Distance higher education is an important component of the Chinese higher education.How to enhance the quality of distance higher education is one of the key issues to be addressed in the research areas of distance ed...Distance higher education is an important component of the Chinese higher education.How to enhance the quality of distance higher education is one of the key issues to be addressed in the research areas of distance education and higher education.As a crucial step to quality improvement,the constitution of accreditation system in distance higher education balances the benefits of all parties involved.This paper explores the American accreditation system of higher education and distance education and concludes with suggestions for the constitution of the Chinese quality assurance system:1)establishing third-party institutions to share part of the government roles;2)constituting the accreditation system;3)setting up appropriate standards;4)publicizing results of quality assurance work;and 5)building internal quality assurance mechanism.This paper is aimed to provide some reference to the constitution of accreditation system of distance higher education in China,facilitate the solution of quality problems in distance education,and promote the continuous improvement and development of distance education in China.展开更多
Background:The coronavirus disease 2019(COVID-19)pandemic has led to a paradigm shift in global health,casting a previously niche academic discipline into a headline dominating field of research.However,accurate infor...Background:The coronavirus disease 2019(COVID-19)pandemic has led to a paradigm shift in global health,casting a previously niche academic discipline into a headline dominating field of research.However,accurate information on the delivery of global health education(GHE)at a university level is lacking.This study aims to assess current GIIE practices in U.K.universities,by identifying the availability of dedicated global health qualifications,as well as the breadth of inclusion of GHE topics across university course content.Methods:Universities selected were the top 25 recipients of MRC funding in 2015-2016,as well as universities who were included in previous iterations of the“Global Health League Table”.We used the Consortium of Universities for Global Health“GHE Competencies Toolkit”to identify the presence of global health content across university global health and other course offerings.Universities were additionally judged on opportunities available in global health and on the presence of sustainable partnerships.Results:Our results showed that 20 universities(74%)offer a post-graduate global health related course,with 9(33%)offering an undergraduate global health related course.13(48%)were identified as centers of global health excellence.Just 12(44%)universities had registered sustainable partnerships with Tropical Health and Education Trust.The London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine was identified as the top deliverer of GHE,with the Universities of Leicester and the Universities of Exeter joint bottom.We were unable to standardize quality assessments in this iteration of the project,but the release of student feedback to future assessors would help to improve the reliability of this study methodology.Additionally,much of our data was based on information available online,and thus some aspects of degree courses not published publicly may not have been accounted for in our scoring.Conclusion:Those institutions wishing to improve their delivery of GHE should consider the establishment of a postgraduate or undergraduate degree course.Breadth of global health content across curricular was a major discriminating factor between institutions,and we would advise universities to consider including more global health topics across their curricular-especially in light of the intersectional impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.展开更多
文摘Distance higher education is an important component of the Chinese higher education.How to enhance the quality of distance higher education is one of the key issues to be addressed in the research areas of distance education and higher education.As a crucial step to quality improvement,the constitution of accreditation system in distance higher education balances the benefits of all parties involved.This paper explores the American accreditation system of higher education and distance education and concludes with suggestions for the constitution of the Chinese quality assurance system:1)establishing third-party institutions to share part of the government roles;2)constituting the accreditation system;3)setting up appropriate standards;4)publicizing results of quality assurance work;and 5)building internal quality assurance mechanism.This paper is aimed to provide some reference to the constitution of accreditation system of distance higher education in China,facilitate the solution of quality problems in distance education,and promote the continuous improvement and development of distance education in China.
基金supported by Association of Medical Education Europe's Students Initiative Grant.
文摘Background:The coronavirus disease 2019(COVID-19)pandemic has led to a paradigm shift in global health,casting a previously niche academic discipline into a headline dominating field of research.However,accurate information on the delivery of global health education(GHE)at a university level is lacking.This study aims to assess current GIIE practices in U.K.universities,by identifying the availability of dedicated global health qualifications,as well as the breadth of inclusion of GHE topics across university course content.Methods:Universities selected were the top 25 recipients of MRC funding in 2015-2016,as well as universities who were included in previous iterations of the“Global Health League Table”.We used the Consortium of Universities for Global Health“GHE Competencies Toolkit”to identify the presence of global health content across university global health and other course offerings.Universities were additionally judged on opportunities available in global health and on the presence of sustainable partnerships.Results:Our results showed that 20 universities(74%)offer a post-graduate global health related course,with 9(33%)offering an undergraduate global health related course.13(48%)were identified as centers of global health excellence.Just 12(44%)universities had registered sustainable partnerships with Tropical Health and Education Trust.The London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine was identified as the top deliverer of GHE,with the Universities of Leicester and the Universities of Exeter joint bottom.We were unable to standardize quality assessments in this iteration of the project,but the release of student feedback to future assessors would help to improve the reliability of this study methodology.Additionally,much of our data was based on information available online,and thus some aspects of degree courses not published publicly may not have been accounted for in our scoring.Conclusion:Those institutions wishing to improve their delivery of GHE should consider the establishment of a postgraduate or undergraduate degree course.Breadth of global health content across curricular was a major discriminating factor between institutions,and we would advise universities to consider including more global health topics across their curricular-especially in light of the intersectional impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.
