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1 st Day

The seminal 3-day international conference on quality assurance in distance education—Towards A Culture of Quality—was inaugurated at the Ramakrishna Mission Institute of Culture on 21 st November 2005. Welcoming all to the conference Professor Surabhi Banerjee, Vice-Chancellor, NSOU asserted the audience that NSOU, a fast developing global major in ODL is engaged in the unique experiment of taking seamless quality education to countless disadvantaged aspirants remaining outside the main stream of conventional education. The time has come to put the practices, policies and principles pursued so far under scrutiny, for looking within with a view to enhancing the intrinsic quality of education being imparted. She thanked COL and UNESCO for making these vitally significant exercise actually take place at this end of the world. She particularly expressed her gratefulness to Sir John Daniel, President & CEO, COL for his kind and proactive patronage and ceaseless support and cooperation.

In his key-note address Sir John Daniel drew attention to the revolution in access to Higher Education that the Open Universities have created, emphasizing that the value of the revolution thus initiated naturally depended on the success of these institutions in embedding the education offered by them in high quality. He recalled that the revolution began in the UK with the UK Open University leading the way. However he added that quality was never automatic and called for good leadership and a sustained culture to promote it. Sir John had a word of praise for what he called as the splendid dynamism of Netaji Subhas Open University.

Delivering the Chief Guest's Address, Mr Sudeep Banerjee, Education Secretary, Ministry of Human Resource Development, Govt. of India naturally laid stress on the imperative task of maintaining and heightening a sustainable degree of quality in both conventional and open education.

Professor Satya Sadhan Chakraborty, Minster of Higher Education, Govt. of West Bengal, who delivered the Presidential Address reminded the audience of the inevitability of the emergence of Open and Distance Learning as a viable sustainable and complementary alternative to conventional education and its unique appropriateness in a developing society like ours. NSOU was established to primarily address these priorities and significantly widen the social outreach of higher education in the State and elsewhere in eastern India . NSOU is striving heroically to perform these responsibilities, he added.

Ms. Stamenka Uvalic Trumbic of the Higher Education Division, UNESCO who also addressed the inaugural session briefly highlighted the crucial guidelines on quality provision in cross border higher education evolved by UNESCO over the years in this new age of globalization. She promised to shed more light on these later in the day.

Mr Iman Kalyan Lahiri, Convener, International Conference on Quality Assurance moved the vote of thanks.

Later, the scene shifted to Hotel Hindustan International, where three Technical Sessions were held during the rest of the day.

The Technical Sessions which followed surveyed the current global perspectives from three major angles.

The theme of the first Technical Session was “Global Perspectives – Towards the Culture of Quality”. Professor V. S. Prasad, Director, NAAC was in the Chair. Swami Jitatmanandaji Maharaj, Director, Vivekananda Research Centre, The Ramakrishna Mission Institute of Culture addressed the session. His address was essentially an arresting reiteration and recapitulation of the profound Indian heritage of holistic, humane education—a heritage from which modern India has increasingly cut itself adrift and which is being rediscovered by western scientists, particularly in America as providing an incontestatble basis for much of what modern science has to offer. While all this is going on in the West, “we have missed the bus”, lamented Swami Jitatmanandaji.

Professor Prasad who spoke next, entirely endorsed Swamiji's critique of the existing Indian Education System. He went further afield and stated that quality and purpose were the very essence of education. In the domain of understanding and motivation underpinning educational practices and policies, the decisive need of the hour was to remove all confusion about the definition and nature of quality education. Professor Prasad certainly laid his finger on the heart of the matter when he differentiated between two competing schools of approach, namely, the value based cultural and social approach on the one hand and the managerial or market approach on the other which stressed the immediate gratification of needs as its goal and merchandised education as a commodity.

Speakers in the next session examined global perspectives on Cross Border or Borderless Higher Education. The session was chaired by Professor D. Ramachandram, VC, B R Ambedkar Open University. In her address Ms. Stamenka Uvalic-Trumbic, The Higher Education Division, UNESCO unveiled the crucial OECD-UNESCO Guidelines on quality provision in cross border higher education. The guidelines have received the support of the thirty third session of the General Conference of UNESCO in October 2005. They are perceived as a good resource for developing countries to use as their value resides in the follow up to be given as a frame work for capacity building.

The new setting for higher education in a more globalized society calls for the revising of existing standards and development of new ones. The growing importance of the knowledge society, the development of new trade agreement which covers trade in education services, the innovations related to ICT and education and the growth of different forms of cross border higher education provision are underlying elements of these developments and quality assurance becomes a pre-requisite. It responds to the need to provide protection from non-reputable providers or ‘diploma mills' to students, employers, the public and the education community itself.

The Guidelines address governments as well as other stakeholders, higher education institutions and academic staff, students' bodies, quality assurance and accreditation bodies, academic recognition bodies, professional bodies. Their objective is not prescribing regulations but rather to inspire national developments.

Following up the issues thus raised, Professor D. Ramachandram, who spoke later, agreed that the Guidelines were of great relevance in the widening context of Open Education. But at the same time he urged a careful meticulous scrutiny of the important implications inherent in cross border education. The State Open Universities of the country should have open jurisdiction to promote cross border education inside India . Moreover, it is being increasingly realized that the quality of higher education should be ascertained at the international level. Unequal partnerships may result in problems while reinforcing accreditation and assessment mechanisms at the national level promotes international cross border higher education. But these guidelines shouldn't impinge on the sovereignty and autonomy of nations—warned professor Ramachandram and added that the Guidelines should be based on mutual trust among stakeholders. He declared that education should not be marketed as a commodity and urged the audience to ponder these issues deeply.

Then questions were asked and a lively interaction between the audience and the speakers ensued.

The next session started with the formal introduction of the speaker and Chairperson by Prof. Bikas Ghosh, Director Science, NSOU.

The Speaker of the session was Richard Lewis, President, INQAAHE, OPEN UNIVERSITY OF UNITED KINGDOM.

The title of the paper was International developments in quality assurance in higher education- a narrowing of the perceived divide between the quality assurance of distance education and face-to-face education.

He launched his discussion by mentioning the prevailing notions about the distinctions between the face-to-face education and Distance education. He stated a brief history relating to the education scenario of England prior to 1950.

He pointed out following the factors contributing to the growth and popularity of Distance education

 

• The recognition in many countries of the need for the greater accountability for the scarce national resources,
• The growth in higher education that has occurred in many countries and the increased diversity in the establishment of binary system.
• Liberal steps taken by Govt. like reduction of the Govt. Control over Higher Education.

He talked about the birth of INQAAHE and agencies included in its database.

He also touched upon the traditional external model of quality assurance as well as the reports policies relating to it.

He rightly pointed out the emerging issues relating to modern developments in Quality Assurance and he stressed upon the features often associated with Distance Learning but, which are not necessarily the part of Distance Education and might be found in a face-to-face mode.

 

2 nd Day

The First Session of the 2 nd day was devoted to ‘Quality Assurance of Higher Education in Asia and the Pacific Region'. The session was chaired by Professor Mark Evered, Pro-Vost & Vice President, Academic Thomson Rivers University , Kamploops. In her theme address Ms Molly Lee, Programme Specialist, UNESCO, Bangkok Office stressed the importance of ensuring quality assurance of Higher Education in Asia and the Pacific Region. She went on to analyze the different notions of quality in higher education, the purposes of quality management in Higher Education systems and the need for indicators of quality. She briefly reviewed quality assurance frameworks in Higher Education in the Aisa Pacific Region with special reference to Distance Education. Referring to Case Studies she illustrated the points on which she laid primary stress. Ms Lee also spoke about the implementation of the Regional Convention on the Recognition of Studies, Diplomas and Degrees in Higher Education in Asia and the Pacific Region. In his concluding remarks Prof. Evered touched upon the important issue of outsourcing resorted to by ODL Institutions to foot the bill of quality assurance.

The next session saw the introduction of a book on quality assurance in distance education being published by the Commonwealth of Learning , Vancouver , Canada . Prof. Ram Takwale, Director, Maharastra Knowledge Corporation Ltd. was in the chair. Prof. Asha Kanwar, Education Specialist, Higher Education, COL gave a magnificent overview of the good work being done in the Commonwealth Countries by COL in the field of ODL. Talking of ODL Prof. Kanwar pertinently recalled that ODL had achieved unparalleled growth in India in the last decade involving also crossborder education both at the national and transnational levels. COL , which came into being in 1988, had begin its journey with 9 OD universities. Today this intergovernmental organization voluntarily funded by Commonwealth Countries has developed a vast global network of 23 OD Universities, which include 8 mega versities of which 4 are in India and one in Bangladesh . So ODL has really come of age in the sub-continent. Some 3 million Commonwealth citizens, she added in passing, are engaged in some kind of ODL activity. COL , for its part, leads the field in designing and producing a wide array of knowledge resources enreaching the discourse of ODL; it publishes a Knowledge Series. Conducts online discussions, conferences and workshops and is developing collaborative guidelines, course materials and even tool kits addressing indeed the entire gamut of ODL. Then she went on to introduce ‘Towards a Culture of Quality, 2006' the forth coming title in the Knowledge Series and likely to remain a landmark in the growing ODL discourse. She concluded by observing that all practices, policies and activities which led to palpable quality enhancement in the varied dimensions of Open and Distance Learning contributed to quality assurance which by its very nature was a continuous process and called for a multy-pronged strategy. Prof. Ram Takwale summing up the issues presented touched upon the increasing tendency towards convergence displayed by ODL institutions and mooted the crucial question as to whether it was possible at this stage to generate a paradigm shift.

Quality Assurance in Distance Education in India was the theme which was dealt with in the next session. Prof. Stamenka Uvalic-Trumbic, The Higher Education Specialist was in the chair. Swami Suparnananda, Principal, Ramakrishna Mission Residential College, Narendrapur explored the Indian scenario from a socio-philosophical angle and noted how the Indian heritage of guru-shishya interaction which had survived and continued in varied forms down the centuries suffered truncation in modern India. The unique ethos at the heart of what Vivekananda called ‘man-making education' was somehow lost down the way, a dissociation of sensibilities set in from which the country is yet to recover. Yet there is hope; distance education is breaking fresh ground and since quality is best assured through quality students, this has naturally and inevitably become the main concern of Distance Education.

The question was taken up from yet another angle and a fresh point of view presented by Prof. Marmar Mukhopadhyay, Director, National Institute of Educational Planning and Administration. In a presentation which naturally required alert attention and careful response Professor Mukhopadhyay began with a bird's eye view of the evolution of the science of total quality management in the last century, how it has moved on from mere quality inspection through quality control, quality assurance arriving at total quality management. The latest mantra is six sigma. He has attempted a reconstruction of the fundamentals of TQM as applied to education deriving his inspiration from Vedanta, Indian Culture and Indian Educational ethos. In course of research, experimentation and careful analysis fifteen cardinal principles of TQM in Indian Educational Institutions were identified. The pertinent question to consider was whether the principles found relevant in conventional education were equally applicable to distance education. This in turn naturally led to the question of proper and innovative leadership. He identified six kinds of leadership styles, briefly analyzing each of them. Leading open and distance education institutions have additional complexity. The composition of the tangible and intangibles in a conventional educational institution takes a paradigm shift in case of open and distance education. Intangibles are much large and also abstracts; require greater and different quality of discriminating intelligence and creativity. Building quality culture in open and distance education institutions, hence, would require a fresh look at the concept and practices of leadership in such institutions.

The last session of the day was devoted to Setting up a Regulatory Framework for Crossborder Education in Regional perspectives. Professor Mohandas, Director, Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute for Medical Sciences and Technology, Thiruvananthapuram who chaired the session gave the floor to Ms. Wong Wai Sum, Independent Consultant & Former Executive Director, Hong Kong Council for Academic Accreditation, Hong Kong who spoke about different models of establishing a regulatory framework for crossborder education and the issues involved when choosing a particular model. She briefly examined the already familiar phenomenon of crossborder education drawing attention to some of the possible pitfalls of quality. Different types of models could be designed to regulate the quality of crossborder education, explained the speaker and went on to outline the more important ingredients of a regulatory system as well as the factors influencing the choice of system. She drove her point home with examples drawn from actual systems in operation. Practical steps in setting up a regulatory system and the problems associated with implementation were also mentioned.

3 rd Day

If it was dreaded that after two straight eventful days of intensive sessions, the 3 rd day would inevitably produce ennui, fewer fireworks and tail off in a tame valedictory session, such fears were at once dispelled as the first session of the final day got under way. Professor S. K. Banerjee, Director, School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Netaji Subhas Open University, was in the chair and Professor Mark Evered, Pro-Vost and Vice-President, Academic, Thompson Rivers University, Kamloops, addressing the session spoke illuminatingly about administrative structures, quality assurance and programme integration at Thompson Rivers University, a new university offering both open learning and traditional programme delivery.

In the next session the scene again shifted to India . The session was chaired by Prof. Ram Takwale, Director, Maharastra Knowledge Corporation Limited. Professor Asha Kanwar, Education Specialist, Higher Education, Commonwealth of Learning , who took the floor, analysed the education perspective in India . Fresh insights were offered and a new understanding of the issues at stake was gained.

The post-lunch session was chaired by T. D. Sharma, Vice-Chanceller, Sundarlal Open University of Chattisgarh. Professor K. Murugan, Head, School of Humanities and Director, Student Support Services Division, Tamil Nadu Open University, Chennai, developing a fresh point of departure without deviating from the overarching theme, presented his vision of the culture of quality.

The concluding session zeroed in on the constituent countries under the aegis of COL ( Commonwealth of Learning ) in S.E.Asia and Africa, particularly South Africa . Attention was focused on the low participation rate of women in education. Dr. John Rowett, Secretary General, Association of Commonwealth Universities (ACU), addressed the session which was chaired by Professor Richard Lewis, President of INQAAHE, Open University of United Kingdom. In this context, he opined that a 10-point programme should be developed there on a priority basis. Science and technology are the master keys to the development of the Commonwealth universities.

The valedictory session was anything but blasé. Professor Surabhi Banerjee, Vice-Chancellor, Netaji Subhas Open University, who spoke briefly but passionately about quality assurance reminded the audience of the very large range of complex issues addressed by this 3-day Conference and penetratingly observed that quality is essentially a nebulous concept in as much as it is imbricated in an individual's conscience and integrity. It can be a powerfully felt experience and often hurts people into scaling unprecedented heights.

Professor Ram Takwale, Director, Maharastra Knowledge Corporation Limited, who delivered the valedictory address emphasized the establishment of public-private partnership for the progress of ODL. He also added that the creation of knowledge extension through the Indian Educational Satellite (EDUSAT) and Virtual Academy for Semi-Arid Tropics (VASAT) would create al together a new Education paradigm in India .

The three-day International Conference concluded with Professor Monotosh Dasgupta, Executive Officer, Science, Netaji Subhas Open University, moving the vote of thanks.

Report Prepared by Mr. Subhransu Maitra , Mr. Rajib Chakraborty , Mr. Ayan Majumder & Ms. Bahnishikha Guha

Report Presented by Mr. Iman Kalyan Lahiri, Convener ,International Conference on Quality Assurance.

 

 

In recent years, increasing attention has been paid to the issue of Quality in higher Education, non-formal education and in open and distance learning education. The migration to a distributed learning environment significantly heightens the need to assure quality. The success of Quality Assurance in distance education depends on the total commitment of the management, which is pre-requisite for the Total Quality Management (TQM) process; this is because distance learning brings the potential of increased volumes of students, increased staff reliance on technology, and increased partnership with external organizations. Quality in distance education also demands a model of leadership which is principle based and value oriented. However, it is important to decide the parameters to assess quality in distance education. In India distance education can be considered as a viable interface for providing a regenerative broad higher education base to the common people of the country. It is on this backdrop Netaji Subhas Open University (NSOU), Kolkata, Commonwealth of Learning (COL), Vancouver, Canada and UNESCO organized a three day International Conference on Towards a Culture of Quality on 21-23 November, 2005. The Conference was held in Kolkata, the Capital of West Bengal.
There has been a phenomenal growth of ODL in the region; Bangladesh, Pakistan and India have thriving mega-Universities, which have opened up access to thousands of those who would otherwise have remained outside the purview of Education and Training. However, providing access is not enough. We must also provide access to success. This can only happen when the Quality provision at every level can be assured. It is for this reason that an International Conference was organized by the NSOU in collaboration with COL and UNESCO.

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