UNESCOOECD guidelines on Quality Provision in Crossborder Higher Education Drafting Meeting 2 Tokyo,

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UNESCO-OECD guidelines on Quality Provision in
Cross-border Higher EducationDrafting Meeting
2Tokyo, Japan14-15 October 2004

Capacity-Building towards a coherent
framework (UNESCO)
,
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Regional frameworks within a global context

• UNESCOs regions
• UNESCOs regional offices the decentralization
  policy
• UNESCOs regional conventions evolution
• The regional Vs. the interregional approach
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Context and Outcomes of 1st Global Forum

• 1st Global Forum launched as a response to
  ethical challenges facing higher education in an
  era of globalization. Main outcomes
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• Platform for exchange for at least four years
• Building bridges between education and trade
• Promote research to inspire policy developments
• Action Plan standard-setting capacity-building
  and clearinghouse activities

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First Global Forum Action Plan (17 18 October
2002)

• Standard-setting activities
• Initiate revision of conventions on the
  recognition of studies to respond to new
  challenges linking recognition and QA and
  responding to TNE
• Promote research on role of new providers in
  widening access to higher education and on the
  concept of higher education as a public
  responsibility
• Develop guiding principles
• Capacity-building
• Develop regional and national frameworks for
  quality assurance
• Informed decision-making for stakeholders in the
  education process
• Clearinghouse
• Develop information tools for students
• Study Abroad data-base and publications
• Other data-bases to promote empowerment of
  learners, parents, employers

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2nd Global Forum Context

• 1st Global Forum higher education and
  commercialization/GATS UNESCO conventions on
  the recognition of qualifications as educational
  agreements to promote international standards
• 2nd Global Forum Widening Access to Quality
  Higher Education for minorities, ICT-assisted
  lifelong learning
• 2nd Global Forum particular focus
  capacity-building
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WHY CAPACITY BUILDING?

• As determined by its Medium-Term Strategy, UNESCO
  has 5 basic functions
• a laboratory of ideas
• a standard setter
• a clearinghouse
• a capacity-builder in Member States
• a catalyst for international cooperation
• Capacity-building for quality assurance and
  qualifications recognition towards
  strengthening national higher education
  frameworks as elements of sustainable societal
  development

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The way ahead TOWARS A QUALITY CULTURE

• A great diversity but some converging elements
• A new emerging concern for quality assurance
  explicit in all Member States, both OECD and
  UNESCO
• A resistance to change
• Lack of human, institutional and financial
  resources
• Change of mentalities towards a quality
  culture / une logique de la qualite
• Confusion with terms (Anglo-Saxon dominated?)
• However, a sense of urgency to move forward

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Common elements

• Prerequisites for efficient capacity-building
• To be part of wider HE reforms
• To have support from the government
• To be independent from the government
• To involve other relevant stakeholders at
  national level HEIs, academic staff and
  students
• To address issues of new providers
• Private providers, ODL and cross-border HE
• To be part of long-term processes to assure
  sustainability
• To have adequate funding to assure impact

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CAPACITY-BUILDING MECHANISMS

• Based on inputs from the 2nd Global Forum
• Standard-setting instruments to sustain
  capacity-building
• (a) Revised conventions as regional frameworks
  to promote capacity building in QA and QR
• (b) Regional offices and their role as
  Secretariats to the convention committees and
  regional networking
• (b) UNESCO/OECD guidelines for quality in
  cross-border higher education as an international
  framework for building capacity in cross-border
  QA and QR

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CAPACITY-BUILDING MECHANISMS

• Based on inputs from the 2nd Global Forum
• Clearing-house activities to build capacity
• (a) informational tools for students
  developing quality literacy
• (b) knowledge base for decision makers in
  distance education in Africa, Asia and the
  Pacific and the CIS and Baltic States
• (c) Study Abroad publication and database on
  courses and study opportunities

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CAPACITY-BUILDING EXAMPLES Asia and the Pacific

• Several examples of capacity-building exercises
  currently underway
• Asia and the Pacific 20 major QA efforts
  operating in 15 countries variance and diversity
  in level of development
• Actors Asia Pacific Quality Network (APQN)
  Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN)
  ASEAN University Netork (AUN)
• World Bank regional initiative
• UNESCO Beijing workshop 2005 Regional
  Committee Meeting in China

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CAPACITY-BUILDING EXAMPLES Arab States

• Several examples of capacity-building exercises
  currently underway
• UNDP Regional Bureau for the Arab States 2
  million dollar project assessment of Computer
  Science and Business Administration programs and
  curricula in 30 universities in 14 Arab States
• Association of Arab Universities Training
  workshop in Amman, Jordan, December 2004

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CAPACITY-BUILDING EXAMPLES Mediterranean And
South-East Europe

• TEMPUS MEDA project
• EvQualif September 2003 September 2005
• HEIs Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco
  and Syria
• and France and Germany
• RecQualif April 2004 April 2005
• Algeria, Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia France, Italy,
  Netherlands, Slovenia establishment of
  information network on QA and QR
• South East Europe
• UNESCO CEPES, EUA with EU funding
• Governance and Management in South East Europe

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CAPACITY-BUILDING EXAMPLES AFRICA

• Regional Partners
• AAU, Accra Workshop Cape Town General
  Conference SADC FAPED NEPAD ADEA
• UNESCO Offices Dakar and Harare
• Arusha Convention
• International partners
• UNESCO, IIEP, INQAAHE, COL, World Bank

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CAPACITY-BUILDING EXAMPLES UNESCOs Role

• UNESCOs role
• Coordinating different activities into a coherent
  framework
• Fund-raising with donors
• EU TEMPUS MEDA ERASMUS-Mundus
• UNDP World Bank
• Bilateral donors and funding agenciesBilateral
  donors and development agencies (SIDA, CIDA,
  NORAD, JFIT?)