experience in higher education quality assurance and improvement systems and what we have learnt about effective change management in HEIs with the need to transform our universities and colleges to give greater focus towards becoming more sustainable and resilient societies in all their activities. It gives particular attention to the:

•transformation of higher education towards fostering sustainable development in society;

•various ways in which quality assurance and improvement processes are defined and used, and are subject to differences in societal context;

•interplay of quality processes at different levels: international, national, organizational and in HEI’s educational programmes;

•role of good practice in quality and change management in supporting transformation of HEIs;

•role of quality management in supporting the development of the capabilities and competences of graduates and the capabilities of HEIs required towards a just and resilient society.

Contrary to the dominant perception of quality management as a tool for compliance (or, in the case of higher education ranking systems, as a marketing and differentiation tool), the authors in this book present quality assurance as instrument for transformation that can help reshape the strategic, cultural and political dimensions of HE life. At this turnaround moment for HEIs (see Barber et al., 2013), our authors identify new notions of quality that leverage diversity and recognize the dynamic and complex nature of institutional transformation towards a more embedded focus on education for sustainable development (ESD).

Quality assurance as an instrument for transformation

A number of chapters argue that, if used as a tool not just for compliance and quality control but also for continuous improvement, both external and internal quality management systems can be powerful instruments for the transformation of both universities and those who populate them, whilst simultaneously fostering the diversity necessary for institutional and social sustainability. As Ellen Hazelkorn in her chapter emphasises, the application of knowledge is widely acknowledged as being the source of social, economic and political power.

Strong links are identified in many chapters (for example in the chapters by Mader, Vettori & Rammel, Shovakar & Bernhard, Urbanski & Rowland, Zimmermann et al.) between building a quality-focused, evidence-based, change-capable culture in our universities on the one hand and, on the other hand, what distinguishes change-capable, resilient, adaptable graduates, organizations and societies.

It is argued, for example, that effective strategies for managing quality, successful change management for ESD and effective approaches to sustainable development in society all adopt a ‘whole of institution’, ‘systems approach’. In doing this they use not only internal and external quality systems as levers to motivate and support engagement in the transformation of our higher education institutions towards a more systematic focus in their core activities on the four pillars of sustainability but they also use a combination of top-down and bottom-up approaches (see, for example, the chapters by Galkute and Shovakar & Bernhard) via a process of ‘steered engagement’ (as outlined in the chapters by Scott and Vettori & Rammel). That is, they look at the ecology of the total of the university in exactly the same way that we need to understand and take into account the total ecology of our world in order to foster effective transformation and resilience. Other chapters (e.g. Galkute, Mader and Zimmermann et al.) suggest ways in which university roles and responsibilities and the operating principles that underpin them can be reshaped to give greater focus to quality and sustainability.

Contributors and contributions

The chapters which follow are written by practising educators, researchers, innovators and leaders from a wide variety of higher education contexts ranging from Europe and North America to the Asia-Pacific. Collectively, they present a wide range of perspectives and the key lessons learnt about forward-looking approaches to assuring and improving quality and achieving successful change management for ESD in an extensive range of operating environments.

Two overarching themes underpin the perspectives and strategies identified in the book for ensuring the quality and successful implementation of initiatives aimed at embedding ESD into the core business of our higher education institutions. They are: ‘Good ideas with no ideas on how to implement them are wasted ideas and Change doesn’t just happen but must be led, and deftly’ (Scott et al., 2012, p. 8). Whilst much has been written about what should change in the area of transformative higher education much less has been written about how to ensure that these desired transformative changes actually get put successfully and sustainably into practice, with consistent quality. And it is around this issue and the role of successful ESD change management and leadership in higher education that this book turns.

The need for shared meaning and common terminology is one of the recurring themes in the contributions. A number of authors (e.g. those from Australia, Asia and North America) note the need for us to make sure that we are not talking at cross purposes when discussing transformation towards sustainability in higher education. They not always use terms and concepts like sustainability, sustainable development, quality, quality assurance, quality audit, quality improvement, assessment and evaluation with the same meaning. In spite of this broad diversity, the authors show a common understanding in considering quality assurance as instrument for transformation including at the level of working with competences, values and areas of learning.

A successful quality and standards framework for ESD is identified and associated terms are defined by Brundiers et al. in Chapter 10 of the book. This framework emphasizes that it is the total university experience that engages and retains students in productive learning, not just what happens in the traditional classroom (Scott, Chapter 11), along with a wide range of key tracking measures and systems that can be used to ensure that what is planned, using such a framework, is actually being put successfully and consistently into practice and that key areas for improvement are promptly identified and addressed. The chapters by Gapor et al., Urbanski & Rowland and Brundiers et al. provide additional details on this issue.

A variety of successful options for learning for sustainable development is another feature of the book. Many proven and productive ways to help students learn about ESD and ways to ensure that the assessment of what is learnt is relevant, valid, helpful and reliable are outlined in the book. Case studies of effective learning methods for ESD include, in Australia, the use of the campus as a living laboratory for learning about and researching ESD (Scott); in the US and Canada the use of Problem- and Project-Based Learning (PPBL) (Brundiers et al.) and the involvement of students in using the STARS tracking system to advance campus sustainability (Urbanski & Rowland); in Malaysia the use of the Sustainable Livelihood Approaches (SLA) to learning (Gapor et al.); and in Austria a range of student engagement initiatives including BioTechMed-Graz and the ‘Sustainicum’ (Shovakar & Bernhard). The chapter by Dahl gives specific focus to the issue of what values should be developed in our graduates.

A group of authors (Galkute, Mader and Shovakar & Bernhard) present examples of organizational and mutual learning in a course of HEIs’ alignments of organizational strategy development and change management as well as attempts to balance organizational learning and development of students’ competences together with society.

Interestingly, the authors refer to a range of opportunities for networked learning which can help provide proven solutions to key quality improvement priorities for ESD at HEIs. For example, the chapters by Zimmermann et al. and Mader note that the development of some 129 Regional Centres of Expertise in ESD by the UN University has great potential to give focus to this work and provides an ideal international and regional multi-stakeholder learning network on sustainability ideas and solutions. The chapter by Urbanski & Rowland, as well as the one by Shovakar & Bernhard, show the role of networking in integrating principles of ESD into universities’ operations and assessment systems at the national level in the USA and Austria, respectively.

Rethinking the role of knowledge

Current interest in rethinking and redesigning the focus of our HEIs and systems of knowledge creation to give increased focus to ESD are a reaction to dramatic changes in our social, political, financial and environmental context over the past three decades. They include experiencing a series of financial and environmental crises which have led to the emergence of what some have called a ‘civilizational community of fate’ (Beck and Cronin, 2006, p. 13) in which the actions of different communities of practice, professions and groups interconnect and influence each other at the local and global level.

The new context is seen as requiring much more two-way collaboration between ‘knowledge professionals’ on the one hand and, on the other hand, groups beyond the university in order to frame problems, and identify, test, refine and scale-up solutions effectively. This approach, it is argued, helps ensure that such solutions are situated, feasible, relevant and context-specific. The emerging importance of understanding context and appreciating other forms of knowledge manifests itself in greater acknowledgement of traditional understandings of how to foster sustainable development that go beyond the dominant ‘modern’ knowledge traditions.

For example, modern methods of knowledge production and validation are fundamentally different from the approaches of ‘traditional knowledge’ systems which are typically non-dualistic, dynamic, informal, sacred, spiritual, time related and not linear in nature. Integration of modern and traditional knowledge creation systems that enable us to go beyond simple utilitarian use of traditional practices or their protection signifies one of many frontiers that need to be addressed in a new approach to higher education for development (Payyappallimana et al., 2013).

Having to manage the complex mix of risks and rapid and unpredictable changes in society, the economy and politics, along with the recognition of other knowledge systems and knowledge stakeholders, has important implications for universities and for the entire higher education system. In this regard the chapter by Ellen Hazelkorn (Chapter 2) presents a compelling picture of the evolution in knowledge development. She emphasizes that application of knowledge is widely acknowledged as being the source of social, economic and political power. With the deepening linkages between higher education and society now under way around the world the focus is increasingly on shifting from ‘curiosity-oriented’ research to ‘socially robust, collaborative and interdisciplinary’ knowledge development whilst ensuring greater social and public accountability of HEIs in ways that are consistent with Agenda 21 (Box 1.2).

Box 1.2 Science for sustainable development

The sciences are playing an important role in linking the fundamental significance of the Earth system as life support to appropriate strategies for development which build on its continued functioning. The sciences should continue to play an increasing role in providing for an improvement in the efficiency of resource utilization and in finding new development practice...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• 1  Assessment for Transformation – Higher Education Thrives in Redefining Quality Systems
• Part I  Transformation of Higher Education in Changing Society: Implications for Quality Management
• Part II  The Meaning and the Role of the Internal Quality Assurance and Its Interplay with External Quality Approaches in Supporting HE Sustainability Transformation
• Part III  Quality Management and Facilitating Sustainability Competences and Capabilities
• Index