|
Recommendations for Institutions and Providers
Realizing higher education potential is a shared responsibility of many stakeholders, including
the associations cited below and the higher education institutions they represent. We urge all
engaged in planning, providing, monitoring, and negotiating higher education across borders to
adhere to the principles articulated in this statement and to implement the action items. By taking
these steps, and working collectively, we will help address the urgent need for national and
international policy frameworks for sharing quality higher education across borders and affirm
the value of higher education¡¦s continued contribution to the public.
Based on these principles, we endorse the following action agenda for adoption and implementation
by higher education institutions and other providers engaged in education across borders. In order
to benefit from past experience, implementation efforts should recognize and, where appropriate,
build on existing legal instruments, policy statements, for initiatives that are consistent with
these principles and promote further research and policy dialogue.
¡P
Become conversant with issues surrounding cross-border education and trade to inform the exchange
among associations and their associations¡¦ engagement in a constructive dialogue with governments.
¡P
Strive to ensure that higher education across borders contributes to the broader social and economic
well-being of communities in the host country, is culturally sensitive in its approach and content,
and strengthens local higher education capacity by, for example, cooperating, when appropriate, with
local institutions.
¡P
Improve access to programs and courses by providing support to qualified students from other countries
with financial need.
¡P
Obtain the proper authorization to operate as a higher education institution from government or other
competent bodies in the home and host countries. At the same time, governments and competent bodies
should increase their collaboration, transparency, and information sharing in order to alleviate the
administrative burden on higher education institutions.
¡P
Build a culture of ongoing quality review, feedback, and improvement by creating robust quality
assurance processes at the institutional level which rely heavily on faculty expertise and
incorporate the views of students.
¡P
Cooperate with their associations as well as with relevant governmental and nongovernmental bodies to
develop effective quality assurance principles and practices and apply them to cross-border activities.
¡P
Cooperate with relevant governmental and non-governmental bodies to improve the international exchange
of information and cooperation on quality assurance and recognition issues.
¡P
Provide reliable information to the public and students in a proactive manner, particularly with respect
to the institution¡¦s legal status, award granting authority, course offerings, quality assurance
mechanisms, as well as other relevant facts as suggested by codes of good practice.
Guidelines for Institutions and Providers
Commitment to quality by all higher education institutions/providers is essential. To this end,
the active and constructive contributions of academic staff are indispensable. Higher education
institutions are responsible for the quality as well as the social, cultural and linguistic
relevance of education and the standards of qualifications provided in their name, no matter
where or how it is delivered. In this context, it is recommended that higher education
institutions/providers delivering cross-border higher education:
¡P
Ensure that the programs they deliver across borders and in their home country are of comparable
quality and that they also take into account the cultural and linguistic sensitivities of the
receiving country. It is desirable that a commitment to this effect should be made public.
¡P
Recognize that quality teaching and research is made possible by the quality of faculty and the quality
of their working conditions that foster independent and critical enquiry. The recommendation concerning
the status of higher education teaching personnel and other relevant instruments need to be taken into
account by all institutions and providers to support good working conditions and terms of service,
collegial governance and academic freedom.
¡P
Develop, maintain or review current internal quality management systems so that they make full use of
the competencies of stakeholders such as academic staff, administrators, students and graduates and
take full responsibility for delivering higher education qualifications comparable in standard in
their home country and across borders. Furthermore, when promoting their programs to potential students
through agents, they should take full responsibility to ensure that the information and guidance
provided by their agents are accurate, reliable and easily accessible.
¡P
Consult competent quality assurance and accreditation bodies and respect the quality assurance and
accreditation systems of the receiving country when delivering higher education across borders,
including distance education.
¡P
Share good practices by participating in sector organizations and inter-institutional networks at
national and international levels.
¡P
Develop and maintain networks and partnerships to facilitate the process of recognition by
acknowledging each other¡¦s qualifications as equivalent or comparable.
¡P
Provide accurate, reliable and easily accessible information on the criteria and procedures of external
and internal quality assurance and the academic and professional recognition of qualifications they
deliver and provide complete descriptions of programs and qualifications, preferably with descriptions
of the knowledge, understanding and skills that a successful student should acquire. Higher education
institutions/providers should collaborate especially with quality assurance and accreditation bodies
and with student bodies to facilitate the dissemination of this information.
¡@
|
