A comparative analysis of the Chilean and Colombian systems of quality assurance in higher education

Higher education managers’ perspectives on quality management and technology acceptance: A tale of elders, mediators, and working bees in times of Covid-19

“…During the last few decades, political authorities and HE managers worldwide have been rethinking tertiary education to meet current society requirements regarding quality and continuous improvement, accountability, and qualification frameworks (González-Bravo et al, 2021; Tsiligiris & Hill, 2021 ). This has been triggered by environmental pressures to install quality in HE at the forefront of national political agendas ( Duque, 2020 ), and, in turn, this triggers organizational changes and technological developments inside higher education institutions (González-Bravo et al, 2021; Seyfried & Ansmann, 2018 ). Among institutions, the process is justified by the increased population access to HE and the existence of higher education institutions (HEIs) of dubious legitimacy ( Staub, 2019 ).…”

Informal social groups and policy programs: A Programmatic Action Framework (PAF) on policymaking

“…These follow partly the elite sociological approach to programmatic action and partly that of policy research. Duque (2021) applies the former perspective to higher education policies in Chile and Colombia. Comparing quality assurance policies, he poses the question why despite similar policy instruments used in the two countries, the approaches to assure quality in higher education differed substantially after the adoption of the policy program.…”

“…The published contributions on the PAF in this issue show numerous tying knots for further studies. One concerns the extension of PAF analyses to other policy sectors, which Duque (2021) exemplifies by his application to higher education policy. Another concerns the application to other political systems.…”

“…Another concerns the application to other political systems. Here, also, Duque (2021) and Davidian (2021) have made the case for a fruitful transferability of the PAF to authoritarian regimes like Chile, Colombia, and Brazil. These contributions turn attention to the institutions relevant to programmatic action, something which Hornung (2021) also looks further into.…”

Who embodies the evaluative state? Programmatic actors in the chilean and colombian policies of quality assurance in higher education

“…This case selection corresponds to the study of most likely cases (Lijphart, 1971) insofar as both policies are structured around analogous instruments—one is the compulsory control of minimal standards of quality for new institutions and programs, and the other is voluntary accreditations for academic programs and institutions—but actually reflect different approaches to quality: a flexible approach in Chile versus an excellence‐oriented approach in Colombia (Duque, 2020). Therefore, the article attempts to answer the following question: Why do similar policies of QA in higher education have such contrasting approaches to quality?…”