The International Transferability of Quality Assessment Systems for Higher Education: The Turkish experience

Abstract

The transfer of quality assurance systems from one country to another is explored. The experience of a pilot project aimed at establishing the feasibility of introducing a quality assurance system in Turkish universities is reported. The project was based on a United Kingdom approach. A convergence between systems was observed and, contrary to earlier surveys, evidence from an associated international conference indicated that the purposes of external quality assessment are becoming more clearly de® ned. However, there emerged signi® cant cultural, structural, political and technical issues that affected the transfer of the UK system to the Turkish situation and which have wider implications for the international transferability of quality assurance and assessment systems between nations.

Perspective

“…By the end of the Project, senior staff of the NE&AA were professing the future importance of institutional evaluations (rather than reliance on programme accreditations) and of developmental and supportive objectives and principles. 22 DAVID BILLING Billing and Thomas (2000) drew out some issues, in their work on Turkish HE, concerning the feasibility of transferring a national QA framework from one country to another. The different context of the Project evaluated in this article confirms the relevance of those issues, and also permits an elaboration of additional issues as follows.…”

“…Many countries appear ready to accept loans from the World Bank or development funds from the European Union (EU) to gain international recognition for their HE graduates, by installing a national QA framework borrowed from the West (Billing and Thomas 2000).…”

“…The paper also relates this HE project to one in Turkey having similar aims (Billing and Thomas 2000) and draws out some further general issues concerned with attempts to transfer a national QA framework.…”

An analysis of current trends in higher education: the place and importance of students' learning experiences in quality assurance

“…YÖK has gone through a number of major phases with regard to quality assurance and quality improvement practices. Billing and Thomas (2000) mention the very beginning of the process with reference to the pilot project for establishment of a quality assurance system. They explain YÖK's concern at the time stemming from the transformation of quality assurance systems as a result of internationalization about leveling the views concerning academic freedom and liability.…”

Graduate Students’ Perception of Standards and Accreditation in Higher Education in Turkey: A Qualitative Analysis

“…This seminar indicated that the United Kingdom system of accreditation practised by professional institutions is the most comprehensive system in the world, and this system is widely adopted by many countries. Thus, Turkish accreditation system for teacher education was decided to mainly be grounded on the United Kingdom model that separates assessment of research and teaching (Billing & Thomas, 2000).…”