Regional Conference on Quality Assurance of Higher Education in Asia-Pacific

Building Local and Regional Capacity for a Living Quality Culture in Higher Education in Asia and the Pacific

15-16 June 2017, Shenzhen, P.R. China

The Education 2030 Framework for Action Target 4.3 clearly states that “by 2030, ensure equal access for all women and men to affordable and quality technical, vocational and tertiary education, including university”. However, Asia-Pacific has been facing quality challenges brought about by the massification of higher education, the diversification of providers and the increasing use of technologies in the delivery of higher education programmes. In addition, effective quality assurance is essential to build mutual trust among countries and underpins confidence in qualifications in Asia-Pacific and worldwide, which will promote mobility of students across borders.

Taking into account these concerns, more than 100 representatives and resource persons from more than 30 countries participated in the Asia-Pacific Regional Conference on Quality Assurance in Higher Education (15-16 June in Shenzhen, P.R. China). The conference is one of the regional conferences to help shape the International Conference on Quality Assurance tentatively scheduled for early 2018 in Paris, France.

During the Shenzhen conference, participants were able to share innovative QA policies and practices from groundbreaking speakers and forward-thinking higher education experts, visit 21 exhibitions in a gallery walk, and discuss more than 10 countries’ case studies on quality assurance of higher education.  Most of all, after the highly intensive discussion using an ‘Ishikawa diagram’, participants agreed on a shared vision of the challenges ahead, including “How to Build Regional and Local Capacity for Living Quality Culture in Higher Education in Asia and the Pacific”. During the conference closing, the draft Shenzhen Statement was discussed as an outcome document to provide insights on the growing importance of quality assurance in higher education in Asia-Pacific.

For more information, please contact the higher education unit at UNESCO Bangkok: eisd.bgk@unesco.org

Organizers

The meeting was jointly organized by the UNESCO Asia-Pacific Regional Bureau for Education in Bangkok, Thailand and the Section of Higher Education, UNESCO in Paris, with generous support and insights from the Chinese National Commission for UNESCO and the UNESCO International Centre for Higher Education Innovation (UNESCO-ICHEI).

Resources

• Concept note

• Agenda

• Shenzhen Statement

Presentations

• Overview of Results from Pre-Conference Survey (Ms. Jihye Hwang, Program Specialist, UNESCO Asia-Pacific Regional Bureau for Education, Thailand) - pdf,546kb

• Shifting Focus from Teaching to Learning (Ms. Teri Balser, Professor and Dean of Learning and Teaching, Faculty of Science and Engineering at Curtin, Australia)- pdf,1.5mb

• Evaluating Learning Outcomes with Regard to Employability (Ms. Michaela Martin, Programme Specialist, UNESCO International Institute for Education Planning, Paris, France)- pdf,1.1mb

• Challenges and Opportunities for Measuring Learning Outcomes of Higher Education in Asia-Pacific (Mr. Eddy Chong Siong Choy, Chief Technical Officer, Finance Accreditation Agency, Malaysia) - pdf,334kb

• Education 2030 – Strengthening Quality Assurance of Lifelong Learning Systems (Mr. Yuto Kitamura, Associate Professor, Graduate School of Education, The University of Tokyo, Japan) - pdf,748kb

• Efforts from Asia-Pacific Quality Network (APQN) & CHEA International Quality Group(CIQG) (Ms. Jianxin Zhang, President of the Asia Pacific Quality Network (APQN), Member of the Council for Higher Education Accreditation International Quality Group (CIQG) and Advisory Council) - pdf,1.9mb

• Quality Assurance Process in Sri Lankan University System (Mr. P.S.M. Gunaratne, Vice Chairman, University Grants Commission of Sri Lanka) - pdf,587kb

• What has AUN-QA Network Done to Uplift the Quality of Universities in ASEAN? (Ms. Nantana Gajaseni, Executive Director, ASEAN University Network, Thailand) - pdf,1.4mb

• China’s Higher Education Quality Assurance System (Mr. Zhou Aijun, Deputy Director-General, Higher Education Evaluation Centre, Ministry of Education, P.R. China) - pdf,1.9mb

• Nurturing Caring Leaders through Quality Higher Education: The Role of Liberal Arts University (Mr. Joshua Ka Ho Mok, Professor and Vice-President, Lam Man Tsan Chair Professor of Comparative Policy, Lingnan University, Hong Kong SAR, P.R. China) - pdf,1.6mb

• Building A Stronger Graduate Education with Better Quality Assurance System (Mr. Wang Lisheng, Director-General, China Academic Degrees and Graduate Education Development Center (CDGDC), P.R. China) - pdf,1.3mb

• Malaysia Qualifications Framework (MQF): Assuring Quality of Flexible Learning (Mr. Mohamad Dzafir Mustafa, Director, Institutional Audit Division, Malaysia Qualifications Agency, Malaysia) - pdf,2mb

• Quality Assurance of Diverse Modes of Learning in Samoa (Ms. Melesete Lino Mariner, Director of Quality Assurance, Samoa Qualifications Authority, Samoa) - pdf,1mb

• Aligning harmonization efforts in Asia and the Pacific (Mr. Michael Hörig, Head of Section, Development Cooperation: Partnership Programmes and Higher Education Management, DAAD, Germany and Expert for SHARE, a project of ASEAN and the EU) - pdf,1.33mb

• Quality Assurance in Distance Teaching Universities: A Comparative study in Asian region (Mr. Ojat Darojat, Focal Point on Quality for the Asian Region, International Council for Open and Distance Education (ICDE); Chairman of the Institute for Development of Learning Materials, Examination, and Information System, Universitas Terbuka, Indonesia) - pdf,504kb
• Quality Assurance of Diverse Modes of Learning (Mr. Sulaiman Ahmad, Director, Quality Assurance Agency, Higher Education Commission, Government of Pakistan) - pdf,260kb

• Review Draft Outcome Statement (Mr. Eddy Chong Siong Choy, Chief Technical Officer, Finance Accreditation Agency, Malaysia) - pdf,212kb

Country case study reports (group discussion) 

• Cambodia (Mr. Rath Chhang, Director of Graduate Program Accreditation, Accreditation Committee of Cambodia) - pdf,600kb

• Fiji (Mr. Akuila Savu, Team Leader Quality Assurance, Fiji Higher Education Commission, Fiji) - pdf,600kb

• India (Ms. Manju Singh, Joint Secretary (International Cooperation), University Grants Commission of India) - pdf,1.6mb

• Japan (Ms. Midori Kojima, Unit chief, Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, Ms. Ikuko Watanabe, International unit chief, National Institution for Academic Degrees and Quality Enhancement of Higher Education) - pdf,1.2mb

• Nepal (Mr. Laxmi Ram Paudel, Joint Secretary, Teachers Service Commission of Nepal) - pdf,475kb

• New Zealand (Ms. Dolly Seow-Ganesan, Team Leader, Quality Assurance Policy, New Zealand Qualifications Authority) - pdf,335kb

• Pakistan (Mr. Sulaiman Ahmad, Director, Quality Assurance Agency, Higher Education Commission, Government of Pakistan) - pdf,460kb

• Philippines (Ms. Gunigundo Mary Sylvette Tanjuan, Chief, Quality Assurance Division, Office of Institutional Quality Assurance and Governance, Commission on Higher Education) - pdf,497kb

• Viet Nam (Ms. Tran Thi Ngoc Bich, Deputy Head, Division of Higher and Vocational Education Accreditation, Vietnam Ministry of Education and Training) - pdf,316kb