tag:theconversation.com,2011:/global/topics/academic-quality-20197/articlesAcademic quality – The Conversation2019-11-06T13:34:38Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1257742019-11-06T13:34:38Z2019-11-06T13:34:38ZSouth Africa takes steps to assure the quality of its doctorates<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/298898/original/file-20191028-113972-1qv0aob.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">If significant concerns surface after institutional audit, the Council on Higher Education may withdraw accreditation.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Around the world there has been a massive increase in demand for <a href="https://www.nature.com/news/2011/110420/full/472276a.html">doctoral education</a>. This mostly stems from the idea that the “knowledge economy” requires high-level skills. The claim that there’s a correlation between a country’s economic stability and the proportion of its <a href="https://www.universityworldnews.com/post.php?story=2017042113152878">population who have doctorates</a> has led to national targets being set for doctoral graduation. </p>
<p>In 2010, 1,420 doctoral candidates graduated in South Africa. Since then the number has more than <a href="https://www.che.ac.za/sites/default/files/publications/VitalStats%20-%20Public%20Higher%20Education%202017.pdf">doubled</a>. The high increase in both intake and graduation has led to concerns about quality. </p>
<p>A key question is: how did South Africa find the capacity to double its numbers given that the number of supervisors has grown at a markedly slower rate over this period? </p>
<p>A significant amount of money has been invested in <a href="https://www.nrf.ac.za/sites/default/files/Application%20and%20Funding%20Guide%20for%20FISS%20Postdoctoral%20Fellowships%20FINAL.pdf">doctoral education</a>. The national funding formula gives all universities a strong incentive to increase their doctoral intake. But there are questions to be asked about whether the quality of doctoral education justifies these investments of taxpayer money. The quality of doctoral graduates matters because, as the highest level of education, it sets the tone for quality throughout the university.</p>
<p>To answer some of the concerns, South Africa’s <a href="https://www.che.ac.za/about/overview_and_mandate/mandate">Council on Higher Education</a> is about to conduct a national review of higher education institutions that offer doctoral-level qualifications. This will be the first of its kind for the council, which, among other things, is responsible for developing and implementing systems of quality assurance for higher education. </p>
<h2>The review</h2>
<p>Every institution that offers doctoral qualifications has to develop a self-evaluation report indicating how it ensures it meets the doctoral standard. The report has to specify, with evidence, how the institution assures the quality of every step of the doctoral curriculum. This ranges from selecting students to allocating supervisors, providing institutional support, developing and reviewing proposals, ethical clearance and the examination process. It also needs to demonstrate how the institution ensures that its graduates embody specified doctoral attributes.</p>
<p>A review panel then verifies and interrogates the claims by the institution. This is followed by a report to the institution. Institutions that don’t meet all the requirements are required to submit an improved plan to the council. If there are serious concerns after this, the Council on Higher Education has the authority to withdraw accreditation from the academic institution.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.africanminds.co.za/dd-product/doctoral-education-in-south-africa/">Research</a> shows that funding is a key determinant of the rate at which doctoral candidates complete the degree. It’s also known that some universities are research intensive with numerous seminars, research design courses and research chairs. But in others, the supervisor and doctoral candidate may feel quite isolated. </p>
<p>Many South African universities were <a href="https://www.chet.org.za/download/file/fid/90">dissuaded or even forbidden</a> from offering postgraduate education during apartheid past and so have had to build a research culture over a relatively short space of time. </p>
<p>These institutions may lack research infrastructure and have challenges attracting researchers to their rural campuses. It’s not clear how the review process will strike a balance between such a context and the need to reassure the public that the South African doctorate meets international standards.</p>
<h2>Implications</h2>
<p>We do not know whether the rapid increase in number of doctorates has led to a weakening of quality. Perhaps the <a href="https://journals.co.za/content/journal/10520/EJC-96771d4c6">rise</a> in predatory publications, a problem faced across the continent, suggests there is cause for concern. What is known is that some institutional audits undertaken ten years ago uncovered problems with examination processes at doctoral level. This review is an opportunity to revisit the issue.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-developing-countries-are-particularly-vulnerable-to-predatory-journals-86704">Why developing countries are particularly vulnerable to predatory journals</a>
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<p>The quality of the doctorate has significant implications. Poor doctoral education can set the scene for the nature of knowledge creation and dissemination in the whole university. If quality processes don’t safeguard academic integrity at doctoral level, then they are unlikely to protect quality at lower levels. </p>
<p>Taxpayer money subsidises doctoral programmes, so the qualification should produce the kinds of knowledge and highly skilled graduates who can make a meaningful contribution to society. </p>
<p>Given that South Africa’s funding formula greatly rewards doctoral education, all universities are being pushed to offer it across all faculties, regardless of availability of supervision and resources. There have been some cases where large numbers of doctoral candidates were admitted without the necessary capacity. The only way to change this, in my view, is to have a funding formula that rewards institutions on their own strengths. </p>
<p>But the country’s <a href="https://www.chet.org.za/download/file/fid/90">history</a> makes any real move towards institutional differentiation a no-go area. So steps need to be taken to ensure that all doctoral programmes meet the threshold standard.</p>
<p>Is the review the appropriate tool to achieve this? </p>
<p>Quality assurance generally seems to encourage <a href="https://theconversation.com/uni-sector-regulation-beset-by-red-tape-report-16722">bureaucracy and compliance</a> and be part of a <a href="https://theconversation.com/here-are-five-signs-that-universities-are-turning-into-corporations-93100">rising managerialism</a> in <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/education/2010/mar/30/academic-bureaucracy-rise-managers-higher-education">institutions</a>. But it’s a good thing to start a conversation about what a doctorate is really for, and how to tell whether quality is being assured. </p>
<p>Perhaps the review will open the space for a national discussion on some of the conservative aspects of doctoral education in the country. For example, the funding formula suggests that the doctorate takes three years, even though most countries offer the doctorate over four. And those four years are on top of strong schooling and university foundations. </p>
<p>Many countries also offer structured coursework as part of the PhD accreditation process. South Africa’s policy precludes this. And the dominant approach to doctoral education in the humanities and social sciences remains the master-apprentice supervision of individual studies. This is despite the fact that the United Kingdom, from which South Africa inherited the model, is now offering an array of more <a href="https://www.euroeducation.net/prof/ukco.htm">flexible models</a>. Neither is there a strong tradition of vivas (oral exams) for the South African doctorate.</p>
<p>Far more innovative approaches are needed. The review might be the vehicle for the necessary institutional conversations.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/125774/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sioux McKenna receives funding from the National Research Foundation.</span></em></p>All institutions that offer doctoral-level qualifications are about to undergo a national review in response to the concerns about quality.Sioux McKenna, Director of Centre for Postgraduate Studies, Rhodes UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/549902016-02-23T09:37:20Z2016-02-23T09:37:20Z‘Quality assurance’ must be reimagined at Ethiopia’s universities<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/112337/original/image-20160222-25855-1asj13r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Ethiopian universities may suffer if quality assurance systems are too narrowly focused.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Adam Jones/Flickr</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Universities and higher education systems around the world have become fixated on quality over the past two decades. They have tried out any number of initiatives designed to improve quality. They have looked for structures that will produce concrete evidence of <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14719030701340390">effectiveness and efficiency</a>.</p>
<p>Quality assurance has emerged as one of universities’ most significant management tools in this quest. It has become <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13538322.2010.485728">a feature</a> of every continent’s higher education system. Its major drive is to ensure that universities provide quality higher education based on a minimum set of criteria and standards. At the same time, it is expected to <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/1353832042000230635?journalCode=cqhe20">improve quality</a> within an institution. </p>
<p>But does it work? I undertook <a href="http://www.codesria.org/spip.php?article2531&lang=en">a study</a> in Ethiopian universities as part of my PhD research project to find out the realities, opportunities and impediments of quality assurance. </p>
<p>Ethiopia’s higher education landscape has expanded continuously from about 2004. Then, there were eight public universities in the country. Today there are 36. Private universities are also on the rise, and account for about 15% of the country’s total tertiary student population.</p>
<p>Enrolment rates have climbed too: in 2010/11, Ethiopia recorded 447,693 undergraduates across institutions. By the 2013/14 academic years, this had <a href="http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0023/002317/231724e.pdf">risen</a> to 593,571. Most of these students were pursuing technology or engineering related degrees. </p>
<p>Preliminary evidence suggests that their quality of teaching and learning has actually dropped despite the introduction of quality assurance systems. Why is this the case? </p>
<h2>The Ethiopian university landscape</h2>
<p>First, a word about what “quality assurance” entails at universities. The average quality assurance system requires evidence of “quality” at an institutional level. This is measured, for example, through research output, student progression from enrolment to completion, and graduation rates. Lecturers are expected to keep track of such details through overly prescriptive teaching and learning assessment policies.</p>
<p>My research found that the concept of quality assurance has been accepted by Ethiopia’s government and education authorities. It is also accepted as a daily reality at individual institutions. The problem is that there’s no evidence to show any widespread qualitative change in classroom practices or students’ learning experiences.</p>
<p>For the most part, Ethiopian universities <a href="http://www.moe.gov.et/English/Information/Documents/Education%20Statistics%20Annual%20Abstract%202006E.C%20%282013-2014%20G.C%29.pdf">struggle</a> to get basic and essential learning resources like text and reference books and laboratory and workshop equipment and facilities. Students’ academic work most often depends on notes handed out by lecturers. This means that three things become <a href="https://books.google.co.za/books?hl=en&lr=&id=cehvAAAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PT9&dq=creating+significant+learning+experiences+fink&ots=GBlFqPavzL&sig=5K2DMUnmwxQvbLe_Rm4bFX_e1m8#v=onepage&q&f=false">crucial</a>:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>developing the skills and resources required to learn</p></li>
<li><p>learning independently, and</p></li>
<li><p>cooperation among students</p></li>
</ul>
<p>The problem is that the quality assurance systems being used in Ethiopia have not been developed with the country’s specific educational context - as outlined above - in mind.</p>
<h2>Advantages and problems</h2>
<p>There are some advantages to the system of quality assurance. For example, it provides an agreed upon definition of quality that works almost everywhere. It also establishes a minimal threshold as a standard for quality - a base from which all institutions can work. There are, finally, valuable structural approaches, procedures and processes inherent within any quality assurance scheme. </p>
<p>However, there are several impediments in such a system. These include heightened emphasis on reporting of results, methodological flaws and a lack of concern for context. </p>
<p>Research <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Michael_Skolnik/publication/43797524_Quality_Assurance_in_Higher_Education_as_a_Political_Process/links/09e4150579e6a3f091000000.pdf">has shown</a> that the efficacy of quality assurance lies in its political and ideological nature. This means that any system of quality assurance relies heavily on adherence to externally imposed definitions and structures. </p>
<p>It’s also all about performing common actions - so a lecturer at an under-resourced but overburdened Ethiopian university would be expected to behave in the same way as a colleague at a wealthy Australian institution to live up to ideals of “quality”.</p>
<h2>Quality assurance doesn’t mean improved quality</h2>
<p>It is obvious that there is room for improvement in Ethiopian universities’ teaching and learning practices. </p>
<p>The problem is that quality assurance systems don’t bring about such improvement - a fact that’s been <a href="https://books.google.co.za/books?id=A-pDBgAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false">proved</a> by extensive <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13538321003679457">global research</a>.</p>
<p>These systems tend to have a limited scope of information available to serve as inputs for quality improvement. This is because their emphasis is on “the big picture”, like student graduation numbers, rather than on daily academic or learning experiences. Such systems don’t consider evidence about regular academic practices or students’ learning experiences as being important information that might contribute towards improvement.</p>
<p>Simply put, quality assurance focuses on reporting to meet accountability requirement and undermines the influence of context. It also undermines the complexity of educational outcomes and institutional practices, as well as the conditions that lead to attaining such outcomes.</p>
<h2>Making changes to make systems work</h2>
<p>Quality assurance programmes definitely have a role to play at Ethiopia’s universities. But this role will only be truly positive if programmes are modified to take academic considerations into account. They must also become more flexible about collecting essential data at an individual level rather than just focusing on the institutional level. </p>
<p>Changing the programmes’ focus in this way will mean that higher education quality assurance becomes more concerned with the micro realities of higher education and the academy. Also, they will become more relevant to driving any improvement of quality.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/54990/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Tefera Tadesse does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Quality assurance programmes tend to ignore context - which means important elements of teaching and learning are overlooked and universities miss out on a real chance to improve their practices.Tefera Tadesse, Assistant Professor of Curriculum and Instruction, Jimma UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/546642016-02-17T04:29:00Z2016-02-17T04:29:00ZKenya’s universities are in the grip of a quality crisis<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/111461/original/image-20160215-22600-xlfz04.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Small classes like these are sadly uncommon in Kenya's often overcrowded, oversubscribed universities.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Thomas Mukoya/Reuters</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>If you walk down a busy street in one of Kenya’s larger cities, you’ll pass pubs, restaurants, supermarkets, brothels – and universities’ branch campuses.</p>
<p>These cheap, low-quality satellite campuses don’t have even the most basic facilities. They have no libraries, nor internet access. There’s usually a full-time campus director and a handful of academic staff who usually hold no more than a master’s degree. Sometimes even this degree is of questionable credibility. But these campuses raise money for the parent university and meet the country’s high demand for tertiary education. </p>
<p>Kenya’s Commission of University Education <a href="http://www.cue.or.ke/">(CUE)</a> has recently tried to tackle this problem <a href="http://www.nation.co.ke/news/CUE-shuts-10-Kisii-University-campuses/-/1056/3039968/-/xhon8y/-/index.htm">by closing</a> ten of Kisii University’s 13 branches.</p>
<p>The quality of Kenya universities, whether at branch level or at major, established campuses, is slipping. This process has accelerated in the past 20 years and it requires urgent work from the higher education sector and government to arrest the decline.</p>
<h2>Changes through the decades</h2>
<p>Kenya’s higher education system has changed significantly in the 53 years since independence. Immediately <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-the-rise-in-ethnic-tensions-at-kenyas-universities-is-hurting-the-academy-50730">after independence</a>, the government set up elite national universities that catered only for the fortunate few. </p>
<p>Then, after 1990, more Kenyans demanded access to university and the system <a href="http://ir-library.ku.ac.ke/handle/123456789/12797">opened up rapidly</a>. Private universities came onto the scene, along with more public institutions.</p>
<p>Also in the early 1990s, the government adopted a new <a href="http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs10734-007-9067-3">market-based</a> policy of financing public universities. This ushered in an era of reduced state support for higher education.</p>
<p>Today, government funding for Kenya’s 33 public universities continues to <a href="http://www.universityworldnews.com/article.php?story=20150507112434989">decline</a>. The average per capita expenditure per student has also fallen <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/18146627.2011.586163">tremendously</a>. This funding crunch obviously has a detrimental effect on quality, which manifests in poorly trained academic staff, inadequate libraries, overcrowded classrooms – there are sometimes as many as 400 students in a single class – and low-quality graduates. </p>
<p>Universities are expected to raise extra revenue through tuition fees, cost-recovery measures and by commercialising their activities. Some have taken an <a href="http://sgo.sagepub.com/content/5/4/2158244015612519">entrepreneurial route</a> to raise more money: they’ve set up shopping malls, funeral homes, industrial parks, rented-out property or ventured into catering. </p>
<p>These are obviously unrelated to academic programs; they generate very little money and put universities’ finances and reputations at risk.</p>
<h2>The system keeps growing</h2>
<p>Even as funding drops, enrolment numbers soar. Kenya’s public university system has grown exponentially: there was just one at the time of independence and there are now 33. <a href="http://www.nation.co.ke/lifestyle/DN2/STRAINED-Higher-education-in-crisis/-/957860/2898380/-/bejbmf/-/index.html">About 70%</a> of those were established during 2012 and 2013.</p>
<p>Student growth has also been impressive. Just 1000 people were enrolled in 1963 and <a href="http://www.nation.co.ke/lifestyle/DN2/STRAINED-Higher-education-in-crisis/-/957860/2898380/-/bejbmf/-/index.html">today</a> there are 276,349 university students in Kenya, both full-time and part-time. </p>
<p>The combination of high enrolments and low funding has hit even established universities <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.5539/hes.v2n4p126">hard</a>. They don’t have enough academic staff and many lecturers aren’t properly qualified. They don’t have decent teaching or learning facilities or access to innovative technology. This means that teaching often doesn’t advance beyond traditional methods.</p>
<p>The inferior academic climate has also seen a surge in academic fraud: plagiarism, fabricated references, students impersonating each other in exams and lecturers demanding money or sexual favours in exchange for passing grades. </p>
<p>In probably the most <a href="http://www.nation.co.ke/news/education/CUE-revokes-degrees-awarded-by-Kisii-University/-/2643604/3043534/-/qpoa67z/-/index.html">dramatic case</a> of fraud recently, the CUE cancelled five doctoral degrees awarded by Kisii University. It emerged that the five students had only studied for six months each before receiving their doctorates.</p>
<h2>Regulation is lacking</h2>
<p>A weak regulatory framework has not helped the situation. The CUE, which was established in 1995, initially focused on the accreditation of private universities. Its mandate was expanded in 2013 to cover public universities – but by then, public institutions’ growth had gone unchecked for years.</p>
<p>The CUE lacks the organisational, technical and human capacities to monitor and enforce quality compliance. Its poor performance has led some to suggest that its CEO ought <a href="http://www.nation.co.ke/news/Matiangi-faults-CUE-s-bid-to-sack-Prof-Some/-/1056/3070514/-/glv71hz/-/index.html">to be fired</a>. </p>
<p>Professional bodies have tried to step into the gap left by the CUE’s shortcomings, intervening to <a href="http://www.nation.co.ke/news/In-the-race-numbers-and-funds-some-institutions-take-shortcuts/-/1056/2897470/-/2j5yikz/-/index.html">close down</a> university programs they claim are not up to industry standards. Unfortunately these bodies have no statutory powers and have been <a href="http://www.nation.co.ke/news/education/Varsity-faults-councils-power-on-accreditation/-/2643604/3045744/-/7fieu2z/-/index.html">sued</a> for their interventions.</p>
<h2>The way forward</h2>
<p>It will take a combination of strategies to restore quality, particularly at Kenya’s public universities. The state, regulatory authorities and the institutions themselves will need to be involved.</p>
<p>For starters, Kenya needs a differentiated public university system with a small number of research universities that specialise in high level research and graduate training. The University of Nairobi, Kenyatta University, Moi University, Egerton University and the Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology, being older and more established, all have the academic and other resources to take on this role. </p>
<p>Other, newer institutions established to meet demand should focus on good-quality undergraduate and master’s level instruction.</p>
<p>Universities must also set up faculty development programs to train academic staff about the complexities and changing nature of an academic career. This training must introduce Kenyan academics to modern teaching strategies that appeal to an evolving student demographic.</p>
<p>Change is needed on the money front, too. The state must change its funding model. Its current “one-size-fits-all” approach is not working, and instead programs should be financed according to how expensive they are to prepare and teach. Cheaper programmes must get less money.</p>
<p>Finally, regulatory oversight needs to be strengthened. The CUE requires enough money to harness its technical and human resources for effective monitoring and quality enforcement. But it can’t carry out its duties alone: professional associations and internal university quality assurance units must be involved too.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/54664/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ishmael Munene does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Kenya’s authorities are trying to deal with declining standards at the country’s public and private universities. This will require a strengthened regulatory framework and hard work from institutions.Ishmael Munene, Association Professor of Research, Foundations & Higher Education, Northern Arizona UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/454702015-09-09T10:21:09Z2015-09-09T10:21:09ZWhen it comes to academic quality, Europeans show the way<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/93969/original/image-20150904-14621-1f1sxzb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">How can the US address its accreditation problem?</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/iip-photo-archive/17903142002/in/photolist-rdmYF2-th3ho7-5DE4qE-5DzLqH-5DzLoi-8T8ivi-8Tbkpw-8Tbn3q-8T8i8g-8T8ijD-8Tbppo-8T8fWe-8TbpBm-8T8h62-8Tbkbo-8Tbm1d-8TbooJ-8T8huB-8T8f9g-8TbkBs-8TbpPb-9G8EpJ-9G8EeW-9G5KNH-9G8Euu-8T8fK4-8Tbqef-8T8gCk-4C2qz4">IIP Photo Archive</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>There is a growing concern about the cost, quality and value of higher education. </p>
<p>Despite the increasing cost of an academic degree, <a href="http://www.ssrc.org/publications/view/d06178be-3823-e011-adef-001cc477ec84/">recent studies</a> show substantial percentages of students, even in the most selective US colleges and universities, have failed to demonstrate significant improvement in critical thinking, complex reasoning and writing skills over the four years of college. </p>
<p>While students score high grades – an A has become by far the <a href="http://www.tcrecord.org/content.asp?contentid=16473">most common grade</a> and is awarded three times more frequently now than in the 1960s – <a href="http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/abs/10.1162/REST_a_00093#.VddAWZcXpLM">surveys done over the last 30 years</a> indicate that the amount of time college students report actually studying for their academic degrees has declined by almost 50%. </p>
<p>Other indicators too show a decline in student academic achievement. In 1995, the US led developed nations in the share of the population (ages 25-34) with a college degree; today we have fallen to <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/r-us-falls-behind-in-college-competition-oecd-2014-9">19 among 28 nations</a>. </p>
<p>Consequently, <a href="http://www.help.senate.gov/chair/newsroom/press/alexander-seeks-input-from-higher-ed-community-on-accreditation-risk-sharing-and-consumer-information">Congress</a> is now considering major reforms to academic accreditation, the primary means by which we assure the academic quality of our colleges and universities. </p>
<p>Why are there problems with US academic accreditation, and what policies are needed to improve and assure academic quality? </p>
<p>I have been studying academic quality assurance (QA) for the last decade. <a href="http://www.springer.com/us/book/9789048137534">Comparative research</a> on the quality assurance policies of other developed nations offers useful insights. </p>
<h2>What is academic accreditation?</h2>
<p>In the US, the process of accreditation was developed by colleges and universities over the last 100 years to evaluate, assure and improve academic quality. </p>
<p>Today, each accrediting agency is a private membership association which, based upon an external peer review of an institution or academic program, recommends the award of accredited status to colleges and universities. The US has <a href="http://www.chea.org/">six regional agencies</a> accrediting nonprofit public and private as well as for-profit institutions.</p>
<p>Accreditation is now crucial for the economic survival of colleges and universities. Beginning with the Korean War GI Bill in 1952, student grants and loans <a href="http://www2.ed.gov/about/bdscomm/list/naciqi.html">provided</a> by the federal government could be used only at accredited institutions. </p>
<p>Therefore, accreditation in the US now serves the dual function of academic quality assurance and eligibility to receive federal funds. </p>
<h2>Why academic grades in US don’t reflect standards</h2>
<p>However, US accreditation for bachelor’s degrees appears less successful than the <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00091383.2014.910043?journalCode=vchn20#.VeouMtNVikp">quality assurance (QA) agencies of other developed countries</a> such as Finland, the Netherlands and Norway. Why is that? </p>
<p>A significant difference lies in the structure of our baccalaureate education. </p>
<p>In most other countries, baccalaureate programs are focused on a particular field. The courses of instruction students take are largely mandated by each university, and academic programs often culminate in a comprehensive exam or project that influences students’ graduation. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/93972/original/image-20150904-14632-dddwtn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/93972/original/image-20150904-14632-dddwtn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/93972/original/image-20150904-14632-dddwtn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/93972/original/image-20150904-14632-dddwtn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/93972/original/image-20150904-14632-dddwtn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/93972/original/image-20150904-14632-dddwtn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/93972/original/image-20150904-14632-dddwtn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A more cohesive degree structure in other countries motivates students to take their learning seriously.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/smannion/4503113314/in/photolist-7RVCGJ-7RVCLb-7RVCjQ-7RSnMa-7RSojR-7RSo9Z-7RVCy1-7RVCu7-7QP1yB-4pwAt5-jC5u26-itpcV5-7FdSTA-7F9Zr4-7FdSNy-7F9ZJV-rRCAnk-rRvAWS-7cWXBs-EQWuX-hMxgV-EQXgo-4n18p-9bBr8G">smannion</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Foreign academic programs, even in the arts and sciences, are more comparable to US undergraduate professional programs such as engineering and architecture. </p>
<p>The more cohesive degree structure in other countries motivates students to take their learning seriously and to invest greater time and effort in their studies.
These structured degrees also provide valuable information – both to the student and to the student’s program faculty – of what each student has actually learned. </p>
<p>In contrast, the majority of US baccalaureate students are enrolled in degree programs in which over three-quarters of their academic work is part of a general education component, and students personally select most of the courses they complete. </p>
<p>Because of the influence of a student’s grade point average on his or her future success, many, even at select colleges and universities, choose individual courses and academic majors characterized by greater grade inflation. </p>
<p><a href="http://www.springer.com/us/book/9780387001258">A study</a> of Duke University undergraduate students estimated they elected 50% fewer courses in the educationally rigorous fields of the natural sciences and mathematics because grading practices across disciplines are not equitable. </p>
<p>Our undergraduate programs are distinctive in their large number of elective courses, the variation in grading standards across subject fields and the degree of student choice. There is also a lack of comprehensive measures of what students actually learn from their general education as well as from many majors. </p>
<p>Consequently, the faculty’s reliance on academic credits and grades as the principal means of assuring academic standards is ineffective. </p>
<h2>Effective reform</h2>
<p>So, how can public policy best address this problem? </p>
<p>As Nobel Laureate Elinor Ostrom <a href="http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/economic-sciences/laureates/2009/ostrom-lecture.html">argued</a>, neither markets nor the rules of the state are the most effective means “to govern, provide, and manage public goods” that are complex and difficult to measure, like academic knowledge. </p>
<p>This is particularly the case in professional, self-governing organizations like US colleges and universities. </p>
<p>I believe <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00091383.2014.910043#.VdeE1ZcXpLM">three actions are essential</a>. </p>
<p>First, as the education ministers of the European Union (EU) <a href="http://www.enqa.eu/index.php/home/esg/">stipulated</a> in a collective policy governing QA agencies in their respective countries: effective quality assurance requires a national regulatory agency with appropriate expertise, which is truly independent from governments, higher education institutions and organs of political influence. </p>
<p>As of now, in the US, the private accrediting agencies are owned, operated and financially supported by fees paid by the institutions they evaluate. </p>
<p>At the federal level, <a href="http://www2.ed.gov/about/bdscomm/list/naciqi.html">the National Advisory Committee on Institutional Quality and Integrity (NACIQI)</a> has the power to define accrediting criteria as well as approve accreditation agencies whose awards provide eligibility for federal funds. </p>
<p>The NACIQI reports to the Department of Education and is composed of 18 members, six appointed by the secretary of education and 12 appointments divided evenly between the majority and minority leaders of the House and Senate.</p>
<p>In short, the existing system for assuring academic quality in the US is neither independent nor autonomous. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/93973/original/image-20150904-14656-yothxd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/93973/original/image-20150904-14656-yothxd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/93973/original/image-20150904-14656-yothxd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/93973/original/image-20150904-14656-yothxd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/93973/original/image-20150904-14656-yothxd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=423&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/93973/original/image-20150904-14656-yothxd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=423&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/93973/original/image-20150904-14656-yothxd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=423&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">How can the system be reformed?</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/francisco_osorio/8425492426/in/photolist-dQwRmN-gjDRTG-7KheKR-9FuNtL-6Ni9oq-845bWH-2U2Af9-kLvswg-6f9gKA-ek1tL2-2yoy3B-78qnMT-btECAw-nzt6pq-2xNjX-p2vQQ6-bJrSKH-htqhqy-w2D6F-8YADLd-FVFoh-pt4ERA-q9Wga7-5vF2Ej-9rji9D-csee6m-v5w9L4-wEv7ff-pg2HGA-edoV3F-3VDtfo-bmX3TN-9voGaC-e4fhAa-6xPjLo-n3Niiv-q8M2RN-p7kmEg-ni3Aga-dQxavq-iMresQ-984QiC-4r6Tkr-dhjTey-rEvTVu-4r6MoP-bBBazx-fWkWiQ-p2w9CG-msFfzF">Francisco Osorio</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>One means of creating a truly independent and competent national quality assurance agency would be to assign the responsibilities of NACIQI to an agency governed by and reporting to the National Academies of Science. </p>
<p>The <a href="http://www.nationalacademies.org/">National Academies</a> are private, nonprofit societies of distinguished scholars dedicated to the furtherance of science and technology and to their use for the general welfare. Based upon a congressional charter granted in 1863, the National Academies have a mandate to advise the federal government on matters of science and education. </p>
<h2>Institutional measures for learning outcomes</h2>
<p>The criteria for US academic accreditation need to be more sharply focused on institutional processes that ensure quality in teaching and student learning. </p>
<p>These include the institution’s processes for:</p>
<ul>
<li>designing, approving, and evaluating academic courses and programs</li>
<li>evaluating and improving instruction</li>
<li>assuring the integrity of grading standards across subject fields </li>
<li>assuring the validity of means for assessing student learning outcomes.</li>
</ul>
<p>Instead, the accreditation criteria mandated by NACIQI now include institutional measures not directly related to student academic performance. These include facilities, fiscal and administrative capacity, as well as student recruiting and admissions practices.</p>
<p>The question for accreditors is not whether an institution has a process for evaluating academic programs, but whether evaluations are objectively assessing program quality and resulting in demonstrable improvement in teaching and student learning within identified programs. </p>
<p>The academic audit review at Hong Kong’s universities, adapted by the public university systems in Missouri and Tennessee, <a href="http://www.wiley.com/WileyCDA/WileyTitle/productCd-1933371234.html">provides a valuable model</a> for this approach. </p>
<h2>External evaluation</h2>
<p>Third, the <a href="http://www.bologna-bergen2005.no/Docs/00-Main_doc/030919Berlin_Communique.PDF#search=%22%20berlin%20communique%22">policy approved</a> by the educational ministers in the EU countries also required that all national QA agencies in participating countries undergo an independent external evaluation, which is made public. </p>
<p>Our higher education would be served best if a new federal QA agency were similarly required to be publicly evaluated by an established, respected and truly independent national organization such as the US Government Accountability Office. </p>
<p>This would also help provide assessments of the extent to which a regulatory agency helps assure academic standards.</p>
<p>Eventually, the most effective means of reforming US academic accreditation would be to reframe and redesign our national process for assuring academic quality. </p>
<p>We need to remember that academic accreditation should reinforce the incentives for collective action by faculty members within each college and university, for that is the surest means to effectively assess and continually improve teaching and student learning.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/45470/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>David Dill received funding for this research from the Ford Foundation. </span></em></p>Why are there problems with US academic accreditation, and what policies are needed to improve and assure academic quality?David Dill, Emeritus Professor of Public Policy, University of North Carolina at Chapel HillLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.