Beyond borders: what we do around the world

Author

Shannon Stowers

Director of International Policy and Engagement, QAA

As well as taking part in meetings and conferences all over the UK, members of QAA's executive, public affairs and regulatory teams regularly contribute to events and discussions internationally to promote the quality and reputation of British HE across the world, and to support global efforts to ensure and enhance the quality and value of higher education.

Last month, for example, we participated in events in Brussels, The Hague and Kazakhstan, as well as a major annual international event in London – and we thought it might be useful to share details of the kinds of things we do in such engagements, and how we believe this work benefits our Members and our sector more broadly.

During October, our international engagement activities focused primarily on issues of regulatory alignment and transnational education (TNE).

In The Hague, we represented the Scottish Government at the working group on Internationalisation and Mobility as part of the Bologna Follow-up Group (BFUG) of the European Higher Education Area (EHEA). And in Brussels, we attended the general assembly of the European Association for Quality Assurance in Higher Education (ENQA) where we contributed UK perspectives to the discussion of the review of the Standards and Guidelines (ESG) of the EHEA.

We also, in Brussels, took part in the launch of an Erasmus+-funded project on the Robust Quality Assurance of Transnational Education – a project led by ENQA in partnership with QAA, Italy's Agenzia Nazionale Di Valutazione Del Sistema Universitario E Della Ricerca (National Agency for the Evaluation of the University and Research Systems) and Germany's Accreditation, Certification and Quality Assurance Institute. Over the next three years, this project will provide significant support for TNE through mapping current approaches, facilitating peer learning, and creating guidance, toolkits and policy principles to ensure the transparent and effective quality assurance of TNE by quality assurance agencies.

At this year's Going Global conference in London, we joined up with Universities UK International (UUKi) to deliver a masterclass for institutions, governments, and policymakers on delivering high-quality TNE arrangements for long-term mutual benefit.

In Kazakhstan, we attended the International Forum of Strategic Partners, a group of global education leaders and policymakers, including the nation's education minister and president. We presented the recently developed quality assurance framework for TNE in Kazakhstan, created with funding and support from the British Council. This framework is a voluntary code, co-created with the sector, focused on the quality assurance and enhancement of TNE and applies to all types of partnerships with all countries.

A number of themes may be seen as characterising these activities: working in positive collaborative partnerships, and working with a lot of initialisms and acronyms. (Brace yourself, there are more to come.)

One of our first priorities in such engagements is to promote regulatory alignments which support the protocols and processes underpinning the quality of higher education internationally and transnationally, and which recognise and validate that quality, while respecting regional diversity. Such alignments and assurances also facilitate the development and enhancement of global partnerships, and the global recognition of high-quality academic qualifications.

We also work to promote the development of best practices in the design and delivery of higher education, and to share our learning from that work, supporting the enhancement of higher education globally. This work benefits students and graduates, as well as providers, partners, publics and governments through bolstering the economic, societal, scientific and cultural impacts of higher education.

Our work in European fora, for example, underpins the European and global recognition of the quality of the provision which our reviews validate as compliant with the ESG, as well as affording our sector's perspectives on the ongoing development of those principles.

Our work in emerging markets for transnational education – often conducted in collaboration with the British Council or commissioned by the UK Department for Business & Trade – promotes regulatory alignments and mutual understanding which sponsor the growth and sustainability of high-quality institutional partnerships that meet local education and skills priorities.

Meanwhile – originally commissioned by Universities UK and GuildHE – our own scheme for the Quality Evaluation and Enhancement of UK Transnational Higher Education (QE-TNE) demonstrates and underpins the commitment of its participants (more than 70 UK TNE providers) to the continual enhancement of their provision, by supporting, sharing, and showing the efficacy of, their initiatives in response to the challenges and opportunities of the higher education environment's ever-changing conditions and expectations.

Indeed, just as we believe in working collaboratively in fostering the enhancement of higher education, so we have spent the past few months consulting with stakeholders across our sector on the enhancement of our QE-TNE Scheme – and we'll be publishing the results of that work, the design for the new iteration of that programme, very shortly.

QAA supports the interests, value and sustainability of high-quality higher education on a global stage every day, whether that's in terms of an overseas branch campus, an institutional partnership, an incoming international student, or the international recognition of the qualifications of graduates. And, as such, we hugely appreciate the support of our Members, our commissioning organisations and funding bodies, our project participants, our international partners and overseas governments, which is all so essential to our success in doing so.

And, of course, with your support and collaboration, we work to resolve some of the trickier issues and technicalities of transnational and international higher education – and all its initialisms and acronyms – so that you don't always have to do so, at least not on your own.