External Quality Assurance

This subject has the following teaching availabilities in 2015:

170 hours.

For the purposes of considering request for Reasonable Adjustments under the Disability Standards for Education (Cwth 2005), and Students Experiencing Academic Disadvantage Policy, academic requirements for this subject are articulated in the Subject Description, Subject Objectives, Generic Skills and Assessment Requirements of this entry.

The University is dedicated to provide support to those with special requirements. Further details on the disability support scheme can be found at the Disability Liaison website: http://www.services.unimelb.edu.au/disability

This subject provides an international overview of how different governments approach EQA in tertiary education, including key concepts and definitions, the role of EQA agencies and surrogates, the use of standards and criteria, the processes of self-assessment, internal quality assurance, and external review.

The overall objective is to impart a comparative view of the major modalities and approaches to quality assurance, both internal and external. Students will acquire at least a fundamental grasp of (1) the key definitions and vocabulary of EQA; (2) the practical effects of variations in EQA standards, criteria, and procedures; (3) EQA agencies as surrogates of government; (4) critical decisions by government and EQA agencies regarding agency autonomy, focus-level-scope, policies relating to quality control, self-management or improvement, as well as the policy dimension of standards and criteria; and, (5) agency networking in the context of emerging challenges for EQA agencies.

Assessment for online delivery

• Active written participation in six weekly discussion board exercises (6 x 420 word postings). Each will require a brief but thoughtful reflection on a common topic.
• Participation in three Webinars
• An individual final paper of 2500 words. The topic will be published on the UniMelb Learning Management System prior to the first Webinar.

Students will receive feedback and mentoring on each task and must pass all tasks.

This is a pass/fail subject. The discussion board postings and the final paper count equally toward the final grade.

Assessment for intensive subject delivery

There are two assessment tasks:

• Four small group discussion and presentation tasks (5 x 500 word equivalent assessment tasks) (= 2000 words) due during residential school.
• A 3000 word final individual essay due at end of semester.

This is a pass/fail subject. Participants receive feedback for each task, and must pass all tasks.

Selected readings and notes to be provided prior to commencement

This subject is not available as a breadth subject.

On successful completion of this subject participants will be able to distinguish between different approaches to external quality assurance and critically examine how well a given model fits a specific national context.