Linking Professional Bodies and Higher Education: Building on a Research Enriched Network

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Linking Professional Bodies and Higher Education
Building on a Research Enriched Network

• Andy Friedman
• Director of PARN
• IHEQN Conference - 17 October 2006

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Agenda

• Introduce PARN
• Research information on accreditation and
  relations between Professional Bodies Higher
  Education Institutions
• Suggestions on what can be done in future in
  terms of research and networking through PARN

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PARN- Professional Associations Research Network

• Set up in 1998
• Located in Bristol, England connected to Bristol
  University
• A Membership organisation for Professional
  Associations (including regulatory bodies,
  learned societies, trade unions for
  professionals)
• 133 Professional bodies
• 113 UK
• 15 Ireland
• 3 Canada
• 2 Australia

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Professional Associations Research Network

• PARN A Research-Enriched Network
• Aims
• To increase the profile of issues relating to
  professionals, professionalism and professional
  associations through research and networking with
  the aim of determining and promoting professional
  good practice
• To encourage professionalisation particularly of
  professional associations
• To become the premier international knowledge
  base on Professional Associations

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Research projects

• Continuing Professional Development
• member relations and routes to membership
• governance
• professional ethics
• operational strategy
• Current projects
• Ethical Competence
• CPD and the Internet
• Future projects
• Long-term visioning for professional associations
• Extension of ethical codes analysis to Ireland,
  Canada Australia
• Changing Patterns of Volunteering
• Competition Acts and new (de)regulation

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Research Project Books

• Member Relations and Strategy supporting member
  involvement and retention 19 October 2006
• Governance of Professional Associations theory
  and practice 2006
• Analysing Ethical Codes of UK Professional Bodies
  2005
• Critical Issues in CPD 2005
• Professional Associations in Ireland comparative
  study with the UK 2004
• The Professionalisation of UK Professional
  Associations governance, management member
  Relations 2004

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Research Project Books

• Other books published 1999-2003 include
• 2 on governance
• 4 on CPD
• 1 on ethical codes
• 1 on routes to membership

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Conferences and workshops

• London 19 Oct 06 Strategy Member Relations
• Bristol 17 Jan 07 Growing Pains of Smaller PAs
• Dublin 15 Mar 07 Professionalisation of Irish
  PAs
• London 24 April 07 Ethical Competence
• Ottawa 15 May 07 Professionalisation of Canadian
  PAs
• London 21 June 07 PARN Annual Conference
• Sydney Sept/Oct 07 Professionalisation of
  Australian PAs

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Information services Consultancy - Website

• Information service for members
• Short desk research activities
• Member Enquiries
• Consultancy training
• Governance reviews, Induction, Individual Board
  Member Evaluations
• Member Services
• Support for Professional Ethics
• Website with many useful resources
• some publicly available,
• most in members only section including CPD
  Spotlight

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Information Bases

• Surveys of professional associations
• UK (April- July 2006) 111 responses of 340
• Ireland (June-Oct 2006) 21 responses of 120 so
  far, survey open until the end of this month
• Canada (OctDec 2006) launching this week
• Australia (Feb-April 2007) Australianising now

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Information Bases

• 128 questions in 7 sections
• Organisation, Governance,
• Operations, Membership,
• Initial Qualification CPD, Ethics Standards,
• External Affairs PR
• Books will include
• case studies from follow-up calls
• Models from previous research projects

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Awarding and accrediting National
Interaction Ireland UK
Awarding Body below degree level 21
Awarding body above degree level 21
All Awarding 41 54
Accrediting body 47 44
Both awarding and accrediting 11 25
Accept specific qualifications offered by others but neither award or accredit 26 38
Respondents 19 104
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Awarding accrediting size in Ireland
Interaction lt500 501-1500 1501-3000 gt3000
Awarding 50 33 40 50
Accrediting body 50 33 60 50
Both awarding and accrediting 25 17 0 25
Accept qualifications by others but neither award or accredit 25 50 0 25
Respondents 4 6 5 4
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Awarding accrediting size in UK
Interaction lt500 501-1500 1501-3000 gt3000
All Awarding 22 31 22 67
Accrediting body 22 15 33 54
Both awarding and accrediting 0 8 11 33
Accept qualifications by others but neither award or accredit 56 69 56 28
Respondents 9 13 9 72
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Size distribution Survey vs Population
lt500 501-1500 1501-3000 gt3000 Number
Irish Survey 21 32 26 21 19
Irish Population 22 33 9 35 51
UK Survey 9 13 9 70 103
UK Population 4 11 18 67 227
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Member Enquiry on accreditation

• Does your organisation accredit education or
  degree programmes?
• Have you experienced any hurdles (e.g.
  differences in perspective or priorities) when
  working with educational institutions?
• If so, how have you overcome these hurdles?
• How do you think professional bodies and
  educational institutions could collaborate more
  effectively?
• What are your views on Breathing fire
  Professional bodies have a stranglehold on higher
  education
• Guardian, 18 July 2006
• Sent out 2 October, 13 responses so far

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Breathing Fire VC - U Central England

• Slaying dragons can be fun when the dragons in
  question are bureaucratic monsters flying on
  wings of red tape. multitude of professional
  societies that have taken it upon themselves to
  validate university courses in their discipline
  
• Their only consistency is inconsistency.
• real objection not their sentimental
  attachment to bits of the syllabus that should
  have been abandoned in the last ice age
  interference in the process by which students
  gain qualifications.
• Insisting on particular staff student ratios,
  that some staff be fellows of the association.
• Another scam is for the society to demand only
  students with three As at A-level and a minor
  Nobel prize be allowed to join the course
• lecturers come up with vaguely plausible
  demands for resources. They then decree that
  these are essential insist that universities
  stuff extra staff and cash into their course.
• any unfortunate subject that doesnt have a
  professional body to run an extortion racket on
  its behalf. Bad luck humanities

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Players in the Field containing Higher Ed

1. Governments encourage perceived gap between
   higher education and (business) employment needs
   to be removed for national economic development
   and security.
2. Many business people have a similar view, but
   self-train.
3. Most university administrators - get on with
   becoming entrepreneurial on their own terms. Able
   to act quickly in response to strategic
   opportunities. New courses quickly. Some want to
   maintain international research reputations.
4. Academics - get on with their research and
   teaching free from administrative burden from top
   and from outside bodies.
5. Students - get good jobs at the end, good social
   experience, pursue interests in subject and
   potential career, good teaching.
6. Professional associations - attract best entrants
   to profession and maintain standards. This can
   also gt restricting supply.

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Member Enquiry Responses

• Hurdles experienced I
• Reluctance to apply for accreditation by some
  institutions (costs? lack of perceived benefit?)
• Resistance of universities to relate what they do
  to a professional outcome
• Knowledge gap of some academics re where practice
  has been developing
• Competing demands academic/research vs
  clinical/applied
• Reluctance to accept higher standards for entry
  and completion esp. subjects (and institutions)
  that are vulnerable re student numbers
• Overseas universities and those who are only in
  the subject in a limited way are challenged

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Member Enquiry Responses

• Hurdles experienced II
• Direct teaching requirements mean a higher
  staff/student ratio than many institutions are
  willing to provide
• We want to ensure training leads to capable
  ethical practitioners and universities seem to
  want to meet their targets re numbers and income

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Member Enquiry Responses

• Overcoming Hurdles I
• Collaboration among players on accreditation
  guidelines education institutions, employers,
  postgrad students
• Annual updates ed framework accreditation
  process
• Dedicated accreditation coordinator to ensure
  regular updates and guidance to assist ed
  institutions
• Benchmarking vs other accreditation procedures to
  support coordination
• Get ed institutions to rely more on their
  internal expertise
• Better links in advance of accreditation prep
  for questions
• Carry more research based articles in our journal
  and citing more sources for recommended practices

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Member Enquiry Responses

• Overcoming Hurdles II
• Better use of Council members who are senior
  academics
• Need clearer differentiation between general
  Humanities degrees and pre-professional programs
• degree about journalism vs degree designed to
  prepare you to become a journalist.
• Have representatives of degree awarding
  universities on ed committees of professional
  bodies
• Better coordination at universities between
  department and faculty academics with academic
  managers concerned with quality control
• Certificates of excellence scheme from prof
  bodies for top students on each accredited course

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Member Enquiry Responses

• Reaction to article
• Cynical
• Professional bodies aim to protect the public and
  promote the highest professional standards
  possible. This is a worthwhile aim and requires
  policies.
• View of author not that of heads of departments
  who have been through our accreditation
• Prof bodies have a better understanding of what
  is happening in the real world than lecturers
  which reflect theoretical world as understood by
  lecturers
• Some universities are profoundly resistant to the
  idea of relating what they do to a professional
  outcome.

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Ethics Analysing Ethical Codes

• Analysed 70 professional ethical codes
• Accessed through association websites
• Examined clause by clause and classified by
• type of obligation,
• to whom obligation owed,
• severity of obligation
• Found problems of
• Accessibility
• Clarity
• Consistency

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Ethics Analysing Ethical Codes
To Whom are obligations owed To Whom are obligations owed To Whom are obligations owed To Whom are obligations owed To Whom are obligations owed To Whom are obligations owed
Types of Obligations Client Society The Profession Self
Types of Obligations Good Citizen
Types of Obligations Expertise/ Competence
Types of Obligations Character/ Values
Types of Obligations Conduct
Types of Obligations
Types of Obligations
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Ethical Competence

• Knowledge
• Capacity
• Technical Competence
• Ethical Competence
• Ability to apply knowledge in an ethical manner
  as in ethical codes of professional associations
• knowing when to apply when to forbear from
  applying knowledge, based on ethical principles
• what is right not right, taking into
  account client needs what is morally correct
  sensitive to the situation of clients other
  stakeholders in broad sense

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Further research and benchmarking

• Develop models of accreditation based on
  benchmarking
• Philosophies and aims
• Nature of standards
• Processes and procedures
• Supports and connections to ethical codes,
  prizes.
• Collaboration who involved and when
• Incorporate normative elements
• What works
• Interesting practice
• Benchmark education institutions as well as
  professional bodies