大学管理者的质量观及其进行教育质量保障的方法——基于对“IQA项目”遴选的8所案例大学中高层管理者的实证研究

University Administrators' Conceptions of Quality and Their Approaches to Quality Assurance——Based on an Empirical Study of Middle & Senior Administrators in 8 Universities Selected by “IQA Project”

高等教育质量保障活动正在世界各国及其高等教育机构如火如荼地开展,我们有必要仔细思考所谓的"质量"究竟指的是什么。大学的中高层管理者是高校内部质量保障制度的开发者和执行人,他们进行教育质量保障的策略和方法与其对质量概念或含义的理解有很大关系。通过定性实证研究的方法,对来自国内外8所大学的13名中高层管理者的质量观及其进行教育质量保障的方法进行个案分析后发现,大学管理者所进行的质量保障活动实际呈现出一幅由维持质量、证明质量和提高质量等方法构成的、复杂的连续性光谱画面。在此基础上,本文对比格斯提出的关于质量保障方法的分类模型作出了修改和发展。

As the higher education quality assurance （QA） activities are being vigorously carried out within higher education institutions in the world, it is important to carefully consider what the term ＂quality＂ means. University Administrators were the developers and the main executors of the internal quality assurance system, their strategies and approaches for implementing QA are closely related to their definitions and conceptions of quality. This qualitative empirical study explores the relationships between the conceptions of quality held by 13 middle ＆ senior administrators from 8 universities （home and abroad） and their strategies and approaches for implementing QA processes. The results reveal a range of QA approaches, indicate a complicat6d spectrum that involves three main approaches to QA： maintaining quality, demonstrating quality, and improving quality. Therefore, this paper develops Biggs＇ s ideas about the two approaches to quality assurance and a revision to his model is proposed.