Over decades the collaborative mode and an especially keen sense for the benefits of international cooperation have driven the agenda of individual universities and national higher education systems alike. With the motto "internationalization in times of globalization," a range of positive connotations have entered university policies.…

In this opinion piece, the author reflects on some similarities with the National Health Service (NHS) in England, which has a long history of leadership tensions as hospital trusts have tried to wrestle administrative and operational decision-making away from clinicians and consultants.

The distinction between external assessment and internal assessment underpins a major reform to vocational qualifications underway in England. To be approved by the Department for Education, vocational qualifications must now include a minimum proportion of external assessment, regardless of subject. This paper discusses the nature and…

In this paper, we discuss some concerns and recommendations of Saultz and Fusarelli (2017), offering nuanced and detailed views of online schooling from a different perspective. This includes addressing challenges regarding online learning such as fluctuating enrollments, financial concerns, quality assurance, and accountability. In addition, we…

Ralph Wolff is founder and president of The Quality Assurance Commons (https:// theqacommons.org) and an independent policy consultant focusing on accreditation and quality assurance processes in the United States and internationally. He served as president of the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC) Senior College and University…

In this controversy piece, we portray online learning as growing too fast for existing regulatory structures to oversee and generally as having failed to live up to its potential. Operators, particularly for-profit operators, have generally not produced successful schools. We urge reforms of cyber schooling funding mechanisms, data systems, and…

This article is based on an interview conducted with Mark Olssen in October 2014, and the subsequent discussions. These conversations invited Olssen to reflect on his experiences of neoliberalism as a practising academic who has worked in the UK for some 14 years, and also to comment as a researcher and writer who is well known for his work on…

In order to have long-term impact ESD concepts, practices and policies should move into societal, policy and research arenas with high visibility and traction. In the process of going "transboundary", the ESD label may fade but the practice and organization of social and collaborative learning may gain.

The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) preserves the most positive legacy of the No Child Left Behind era--more accurate and transparent data about the performance of all students--and helps states take their efforts to use data in support of student learning to the next level. The Data Quality Campaign (DQC) appreciates the opportunity to provide…

Nearly a year ago, "NEJHE" launched its "New Directions for Higher Education" series to examine emerging issues, trends and ideas that have an impact on higher education policies, programs and practices. In this installment, Philip DiSalvio interviews Judith S. Eaton, president of the Council for Higher Education Accreditation…

While much research on quality assurance in higher education has centred on issues related to the impact on teaching and learning and academic staff, there is a significant gap in the area of quality assurance and academic governance. Within Australia the roles of university academic boards (also known as academic senates or faculty senates) have…

Educational development has changed in many ways over the last 40?years and the International Consortium for Educational Development has highlighted the sheer variety of practices by bringing together educational developers from countries where activities differ markedly. These reflections identify the wide range of foci of attention that are…

Academic peer review is widely viewed as fair, equitable, and essential to academic quality. Successfully completing the process through publication or award is widely deemed as one of the most rigorous and prestigious forms of scholarly accomplishment. Despite this sentiment the academic peer review process is not without fault. It is criticized…

According to a recent study, institutions of higher learning in South Africa fail to a great extent to integrate the key management functions that are fundamental to effective quality management. This article argues that the effective promotion of quality of a university's core business depends to a large extent on the ability of an institution's…

This paper addresses issues raised in two recent papers published in this journal about the UK "Association of Business Schools' Journal Quality Guide (ABS Guide)". While much of the debate about journal rankings in general, and the "ABS Guide" in particular, has focused on the construction, power and (mis)use of these…