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Current challenges to quality in higher education

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Abstract

This paper considers some implications for teaching in higher education of quality assurance demands made in circumstances of financial restraint. The paper suggests that responses must be anchored in improvement in student learning. This has implications for university teaching, for the evaluation of its effectiveness and for leadership in universities. The paper commences with a discussion of an understanding of the nature of the relationship between teaching and learning in higher education resulting from an Australian investigation of student perceptions of university teaching. The understanding arising from this study suggests that, given that the environment is an educational one, both evaluation of teaching and educational leadership should be in harmony with effective approaches to learning and teaching.

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Additional information

Paul Ramsden is Professor of Higher Education and Director of the Griffith Institute for Higher Education at Griffith University, Brisbane, Australia. He has taught in polytechnics, universities, and schools in the United Kingdom and Australia. His research field is the influence of teaching and assessment on the quality of student learning. Dr. Ramsden has been professionally involved in faculty development for over 15 years and published the textLearning to Teach in Higher Education, Routledge, New York (1992). He holds degrees from the University of London and the UK Council for Academic Awards, and a Ph.D. from the University of Lancaster.

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Ramsden, P. Current challenges to quality in higher education. Innov High Educ 18, 177–188 (1994). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01191112

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