Quality assurance in transnational higher education: a case study of the tropEd network

BMC Medical Education

Albert Scherpbier⁴  Lorraine Dardis¹  Bernadette Peterhans³  Prisca A C Zwanikken² 

[1] Office for International Affairs, University College London, London, United Kingdom;Royal Tropical Institute, Amsterdam, the Netherlands;Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute, Basel, Switzerland;Faculty of Health, Medicine and Life Sciences, Maastricht University, Maastricht, the Netherlands

关键词: Networks;    Transnational;    Cross-border;    Higher education;    Quality assurance;   

Others  :  1138972
DOI  :  10.1186/1472-6920-13-43

 received in 2012-10-22, accepted in 2013-03-20,  发布年份 2013

【 摘 要 】

Introduction

Transnational or cross-border higher education has rapidly expanded since the 1980s. Together with that expansion issues on quality assurance came to the forefront. This article aims to identify key issues regarding quality assurance of transnational higher education and discusses the quality assurance of the tropEd Network for International Health in Higher Education in relation to these key issues.

Methods

Literature review and review of documents.

Results

From the literature the following key issues regarding transnational quality assurance were identified and explored: comparability of quality assurance frameworks, true collaboration versus erosion of national education sovereignty, accreditation agencies and transparency. The tropEd network developed a transnational quality assurance framework for the network. The network accredits modules through a rigorous process which has been accepted by major stakeholders. This process was a participatory learning process and at the same time the process worked positive for the relations between the institutions.

Discussion

The development of the quality assurance framework and the process provides a potential example for others.

【 授权许可】

   
2013 Zwanikken et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.

【 图 表 】

Figure 1.

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