From early 1992 until the end of 2000, over 1,000 academic programmes in public universities in Mexico were externally evaluated by Peer Review Teams. The evaluating organisation decided, in 2001, to invite an independent group to study this exercise in order to assess the state of Mexican Higher Education. As a consequence of such revision, an…

During the last few years, a national quality assessment system for evaluation of the core activities of universities has been established in Sweden. Beyond participating in these national efforts, Lund University has also participated in the European benchmarking programme managed by ESMU (European Centre for Strategic Management of…

Improving professionalism and teachers' professional image is beginning to figure highly on the educational policy agenda of a number of countries facing teacher shortages. This article probes and questions the language of education and educators and reasons that so much focus has been placed on expectations of teachers and teacher development…

More than ever before, demographic changes in Washington combined with increasing workforce skill demands require an educated citizenry in the state. This paper describes a new initiative by the Washington State Board for Community and Technical Colleges aimed at measuring colleges and awarding funds to them for improvements in the significant…

In this report HM Inspectorate of Education sets out to present an evaluation of how well primary schools promote education for pupils' personal and social development (PSD). As indicated in "Improving Scottish Education" (ISE) (HMIE 2006), primary schools deliver well overall and there is much to be said that is very positive about PSD.…

University of Central Florida faculty and administrators recently endorsed a library-initiated proposal to integrate information fluency across the curriculum. The information fluency proposal was drafted in response to a university-wide call for proposals for a quality enhancement plan, which is a requirement for reaffirmation by the…

Increased focus on assessment of student learning in the accreditation of higher education institutions offers new, challenging opportunities for institutional researchers. This article explores how institutional researchers can maximize these opportunities by offering methodological guidance in the assessment process and by designing new studies…

The recent release of another critique of accreditation provides an opportunity to sort through some of the mass of ill-informed rhetoric in Washington regarding the nature and limitations of collegiate approval processes. The new report, "Why Accreditation Doesn't Work and What Policy Makers Can Do About It," comes from the American Council of…

Education in Papua New Guinea (PNG) has experienced major shifts and changes over the last decade or so under the National Education Reform. In that context there is recognition for schools to appreciate their local contexts and conditions regarding assessment. The National Educational Department is also aware of the fact that there is need for…

The HMIE publication, "External quality arrangements for Scotland's colleges," specifies that HMIE will produce a number of subject aspect reports over the four years 2008-12. These aspect reports complement in a subject-specific context the generic evaluations of learning and teaching in HMIE's reports of external review of colleges.…

This study reports on the Hong Kong education quality assurance and school monitoring system. Three research questions were addressed: (1) Who controls the quality of school education in Hong Kong? (2) What strategies are used in the Hong Kong school education quality assurance process? (3) Agenda for Future Research on quality assurance and…

The purpose of this study was to discover the efficacy of the Science, Mathematics, and Related Technologies Quality Measurement (SMARTQM) as a measure of total school quality and to determine the usefulness of this instrument in predicting school performance through self-reported student achievement. SMARTQM is an integrated data collection and…

This booklet outlines the requirements in Connecticut for gaining approval for educational programs enrolling veterans. Any educational institution which enrolls, or is likely to enroll, veterans in postsecondary programs must be approved by the Connecticut Department of Higher Education (DHE) in order for veterans to receive government education…

This volume was commissioned to mark the centennial of the North Central Association (NCA) of Colleges and Schools in 1996. It reviews the organization's history and explores the internal culture of the NCA, the role of accreditation, and the unique relationship between educational voluntary associations and the federal government. The book sees…

A study was done of the possible uses of Total Quality Management (TQM) for enhancing the quality and use of college outcomes assessment in postsecondary institutions in Tennessee. The study involved six meetings of a consortium of assessment coordinators in Tennessee over 3 years, and graduate and employer questionnaire development. Researchers…