Emerging Challenges, Emerging Practices: Sharing a

Global Vision of Quality Assurance in Higher Education

Edilberto C de JesusSecretariat Director

SEAMEO

Southeast Asian Ministers of Education

Organization

SEAMEO SEAMEO Member Member StatesStatesIndonesia (1965)Lao PDR (1965)Malaysia (1965)Philippines (1965)Singapore (1965)Thailand (1965) Cambodia (1968)Brunei Darussalam (1981) Vietnam (1992)Myanmar (1997)Timor-Leste (2006)

SEAMEO Associate SEAMEO Associate MembersMembersAustralia (1973)France (1973)New Zealand (1974)Canada (1988)Germany (1990)Netherlands (1993)Norway (2005)SEAMEO Affiliate SEAMEO Affiliate

MembersMembersInternational Council for Open and Distance Education (1999)

SEAMEO Units SEAMEO Units

SEARCASEARCA

BIOTROPBIOTROP

RECSAMRECSAMVOCTECHVOCTECH

RELCRELC

INNOTECHINNOTECHSPAFASPAFA

RIHEDRIHED

SEAMOLECSEAMOLEC

RETRACRETRAC

CHATCHAT

TROPMEDTROPMED NetworkNetwork

TROPMEDTROPMEDThailandThailand

TROPMED TROPMED MalaysiaMalaysia

TROPMEDTROPMED IndonesiaIndonesia

TROPMEDTROPMED PhilippinesPhilippines

SecretariatSecretariat

•11 Specialised Regional Centres

• Network (with 4 centres) on tropical medicine and public health

• Secretariat

Diversity within SEAMEO

• Education systems at different stage of development

• Operating with different levels of resources

Budget for Education Country

Education Budget (Million USD)

Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in

Million USD

Education Budget as Percent of GDP (%)

Brunei Darussalam1 346.8 5,917.0 5.9

Cambodia1 110.5 4,440.0 2.5

Indonesia2 418.0 31,095.0 1.3

Lao PDR1 69.9 2,796.0 2.5

Malaysia3 7,088.4 131,020.0 5.4

Myanmar4 97.0 7,464.0 1.3

Philippines1 2,203.4 92,850.0 2.4

Singapore1 4,553.7 116,760.7 3.9

Thailand1 6,423.7 166,300.0 3.9

Timor Leste1 35.0 1,750.2 1.4

Vietnam1 2,602.0 43,750.0 5.9

Sources:

1 Information from MOE 2 Education Budget by National Educational Budget, GDP by EconStats3 Malaysian Educational Statistics 2006 4 Estimation by UNESCO Institute for Statistic for Myanmar, 2001

Allocation of Expenditure Per Student

CountryEducation Budget

(USD)

Number of Students All

Level

Allocation Per

Student

(USD)

Brunei Darussalam 346,800,000 76,898 4,509.9

Cambodia 110,500,000 3,451,661 32.0

Indonesia¹ 418,000,000 41,907,605 10.0

Lao PDR 69,900,000 1,350,584 51.8

Malaysia 7,088,400,000 5,783,796 1,225.6

Myanmar 97,000,000 8,092,510 12.0

Philippines 2,203,400,000 23,174,070 95.1

Singapore 4,553,700,000 483,151 9,425.0

Thailand 6,423,700,000 13,162,488 488.0

Timor Leste 1,270,000 136,875 9.3

Vietnam 260,200,000 17,542,129 14.8

Mission of Higher Education Institutions

• Teaching

• Research

• Service

Personal Perspectives

• Philippine Experience

• Private Corporate Sector

• Government Perspective

• Regional Association

Pressures on HEI

• Demand for Greater Access

• Demand for Higher Quality

• Declining Government Support

Pressures on HEI

• Expansion of Knowledge

SIMS Research: world production of original information- 1999: 2-3 EB (Exabytes)

(1 EB = 1018 bytes)

- 2002: 5 EB(500 additional US LCs)

Pressures on HEI

SIM Research: Information on the Web

- 2000: 20-50 TB (Terabytes)(1 TB = 1012 bytes)

- 2003: 167 terabytes(16.7 more US LC)

Pressures on HEI

SIM Research: Email Volume

- 2003: 31 billion messages/day

- 2006: 62 billion messages/day

Peter A Henning ( Karlsruhe University of Applied Sciences):

“In the past five years, we have produced more data than in the 5,000 years before – and the data volume increase in speeding up.”

Issues in Knowledge Explosion

• Data Heat

• Data Accuracy

• Data Relevance

Implications for QA Efforts

• Teaching: content coverage (What to teach?)

• Research:– Keeping Pace– Controlling Costs– Maintaining Focus

UNESCO: Research and Higher Education Policy, Nov. 2006

Arthur Biennenstock (Vice Provost and Dean of Research and Graduate Policy, Stanford): Essential Characteristics of Research Universities

1. High quality faculty committed to research and teaching

2. High quality graduate students

UNESCO: Research and Higher Education Policy, Nov. 2006

3. An intellectual climate that encourages scholarship

4. Facilities to support effective teaching and research

5. Funding for operations and instruction

UNESCO: Research and Higher Education Policy, Nov. 2006

6. Research funding

7. Research infrastructure

8. High quality leadership

North-South Divide

• Resources

• Problems

• Mission

• Standards

Divisions in the North

American dominance of Global 10 University Rankings:

- Only Oxford and Cambridge in contention

- Spending on tertiary education:

UK-- 1.1% of GDP

US– 2.6% of GDP (1.4% private sector)

Any European world-class research universities in 20 years’ time?

Divisions within Countries

• 4000+ HEI in the US (Carnegie Foundation, 2000)– Research Universities: 261

Parallels between Basic and Higher Education

• Simultaneous Demand for Access and Quality

• Priority on Access– Declining government budgets– Entry of private sector entrepreneurs– On-line/distance education

• Priority on Teaching

Implications for APQN

• Strengthen QA on the teaching function

• Establish guidelines for research in teaching institutions

• Develop metrics for different HEI levels

Implications for APQN

• Focus on threshold indicators

• Priority to Teaching vs. Research

Thank You