Search

The adoption of US accreditation by non-US universities is one of the most salient manifestations of the internationalization of quality assurance in higher education. This process has been conceptualized as an exercise of global position taking by which institutions with limited financial and symbolic resources become associated with more prestigious institutions across national borders by sharing a common accreditation. However, the adoption of US accreditation has yet to be studied among institutions in well-positioned higher education systems. This study explored perceptions and experiences associated with the adoption of US institutional accreditation in three Canadian universities. The study reveals that several features of US higher education reflected in the accreditation standards, for example, general education, pose challenges for Canadian universities seeking US recognition. In addition, increased workload, resulting from the accreditation demands, became a source of disagreement between academics and administrators. This study provides grounded insights about the implementation of US accreditation beyond its geographic boundaries.

In this article, the notion of excellence in relation to teaching is removed from its privileged place in order to render it, and its implications, for analysis. We argue that teaching excellence needs to be understood in the larger context of the neoliberal university in which competition is taken for granted, and therefore, metrics for comparison are evermore necessary. Following this argument, we explore excellence as an instrument of neoliberal ideology in higher education. We explore different manifestations of teaching excellence enacted in policies that that are illustrative of five different countries. Implications for further analysis, and for resistance to the expansion of neoliberal ideology through teaching excellence, are presented.

Amidst global competition in higher education, colleges and universities adopt strategies that mimic and adapt business practices. Branding is now a widespread practice in higher education; multimodal advertisement is a manifestation of emerging branding strategies for universities. While the visibility of brands in higher education has grown substantially in recent years, its empirical study has lagged. This article reports on the findings from a study that employed social semiotic and multimodal analysis to explore text and visual rhetoric as brand construction strategies in publicly displayed university advertisements. After analyzing photographs representing advertising campaigns from 16 different universities displayed in an urban public transportation system, I suggest that universities construct their brand identity through messages that emphasize multiple choices and convenience, but construct success primarily according to corporate standards and values.

Private higher education is growing, especially in developing and transitioning countries. Rapid growth frequently comes with concerns about quality. This article explores challenges and opportunities for higher education quality among private universities in Bangladesh. By presenting a vertical case study that explores interactions among actors at the institutional, national and global spheres, the authors argue for the need of developing quality standards that respond to the local realities of developing and transitioning countries. It is also argued that self-regulation among private universities is likely the most effective pathway for improvement. Bangladesh presents an ideal case for analysis given the rapid growth that higher education has experienced in the last 20 years in that country and given the current policy junction as Bangladesh begins to implement a newly developed quality assurance system. Other countries in the region in early stages of developing quality assurance and accountability systems may benefit from the findings of this study.

This article presents an argument for re-reading Jean Baudrillard's ideas considering their potential contribution to the sociology of higher education, particularly in relation to contemporary debates about "world-class" universities. In order to apply Baudrillard's ideas, China's commitment to the development of "world-class" universities is presented as a case study. Radical thinking, as understood by Baudrillard, relies on ambivalence and fascination--instead of critique--and seeks to push a logic to its limits rather than opposing it. Critiques of world-class universities have not stopped the totalizing effects of rankings and world-class status seeking; on the contrary, these phenomena and their effects continue to accelerate. A non-deterministic approach to thinking is set into motion around the paroxystic state that prevails in the pursuit of "world-class" status among contemporary higher education systems.

Institutional accreditation in higher education holds universities accountable through external evaluation; at the same time, accreditation constitutes an opportunity for higher education leaders to demonstrate the quality of their institutions. In an increasingly global field of higher education, in which quality practices become diffused across national boundaries, U.S. institutional accreditation has been adopted in many countries as a form of external quality assurance. This study follows an ethnographic case study approach to explore in-depth how a Mexican institution of higher education, located only a few miles away from the U.S.-Mexico border, engaged in the process of institutional accreditation with a U.S. regional accrediting agency. Four themes constitute the finding of this study: (a) Reputational value is the central motivation to pursue U.S. accreditation given that, through accreditation, the institution in Mexico became connected to internationally recognized universities; (b) despite several benefits, the accreditation process established a complex division of labor in which members of the academic staff are necessary yet distanced from decision making; (c) compliance with highly challenging--yet construed as fair--standards legitimizes both the accreditation process and the U.S. accreditor; and (d) language and translation are valuable concepts to understand the accreditation process. Together, these findings suggest that U.S. accreditation may be approached as an exercise of global position taking.

Social media sites and other contemporary technologies open the possibility for the construction of online identities that are loosely connected to physical bodies; this construction allows individuals to edit their identities constantly, in a continuous process of self-recreation. In parallel, universities utilise printed and electronic media to present themselves in the best light possible through the process of branding, which--it is argued here--constitutes an instance of hyper-real identity assemblage. This article explores the ethical implications of researching brand construction in university advertisements. The authors reflect upon the ethical implications of conducting educational research on university identities when such identities rely on the representations of racially minoritised students. Online identity construction through technology invites a discussion of postmodern notions of self and reality; this article presents an exploration of a postmodern ethics for educational research.

This empirical study explores higher education advertising campaigns displayed in five world cities: Boston, New York, Oslo, Tokyo, and Toronto. The study follows a mixed-methods research design relying on content analysis and multimodal semiotic analysis and employs a conceptual framework based on the knowledge triangle of education, research, and innovation. The study reveals that education is overwhelmingly the strongest element emphasized across the five cities and that students constitute the most salient and central element in the majority of the advertisements.

This article reports on findings from a sociolinguistic qualitative study exploring inter-discursive relations manifested in the approaches and strategies that regional accrediting agencies in the United States utilise when recognising foreign universities. Even as most countries have developed national quality assurance systems and whilst international rankings comparing institutions globally are available, a growing number of universities around the world seek recognition from American regional agencies. By comparing policy statements, manuals, guidelines and other documents, and after interviewing top-level officers at US accrediting agencies, this study makes explicit the assumptions and central discourses associated with US accreditation of non-US institutions of higher education, from the accreditors' perspective. Following constant comparison and cultural critical discourse analysis, the study reveals concerns about the equivalency of quality, emphasis on capacity building and reluctance toward adapting US standards. An interest in building international partnerships, in order to respond to globalisation, is also identified.

Accountability and quality assurance have become central discourses in higher education policy throughout the world. However, accountability and quality assurance involve power and control. Practices and ideas about quality developed in the Global North are spreading rapidly across the Global South, leading to increased uniformity in the approaches to quality assurance. Given the significant asymmetries that divide the Global North and Global South, this article maps interdiscursive relations among key texts that influence policy development on international quality in higher education, and explores the applicability of colonial discourse as a perspective for understanding this increasing international convergence.

This article explores the concepts of "brand" and "franchise" in the development of international quality assurance. The impact of corporate language and culture on higher education is evident and has been extensively analysed. Recent attention given to branding of universities reflects the ever-growing influence of corporate language and ideas. This article presents a conceptual exploration, grounded in a case study that documented the accreditation process of a Mexican university by a United States (US) regional agency. Discourses of exclusivity and legitimacy were widespread in the case; US accreditation was construed as a symbol of international quality given that US higher education hosts world-renowned universities with reputations that, like brands, can be franchised internationally. It is argued here that such new developments warrant further study and critique.

The underlying paradigms that influence research on quality have remained alarmingly under-researched; this article analyses the constraints that a technical-rational approach for the study of quality in higher education imposes. Technical rationality has been the dominant paradigm that shapes research on quality in higher education. Alternatively, political and symbolic perspectives are discussed in order to conceptualise and frame future research in the study of higher education quality. This article concludes with a discussion of the implications of different approaches. It is argued that the study of quality in higher education needs to be revitalised by new conceptual perspectives that go beyond technical-rational assumptions.

Purpose – This paper seeks to analyze the internationalization of quality practices in higher education. In light of insufficient theorization about quality in the global dimension, the paper presents a model for value construction in higher education. Design/methodology/approach – The authors reviewed different models for quality in higher education vis-à-vis emerging international quality practices in higher education. Findings – After reviewing quality models and international quality practices, the authors argue that, in order to evaluate and improve quality in higher education, a model of value in higher education that connects quality with relevance, access, and investment is necessary. Research limitations/implications – Thus far, quality in higher education has been explored in isolation from access, relevance, and investment. The integrative approach suggested here may prove generative for researchers and help address complex educational interrogations. Practical implications – Higher education leaders are faced with decisions about quality; these leaders may benefit from connecting quality decisions with the demands on relevance, access, and investment that their local settings dictate. Originality/value – The concept of value is largely absent from conceptual discussions about quality in higher education; additionally, many discussions about quality in higher education seem to be isolated from their context. This paper addresses both these issues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]