QI News December 2023
Introduction
Celebrating its second year, QI News has continued its commitment to delivering cutting-edge insights into global quality assurance within higher education. Throughout the past year, the publication has delved into numerous topics shaping the landscape of academia, featuring thought-provoking content and exclusive interviews with influential leaders in the field.
Quarterly issues of the newsletter featured interviews with key figures such as Tony Roche from Emerald Publishing, along with highlights of conversations between Humphrey Fellow Abby-Gail Blanchard and international quality assurance experts (CIQG Advisory Council members) Nadia Badrawi and Jamil Salmi. Meanwhile, CHEA Fellow Annie Everett prompted conversation about the implications of decolonization in higher education with respect to quality therein. CIQG Advisory Council members, Peter Okebukola and Jianxin Zhang, shared news about innovative, quality assurance activities ongoing in Nigeria while fellow Council member, Jamil Salmi, shared his recently published book entitled, "Transforming Lives at the Institutional Level: Equity Promotion Initiatives Across the World."
QI News remains a vital platform, fostering dialogue and offering insights that contribute to the ongoing transformation of academia on a global scale. In this vein, we now seek to feature organizational members of the CHEA International Quality Group (CIQG) in addition to posted articles. This issue features two notable quality assurance organizations that hail from the continents of Asia and Europe.
We hope that you have enjoyed engaging with this content as much as we have enjoyed preparing it for you. With your continued support, we look forward to bringing you more in the new year.
CIQG Member Spotlight
CIQG Member since: 2020
CIQG Member since: 2017
Sustainable Development Goals Provide Equal Prominence to Both Developed Countries and Developing Countries
The role of higher education institutions in advancing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) into curricula is more important than ever. The 17 United Nations SDGs have been committed to by 193 countries with the aim to address global challenges and improve socio-economic and environmental outcomes of planetary health. The 2030 Agenda for the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals provides equal prominence to both developed countries and developing countries.
To transform our societies to reach the 1.5-degrees path recommended by the Paris Agreement, UNESCO at the COP28 in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) stressed the importance of education and highlighted that there is a growing call for education to enable individuals, as agents of change, to acquire knowledge, skills, values, and attitudes that lead to green transition of our societies, as enshrined in SDG Target 4.7 (SDG 4 – Quality Education), and, indeed, in the entire 2030 Agenda. However, there has been little focus on SDG integration into curricula in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. READ MORE
Mohammad Nurunnabi, Connie Mitchell, Anis Koubaa, Tahira Hoke
Prince Sultan University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
CHEA’s President, Keynote Speaker at 2023 ANQAHE Conference
Dr. Cynthia Jackson Hammond (CHEA President) served as the opening keynote speaker at the Fifth Network Conference of the Arab Network for Quality Assurance in Higher Education (ANQAHE). After her presentation on the “Internationalization of Quality Assurance and Accreditation in Higher Education,” Dr Jackson Hammond fielded questions from a large, and very engaged audience, with facilitation by Dr. Nadia Badrawi, ANQAHE President and CIQG Advisory Council member.
CHEA Participates in Asia-Pacific Quality Network Conference
In November, Jan Friis, Senior Vice President for Government Relations at the Council for Higher Education Accreditation, participated in the Asia-Pacific Quality Network meeting in Dhaka, Bangladesh. The conference was hosted by The American International University of Bangladesh. The gathering meeting consisted of representatives from the quality assurance agencies of the Asia-Pacific region. Read More.
CHEA Hosts Nepalese Delegation
On Wednesday, October 25, 2023, the Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA) hosted quality assurance officials from Nepal at its headquarters in Washington, D.C. The five-membered delegation represented Nepal’s National Examination Board (NEB), which is the nation’s sole organization for the evaluation of school education. The Nepali delegation sought to learn about CHEA’s work in US accreditation and quality assurance, and CHEA’s international presence in quality assurance through the CHEA International Quality Group (CIQG).
CHEA’s staff members who participated in the meeting included: Michelle Claville, Vice President for Research and Policy Analysis, and Liaison to CIQG; Loretta Waldron, Vice President for Recognition Services; Kathleen Rzucidlo, CHEA Fellow.
Participants from the Nepal NEB were:
- Mr. Durga Prasad Aryal, Member Secretary,
- Mr. Bhagawan Aryal, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Education, Science and Technology (MoEST)
- Mr. Narendra Prasad, Section Officer
- Mrs. Yamadevi Aryal Spouse of Member Secretary
- Mrs. Shanta Bhandari Aryal, Spouse of Joint Secretary, MoEST
If your organization plans to be in Washington, DC, and would like to meet with CHEA, please contact Michelle Claville at [email protected].
Announcements
The 2024 CHEA/CIQG Annual Conference is scheduled for January 29 – February 1, in Washington, D.C. This year’s in-person event promises to build on the excitement and successes of last year’s Annual Conference. Registration coming soon!
Submissions
Remember that you are invited to submit articles or op-eds that focus on current topics relevant to quality assurance and international higher education. After reviewing the Quality International Newsletter Guidelines (https://www.chea.org/quality-international-newsletter-guidelines ), please submit your articles, op-eds, announcements by February 26, 2024, for consideration of inclusion in the March 2024 issue of QI News.
The views and opinions expressed in this newsletter do not necessarily reflect those of the Council for Higher Education Accreditation,
its International Quality Group, its Board, or its members.
Become a CIQG member, today!