Embedding Quality Culture in Higher Education Provision The Cyprus case
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Abstract
As a result of the Bologna Process and other global developments in the area of higher education, the issue of quality has acquired key significance. Higher education institutions are called upon to embed quality culture in their education provision. This would enhance the trust societies put on them, make them more accountable, and result in higher autonomy for them. This paper focuses on the quality management of educational programmes in view of European and global developments in higher education and suggests various quality indicators. It is argued that embedding quality culture is necessary for safeguarding against minimum quality standards for academic and professional qualifications. It is also argued that quality, particularly with respect to higher education provision, is multi-dimensional, thus reducing or abstracting it to a single figure, as it happens with ranking systems, is unduly simplistic, can hide important information, and could be misrepresentative of the true situation, both in a positive or negative way. As a test case, the author describes the quality scene for higher education in Cyprus.
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