An understanding of the higher education context in which quality assurance agencies operate is an essential foundation for the design of good quality assurance practices and accountability. This course, as the title suggests, sets out to introduce students to the trends in higher education at a time when national boundaries are melting away and the world has become more globalised than it has ever been. Module 1 of this course looks at the huge increase in patterns of demand for higher education and the impact of demographic shifts on student populations. The impact of market philosophies will also be considered in detail and how this has changed the balance of funding from largely public to include major private expenditure on higher education. Module 2 shows how the new information technologies have changed the way higher education is organised and delivered and it also discusses the emergence of the state as the evaluator as well as regulator of education, while the focus of Module 3 is on globalisation and internationalisation of education and introduces the remarkable developments contributing to student and staff mobility in addition to encouraging alliances between institutions and across borders. The course is designed for post graduate students and professionals seeking to understand the broader context of higher education in order to strengthen their knowledge of quality assurance systems. It is structured into three modules delivered fully online, using both synchronous and asynchronous activities. Students are assessed through 100% continuous coursework, including group projects, individual assignments and graded participation in online discussions.
Course Code
EDQA6501
Course Credits
3
