In order to develop capacity to link knowledge to economic growth in developing countries, there is an urgent need to make quality the major element of higher education systems. In Iran, a developing country, such a need was felt a decade ago in the academic community. Based on research projects conducted, a model that combines collegial…

Over the past few years, marketisation-focused public policies have significantly transformed higher education systems worldwide. In developing countries that do not have public universities, there has been a reduction of public financing and the expansion of private institutions. In Brazil, one of the main developing countries in the world…

Quality assurance in higher education is a mess: the "problem" of quality is embedded in complex sets of interacting issues that are of concern to many and varied stakeholders. Developing higher education systems that have responded to issues of quality through a "best practice" model of external quality assurance has produced…

Describes some obstacles to the acceptance of concepts and practices related to quality in developing countries. Explores possible paradigm faults as reasons for the negative reactions often found, and concludes that culture alone is not the reason quality concepts are not more readily transplanted. Discusses the desirability of short-, middle-,…