Convergence and Diversity of Quality Assurance Systems in Distance Education for Higher Education

Abstract

In the context of growing globalization in distance

education, there is an urgent need for international

initiatives to review quality assurance (QA] mechanisms

of distance education for higher education at the

national and institutional level, discuss new challenges

of a changing distance education environment, and

build a capacity for quality assurance to enhance the

quality provision in a globalized higher education

market.

This paper reports the results of a survey conducted

between May and early June 2004. The survey was

designed to collect data on several key aspects of an

internal quality assurance system of distance teaching

institutions, discuss similarities and differences found in

the data, and provide an opportunity for capacity

building for quality assurance to enhance the quality

provision in distance education. Nine mega distance

teaching universities and 6 other institutions responded

to the survey. The survey results show that there exists a vaiety of QA systems of distance education even though the globalization and competitiveness of higher education and the development of technology have brought distance teaching universities closer together in terms of developing a common quality culture.