Graduate Certificate in Tertiary Education (Quality Assurance)

In this subject, participants will engage in a series of webinars, online discussion groups, online multiple choice tests and an essay to develop their understanding of two main themes.

Comparative Tertiary Education Policy Studies: How have different tertiary education systems and institutions met the pressures and dynamics of the late 20th and early 21st century tertiary education? Key issues examined are: the broadening of access, mass higher learning, internationalisation, system governance, quality assurance and approaches to financing.

Trends and Challenges in Tertiary Education: Funding constraints, the rise of online study options, the emergence of massive open online learning (MOOC) platforms, new entrants to the sector, and the emergence of micro-credentials. Key issues examined are market and policy changes in different national systems, the future of campus-based study and the 3-4 year degree, opportunities to expand enrolments across national boundaries, and threats of disruptive change to existing institutional models of organisation.

In this subject, participants will engage in a series of webinars, online discussion groups, online multiple choice tests and an essay to develop their understanding of two main themes.

Organisational Culture in Tertiary Education Institutions: How are tertiary sector institutions different from other types of organisations? Key concepts examined are: professional organisations and professional autonomy, distributed decision-making structures, fragmentation and specialisation, organisational culture, power and politics, and managing and leading in a context of ambiguity.

Management and Leadership in Tertiary Education: An overview of frameworks, roles and practices for effective management and leadership roles and practices in the tertiary context. How do managers balance competing demands, multiple values and distributed authority? Given emerging policy and market settings and the prospect of disruptive change, how will leaders introduce sustainable changes to their institutions’ operations?

This subject provides an international overview of how different governments approach External Quality Assurance (EQA) in tertiary education, including key concepts and definitions, the role of EQA agencies and surrogates, the use of standards and criteria, the processes of self-assessment, internal quality assurance, and external review.

This subject provides an overview of the rapid rise of risk management in tertiary education. Framing this explosion in the broader context of public policy change and the emergence of the risk society, it critically examines the concepts and practices of risk management. It should provide participants with knowledge and insights in these areas:

• understanding uncertainty and risk
• identifying different types of risk, e.g. reputational risk, operational risk
• risk management and the politics of uncertainty and trust
• approaches to risk management, including enterprise-wide risk management (ERM)
• strength and weaknesses of current risk management practices
• risk management and governance
• effective approaches to risk management in tertiary education

Maintaining Quality within Institutions focuses on how people undertake, define, measure, monitor and improve quality and quality assurance processes and procedures within tertiary education. Tertiary education institutions are under mounting pressure to demonstrate their quality as a measure of social and financial accountability to students, the public and the government.

This subject will enable students to understand the contexts and approaches of internal quality monitoring, addressing and exploring a range of theoretical, cultural, methodological and practical considerations. It contains four modules of study, preceded by a short informatory webinar which also introduces students to the national and international contexts of quality assurance.

• Module 1: Quality Assurance and the Quality Cycle

This module introduces the notion of quality assurance within the tertiary education sector, and explores how institutions can plan quality strategies and operations. It introduces the concepts of the planning pyramid and the quality cycle and how these can be adapted to their institutional context.

• Module 2: Positive Internal Quality Assurance (IQA) Culture

This module focuses on the nature of a quality culture within institutions and organisational units and explores ways and means by which a quality culture can be developed, maintained and enhanced. Leadership, staff capability and comprehensive behavioural characteristics and quality culture identifiers are introduced and explored.

• Module 3: IQA Governance and Management

This module considers differences, similarities and overlap of External and Internal Quality Assurance systems, including exemplar bodies. Common institutional approaches to audit are explored; governance and management are defined and illustrated with reference to function, values, principles and policies and procedures.

• Module 4: IQA in Action

This module draws together the themes and content of the preceding modules in the context of IQA in action, including inputs, outputs and appropriate responses to the requirements of demonstrating compliance. In so doing, teaching and learning, research and research training, professional / administrative units and partnerships are addressed separately. Benchmarking and specific tools for IQA conclude the module.

Internal and external quality audits and reviews are now ubiquitous in tertiary education. This subject equips students with knowledge and skills to understand, plan and manage quality audits and reviews in tertiary education for credible processes and productive outcomes. Current challenges and models for quality assurance and audit will be discussed but the main focus is on the practical aspects of managing audit and review activities to add value by improving organizational and academic effectiveness. Internal, related party and external audit models are explored, as the subject is designed to be relevant to both institutional managers and practitioners working in quality and related agencies.