A conceptualisation of available trust-building mechanisms for international quality assurance of higher education

Abstract

While external quality assurance in higher education was originally developed to cater for various domestic needs, recent decades have seen various attempts in the use of quality assurance also as a mechanism for creating more trust in cross-national higher education activities. In this article, a conceptual framework for analysing available trust-building mechanisms in higher education is presented, and it is discussed how the different mechanisms identified impact the current development in international quality assurance. The article further discusses how the current dynamics in the international quality assurance area could be interpreted and concludes by pointing to future pathways for building trust in this area.

Beyond internationalisation and isomorphism – the construction of a global higher education regime

“…The three main issue areas of the regimequality assurance, standardisation and recognitionare highly intertwined. With the proliferation of qualification standards, quality assurance can rely on much more transparent evaluation procedures (Stensaker and Maassen 2015). The parallel emergence of national and international/regional QFs and QAA infrastructures implies lasting institutionalisation and growing mutual trust in such an arrangement and other countries' systems, increasing the perceived and recognised educational and legal 'sameness', and now integrating 'oneness', across national systems (Meyer and Ramirez 2005).…”

“…Arab QF Na crucial arguments in opposing international and inter-regional recognition agreements had always been uncertainty about foreign standards, the lack of quality assurance mechanisms and the gap between quality assurance and recognition (Hendriks 2005;Stensaker and Maassen 2015). Providing this missing link between QAA and recognition through the establishment of national and regional qualification frameworks has been one of the most important developments in higher education governance internationally in the past ten years and has led to a new generation of recognition agreements.…”

Analysing the constitution of trust in peer-based teacher mentoring groups – a sociocultural perspective

“…Trust is commonly referred to as the interdependence between a trustor and a trustee, involving risk and vulnerability (Stensaker and Maassen 2015). This dyadic notion, which dominates the literature, is frequently discussed in relation to rationalist calculations of predictability and vulnerability (Kramer, Brewer, and Hanna 1996).…”

Jubail Industrial College (JIC) Educational Quality Assurance and Management Procedures: Chemical and Process Engineering Technology Department as an Example

“…Bonser (1992) argued that quality assurance is the core component of policies and practices of educational institutions that provide special training to individuals who assume various roles in their organizations. The arising interest in higher education quality was due to the increase in the number of students attending higher education institutions; with this rapid growth at hand, institutions were inclined to address and improve their process of allocating capital within institutions, and the study programs that they offered (Brennan & Shah, 2000;Eaton, 2012;Stensaker & Maassen, 2015). mentioned that there is a need of developing a new mechanism for external quality assurance because the traditional way of assessing academic quality was outdated as education systems and environments have changed.…”