To be sure, post-secondary educators have always been concerned about the quality of their programs. But "quality" has often been defined in terms of faculty research or student test scores - measures that do not meet today's educational needs. This book challenges educators to reexamine their assumptions and beliefs about program quality. It offers a comprehensive theory of quality in higher education, organized around one central idea: that student learning is the focal point of a high-quality undergraduate or graduate program, and consequently that program quality is a result of student, faculty, and administrative engagement in mutually supportive teaching and learning.

Examining the role of symbolic innovations in higher education institutions, this book distinguishes between the real, material changes universities undergo and the ways universities present them and symbolic changes to outside and internal stakeholders. By defining symbolic innovations and their general role in organizations, this book provides a thorough view of innovations in university contexts and the underlying factors that motivate and generate them. This volume addresses ethical concerns about the impact of symbolic innovations and how they relate to traditional and current views of academic leadership.

A timely intervention as higher education in India begins to pay equal importance to Quality, alongside Access and Equity. Indian higher education is the third largest in the world. It is undergoing unprecedented expansion and reforms. Yet, no Indian university figures among the World's Top 100! The problem lies primarily with the quality of higher education. This book serves as a quality management guide for the heads of colleges and universities, focusing on issues, techniques and improvement at the institutional level. In building up a sound framework, it effectively combines generic methods and techniques with specific mechanisms of quality assurance for in-campus activities such as curriculum planning, teaching learning processes, human resource management, infrastructure management and information and communication technologies. The author's expertise as a management scientist, trainer of heads of higher education institutes and experience of institution building gives the book an extra edge.

"Brand management is of great importance in the ever-changing landscape of higher education as institutional branding considerations aimed at differentiating and reinforcing and cultivating a specific brand identity seeks to address brand cultivation barriers. How universities craft and disseminate the institutional messages, fused with the capability to capitalize on branding opportunities and counter challenges, can dynamically impact public perception. In today's higher education landscape, brand perception serves as an instrumental role in the reputational and financial robustness-and ultimately, the long-standing success of higher education institutions"--

Quality in higher education was not invented in recent decades – universities have always possessed mechanisms for assuring the quality of their work. The rising concern over quality is closely related to the changes in higher education and its social context. Among others, the most conspicuous changes are the massive expansion, diversification and increased cost in higher education, and new mechanisms of accountability initiated by the state. With these changes the traditional internally enacted academic quality-keeping has been given an important external dimension – quality assurance, which requires higher education institutions to continuously demonstrate and improve performance, and which also provides new systems of rewards and sanctions. However, the complex impacts of quality assurance policies have shown a need to further understand the quality issue in higher education.This book is about constructing a more inclusive understanding of quality in higher education through combining the macro, meso and micro levels, i.e. from the perspectives of national policy, higher education institutions as organizations in society, individual teaching staff and students. It covers both theoretical constructions for understanding quality and empirical investigation in the Chinese context. The questions addressed are: How is quality of higher education perceived by the institution, teaching staff and students, respectively? What are the main concerns for the institution, teaching staff and students in their own pursuit of quality? It has been concluded that quality of higher education is not only about educational quality, but also about expanding life chances for the students, prosperity in the administrative system for the teaching staff,and organizational prosperity for the institution. With regard to quality assurance and accountability in higher education special attention should be given to the values pursued and be careful to balance between immediate, single-value efficiency and sustainable development and a wider-range of values that higher education serves.

This edited volume provides insight into how digital badges may enhance formal, non-formal and informal education by focusing on technical design issues including organizational requirements, learning and instructional design, as well as deployment. It features current research exploring the theoretical foundation and empirical evidence of the utilization of digital badges as well as case studies that describe current practices and experiences in the use of digital badges for motivation, learning, and instruction in K-12, higher education, workplace learning, and further education settings.

As branches of research and knowledge continue to expand, platforms for gathering and understanding new information become important aspects of organizational improvement. Contemporary Knowledge and Systems Science provides emerging research on the methods and applications of knowledge systems in social science, economics, and technological developments. While highlighting topics such as knowledge retention, organizational information, and evolutionary algorithms, this publication explores the different types of new knowledge from a systems perspective. This book is an important resource for researchers, academics, practitioners, and graduate-level students seeking current research on the connections between technology and information in order to manage new data.

Surveys the changing landscape of American higher education, from academic freedom to virtual universities, from campus crime to Pell Grants, from the Student Privacy Act to student diversity. In the years following World War II, college and university enrollment doubled, students revolted, faculty unionized, and community colleges evolved. Tuition and technology soared, as did the number of first-generation, minority, and women students. These changes radically transformed the American system of postsecondary education. Today, that system is in trouble. Its aging professoriate prepares for retirement, but low academic salaries can no longer attract the best minds to replace them. A flood of corporate dollars funds commercial research, but money for basic research—the seedbed of American scientific preeminence—has dried up. Colleges and universities also face heated competition with for-profit education providers for students, faculty, and external financial support, along with the costs of providing remedial education to growing numbers of students who are unprepared for postsecondary education. Higher Education in the United States provides a comprehensive analysis of these issues and others that scholars and practitioners of higher education study, discuss, and grapple with on a daily basis.

In recent years, digital badging systems have become a credible means through which learners can establish portfolios and articulate knowledge and skills for both academic and professional settings. Digital Badges in Education provides the first comprehensive overview of this emerging tool. A digital badge is an online-based visual representation that uses detailed metadata to signify learners’ specific achievements and credentials in a variety of subjects across K-12 classrooms, higher education, and workplace learning. Focusing on learning design, assessment, and concrete cases in various contexts, this book explores the necessary components of badging systems, their functions and value, and the possible problems they face. These twenty-five chapters illustrate a range of successful applications of digital badges to address a broad spectrum of learning challenges and to help readers formulate solutions during the development of their digital badges learning projects.

Recent innovations and new technologies in education have altered the way teachers approach instruction and learning and can provide countless advantages. The pedagogical value of specific technology tools and the cumulative effects of technology exposure on student learning over time are two areas that need to be explored to better determine the improvements needed in the modern classroom. Advanced Methodologies and Technologies in Modern Education Delivery provides emerging research on educational models in the continually improving classroom. While highlighting the challenges facing modern in-service and pre-service teachers when educating students, readers will learn information on new methods in curriculum development, instructional design, and learning assessments to implement within their classrooms. This book is a vital resource for pre-service and in-service teachers, teacher education professionals, higher education administrative professionals, and researchers interested in new curriculum development.