1. Higher Education in the Age of Globalisation
UNESCO Expert Meeting
Paris, September 2001
Higher Education in the Age of Globalisation
The need for a new regulatory framework for recognition, quality assurance and accreditation
Dirk Van Damme
Ghent University - VLIR (B)

2. Structure Globalisation
The impact of globalisation on higher education
new exigencies on higher education
increasing demand for higher education
erosion of national regulatory frameworks
emerging borderless higher education market
The need for a new regulatory framework
regulation of new & transnational providers
recognition of qualifications and credits
international quality assurance and accreditation
UNESCO Expert Meeting, Paris, September 2001
Dirk Van Damme

3. Globalisation
Still unclear, much debated concept, but useful as a heuristic tool to understand the interrelated tendencies that define the contemporary environment for higher education:
The rise of the network society: technological innovation, strategic importance of information and communication, the Internet
UNESCO Expert Meeting, Paris, September 2001
Dirk Van Damme

4. Globalisation
The restructuring of the world economic system: transformation to post-industrial knowledge economy, new industrial nations, new forms of dependency in developing countries, integration of world economy with liberalised trade, etc.
The political reshaping of the post-Cold War world order: strategic shifts in power balances, emergence of new hegemonic regions, increasing global insecurity, regional and local conflicts
UNESCO Expert Meeting, Paris, September 2001
Dirk Van Damme

5. Globalisation
The growing real but also virtual mobility of people, capital and knowledge, but also new mass migrations by poor and refugees
The erosion of the nation-state and its capacity to master the economic and political transformations, weakness of international community, growing gap between economic activity and poltical regulation
Complex cultural developments with homogeneisation as well as differentiation
UNESCO Expert Meeting, Paris, September 2001
Dirk Van Damme

6. Impact on higher education
New important demands and exigencies towards universities as ‘knowledge centres’
strategic importance of knowledge and information, scientific research, development and technology
internationalisation of research, mobility of academic profession, international market in research personnel
international benchmarking of ‘research universities’
new forms of knowledge production and application
competition from other ‘knowledge centres’
UNESCO Expert Meeting, Paris, September 2001
Dirk Van Damme

7. Impact on higher education
Worldwide increase in demand for higher education
more highly qualified knowledge workers in developed c.
massification of demand, growth of unmet demand among upper and middle classes in many countries because of budgetary and capacity limits of public sector
diversification of demand because of LLL and more flexible delivery modes
higher education as booming global market, massification of demand not matched by growth of public provision, leading to increase in private, commercial supply and severe problems of equity and access
UNESCO Expert Meeting, Paris, September 2001
Dirk Van Damme

8. Impact on higher education
Erosion of national regulatory frameworks
increasing contradiction between national policy frameworks and international environment (liberalised global market, globalised professions, international market for researchers, brain drain, competition by foreign providers, etc.)
deregulation and institutional autonomy weaken dependence of institutions from national policy frameworks
internationalisation strategies of institutions: from cooperation to competition, increase in for-profit internationalisation
UNESCO Expert Meeting, Paris, September 2001
Dirk Van Damme

9. Impact on higher education
Erosion of national regulatory frameworks (cont’d)
development of international references and policies: harmonisation and congruence (e.g. Bologna, generalisation of bachelor/master-degree systems, English as lingua franca of scientific research and higher learning, consensus on core curricula, etc.), but also differentiation
national policies will not be annihilated completely, but it is an illusion to resist globalisation and marketisation by identifying ‘public good’ with ‘national’
UNESCO Expert Meeting, Paris, September 2001
Dirk Van Damme

10. Impact on higher education
Emerging borderless higher education market
profitable environment for growth of private and transnational supply of educational services
varied ‘businesses of borderless education’
challenging academic identity and threatening market position of ‘traditional’ universities in specific niches
real problems of diploma mills, but also exagerated protectionist reactions of national administrations
access, equity and quality
UNESCO Expert Meeting, Paris, September 2001
Dirk Van Damme

11. Need for new regulatory framework
need for a new international regulatory framework to (counter)balance the impact of globalisation
transcending old notions of ‘public’ versus ‘private’, but affirming the public functions and responsibilities of higher education while recognising its market possibilities
based on self-regulation but in a comprehensive partner-ship with national states, international organisations, student unions, professions, other stakeholders
defending the interests of learners worldwide, the international higher education community and the global ‘general interest’ in access, equity and quality
UNESCO Expert Meeting, Paris, September 2001
Dirk Van Damme

12. Need for new regulatory framework
Price/risk of not developing such a framework
liberalisation without constraints, ‘academic capitalism’
no transparency but chaos for learners & ‘consumers’
rogue providers, charlatans, etc.
more protectionist approaches by national authorities, limiting international mobility of skilled labour
higher education loosing grip on qualifications & degrees
global professions and industries defining their own standards on skills & competences outside qualifications & degrees
UNESCO Expert Meeting, Paris, September 2001
Dirk Van Damme

13. Need for new regulatory framework
Regulation of private & transnational providers
Recognition of qualifications & credits
International quality assurance & accreditation
UNESCO Expert Meeting, Paris, September 2001
Dirk Van Damme

14. 1. Regulation of new providers
Problem:
huge differences in dealing with private & transnational providers; increase in protectionist approaches
limits of purily ‘national’ & ‘public’ regulation of higher education market
blurring of the concepts ‘public’ and ‘private’; also ‘private’ & non-national institutions can fulfill ‘public’ functions
GATS: liberalisation of higher education services
no need for bureaucratic ‘recognition’ procedures
UNESCO Expert Meeting, Paris, September 2001
Dirk Van Damme

15. 1. Regulation of new providers
need for international regulatory framework for dealing with private & transnational providers, including:
an international glossary of common concepts, definitions and terminology,
some basic rules to grant providers the 'licence to teach',
an internationally standardised procedure of registration (including identification of who is in control and who can be held accountable)
UNESCO Expert Meeting, Paris, September 2001
Dirk Van Damme

16. 1. Regulation of new providers
some rules concerning the correct use of the basic labels,
the removal of existing barriers to mobility of students and staff, not dealt with in international trade agreements,
some basic elements of a professional code of good practice (building further on work done by UNESCO, Council of Europe a.o.)
a basic arrangement of the intellectual property issues associated with private higher education, and
an agreement on issues of consumer protection and rights of complaint.
UNESCO Expert Meeting, Paris, September 2001
Dirk Van Damme

17. 1. Regulation of new providers
In self-interest of private & transnational providers
And: self-regulation of higher education sector in order to build trust and esteem as respectable service sector
Need for representative international associations of public and private institutions
UNESCO Expert Meeting, Paris, September 2001
Dirk Van Damme

18. 2. Recognition of qualifications/credits
Problem:
context of increased global mobility of skilled labour and globalisation of professions
complicated bureaucratic procedures of ‘equivalence’ of foreign/private degrees and qualifications are conservative and protectionist
the educational sector is circumvened by policies concerning professional mobility and by court decisions, but it is the public responsibility of the higher education sector to solve this issue itself at the risk of loosing grip on the essential raison d’être of higher education!
UNESCO Expert Meeting, Paris, September 2001
Dirk Van Damme

19. 2. Recognition of qualifications/credits
increasing importance of credits as units of validation of learning experiences leads to issues of recognition and transferability/accumulation of credits
importance of informal learning and its validation: outcome- and competence-oriented approaches are gaining importance, but no radical abstraction of formal & institutional components of educational process to be expected
international accreditation cannot be expected to provide the solution to these problems of recognition of qualifications and credits
UNESCO Expert Meeting, Paris, September 2001
Dirk Van Damme

20. 2. Recognition of qualifications/credits
Strong need for a new ambitious international initiative in recognition of qualifications & credits
leading to more or less automatic recognition and international transferability of foreign qualifications and credits within ‘harmonised’ higher education areas
including a flexible ‘recognition’ system for qualifications and credits delivered by private institutions
including internationally accepted procedures for validation of informal and experiential learning and for accumulation in a lifelong learning perspective
UNESCO Expert Meeting, Paris, September 2001
Dirk Van Damme

21. 3. International QA & accreditation
Problem:
development of national quality assurance schemes in 90s: domestic functions, not covering e-learning & transnational delivery, limited international benchmarking, not ‘readable’ to outsiders
development of national accreditation schemes: various models and functions, often to control domestic supply side
very limited development of international accreditation, inability of HE sector to develop its own accreditation system internationally
UNESCO Expert Meeting, Paris, September 2001
Dirk Van Damme

22. 3. International QA & accreditation
but: growth of international professional accreditation, import of foreign accreditors, etc., ‘multiple accreditation’
Huge differences of opinion regarding international accreditation strategies:
improving communication and exchange between national schemes leading to benchmarking and mutual recognition
‘soft’ international validation of trustworthy QA and accreditation schemes via agreement on standards
‘real’ international accreditation: problem of legitimacy
international accreditation agency: costly & bureaucratic
UNESCO Expert Meeting, Paris, September 2001
Dirk Van Damme

23. 3. International QA & accreditation
My conviction is that development of global higher education market has to be accompanied by development of own trustworthy forms of international ‘accreditation’, seen as self-regulation on minimal quality standards, in order to establish international HE as a respectable and accountable service sector
UNESCO Expert Meeting, Paris, September 2001
Dirk Van Damme

24. 3. International QA & accreditation
Steps that can be taken:
an agreement on a common set of definitions and a glossary of concepts;
an agreement on a basic set of principles, a.o.
that quality assurance and accreditation primarily are a kind of self-regulation, owned by the higher education community and guaranteeing academic values,
that accreditation is only possible on the basis of existing quality assurance experiences,
that international accreditation must respect institutional autonomy and cultural diversity, and promote innovation and improvement
UNESCO Expert Meeting, Paris, September 2001
Dirk Van Damme

25. 3. International QA & accreditation
an initiative to convince the international higher education community that it has to do it itself, at the risk of giving away the initiative in this crucial issue;
an initiative to national authorities to convince them to approach accreditation internationally;
an initiative to seek the cooperation of the internationally organised professions, students and other stakeholders;
start of work by experts on standards, criteria and benchmarking procedures, in order to investigate the possibility of the definition of internationally agreed minimum quality standards.
UNESCO Expert Meeting, Paris, September 2001
Dirk Van Damme