This paper examines Indonesia's experience with neo-liberal higher education reform. It argues that this agenda has encountered strong resistance from the dominant predatory political, military, and bureaucratic elements who occupy the state apparatus, their corporate clients, and popular forces, leading to continuation of the centralist and…

During the 15 years that "Quality in Higher Education" has held a focal position in the field of higher education assessment, the concept of quality has evolved from a debatable and controversial concept to an everyday matter in higher education. The author takes a personal look into the development of the field by first tracking the discursive…

The renewal of quality in Australian higher education comes at a time of significant change in the external policy framework. Such changes are timely due to the growth of higher education and the emergence of the quality and equity agenda in the context of ongoing decline in public funding. The article provides an overview of current quality…

This paper speculates on the possible contribution of the quality movement to higher education and the perceived dividends received from this, in general, over the past two decades but also, more specifically, with reference to the author's institution in South Africa. The first major quality contribution is a gradual broadening of higher…

Twenty years ago, the federal government in the US first required institutional accrediting organisations, America's principal mechanism for quality assurance in higher education, to review institutional practices with respect to the assessment of student learning outcomes. Much that affects quality assurance has changed in the ensuing two decades…

Further education (FE) colleges in England were statutorily "cut free" from local education authority (LEA) control in 1992. This article, however, primarily considers changes within FE in the 30 years before this "incorporation" of FE colleges, as well as debates that followed. It argues that the post-1992 changes were…

From the end of World War II until the early 1970s, vocational education and training (VET) in Australia was surprisingly static and resilient to government-led reform, due to the dominance of industry and union power. Following the oil shocks of 1973 and associated unemployment and declining union power, there have been calls on the federal and…

This article attempts to analyze the main tendencies of the higher education systems and policies within the Mercosur, a regional bloc composed by Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, and Uruguay. The article discusses some global trends and describes the process of educational integration in the Mercosur as well as the higher education systems of each of…

The objective of this study is to describe and map the current state of play of the Bologna Process in the nine countries of the Southern Mediterranean participating in the Tempus programme. For the last twenty years, the Tempus programme has supported the modernisation of higher education systems in countries neighbouring the EU by financing…

The Tempus Programme, which funds cooperation in higher education between universities in EU Member States and a defined set of partner countries outside the European Union, is excellently positioned to support explorations into higher education governance in countries that want to draw on the developing EU experience in this field. Governance is…

In many countries in both the Mediterranean region and the European Union (EU), interest in the quality of, and improvements to, technical and vocational education and training (TVET) systems has increased progressively in recent years. The main reason underlying this interest is a growing awareness of the key role played by education and training…

Institutional research (IR) in Latin America is experiencing dramatic growth due, in no small measure, to the need for quality assurance in educational institutions developing trained workforces for emerging economies. Quality can be assured only where it can be measured, and that is at the core of institutional research in countries to the south…

This paper is a case study of the emergence of an evaluation culture in the public sector and particularly in education in Ireland over the past three decades. It suggests that the emergence of this culture was strongly influenced by external factors, particularly the European Union (EU), and to a lesser but significant degree, the Organisation…

This study is aiming at examining the process of implementation of this higher education diversification policy in Vietnam, analyzing the opportunities and challenges that are facing the newly established non-public higher education institutions and to propose some orientations for their development in the current process of industrialization and…

The educational history of the Sultanate of Oman has undergone rapid development. In 1970, there were three primary schools. Today, there is universal education, with modern public and private institutions. In 1985, the first teacher education institutions offered a diploma programme. In 1994, six Colleges of Education, offering a degree, were…