International comparative study of quality assurance of academic degrees provided beyond national borders

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This study aims to provide practical suggestions on how quality assurance should be conducted at overseas branch schools established by Japanese universities under Japan's quality assurance system for higher education, which is currently shifting toward a post-check system. We examined the situation of quality assurance in branch schools and degree-awarding education programs established beyond national borders to clarify their characteristics and inherent problems in the United States, Britain and Australia where there are advanced quality assurance practices for higher education.The outline and results of our surveys and study are shown below.In the United States, we conducted a questionnaire survey of six accreditation associations which are, as voluntary organizations, responsible for quality assurance in education programs provided overseas, and interviewed two organizations. These surveys revealed that overseas education is provided in various forms, and that the quality assuranc … More e system is firmly established for programs of a certain scale, while many small programs are not properly evaluated.In Britain, we visited an evaluation organization in which the Quality Assurance Agency (QAA) for higher education undertakes quality assurance for all kinds of university education both at home and abroad, and one university which has overseas branch schools. Through the visit to this university, in particular, we studied the situation and problems in quality assurance of overseas branch schools.Australia has actively provided education programs outside of the country as a national policy, and many Australian universities are active in Asia too. We visited the Australian Universities Quality Agency in charge of quality assurance for such education programs as well as three universities in Australia.We found that each evaluation agency and university in those three countries tries to conduct quality assurance for overseas education programs by comparing the quality with the level in their own country, and the burden incurred is considerable.We also learned that overseas education programs are provided in various forms, and the quality assurance system is firmly established for programs of a certain scale, while many small programs are not properly evaluatedEvaluation organizations in the countries carry out unique activities and try to reduce their burdens. Above all, Australia's new attempt to collaborate with evaluation agencies in partner countries is a very effective approach that will serve as a useful reference for Japan. Less