Director: Daniel C. Levy

Guidelines for Quality Assurance in Cross-Border Education are Proposed

(Entry by Kevin Kinser)

PROPHE Summary:

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development and the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization have announced guidelines to address quality control issues in cross-broader education. Institutions that provide education in foreign countries are asked to voluntarily comply with the guidelines as a form of self-regulation. The suggested policies include ensuring foreign programs are of comparable quality to any domestic offerings, and taking into account the cultural and linguistic sensitivities in the host country. Institutions are also asked to maintain policies of academic freedom and collegial governance, and to respect the quality-control provisions of the host country. Cross-border education has been growing rapidly, and this is the first effort to put standards in place to guide this growth.

For the full story (shown with permission), see the Chronicle of Higher Education, December 6, 2005, "International Agencies Propose Guidelines for Cross-Border Higher Education," by Aisha Labi. http://chronicle.com/temp/reprint.php?id=7d4dy2kvflkxhn4qk1c8hgjr74q2jzfr

PROPHE Observation:

Cross-border education is not just a private higher education issue. Many public universities are actively engaged in delivering programs in foreign countries. But the growth of the internet and other communications technologies have led some private sector institutions to target foreign students for distance based education programs. This is particularly evident of the for-profit sector where distance education is widespread. Expansion campuses in other countries have become a key strategy for building student enrollment and revenue among some private sector institutions, with a few corporate owners establishing global university networks and investing in education institutions in other countries. This cross-border activity is often physically or politically removed from state regulatory power. The proposed guidelines are basic and lack specificity, but they are an initial attempt to establish quality control conventions for cross-border education outside of global trade agreements. With so much activity and so many disparate players, however, it is far from certain that these guidelines will have much of an effect.