Commonwealth of Learning, July 2009
Editors: Professor Uma Coomaraswamy, Dr. Kondapalli Rama and Ms. Andrea Hope
Produced in partnership with the Sri Lankan Distance Education Modernization Project and UNESCO.
The massification of higher education in many countries is placing tremendous pressure on higher education institutions (HEIs) to open up their doors to increasing numbers of students as demand for access to higher education soars. In response to this trend countries are turning increasingly to distance learning. The challenge for HEIs is to keep their virtual doors open while sustaining a culture of continuous improvement in their research, teaching and community engagement functions.
The Commonwealth of Learning is proud to partner with the Sri Lankan Ministry of Higher Education and UNESCO to produce this Quality Assurance Toolkit for Distance Higher Education Institutions and Programmes. The Toolkit has been prepared with three features.
First, it is a generic document on quality assurance, complete with a glossary of terms used in distance learning, for use across the Commonwealth. It accommodates various institutional solutions to reflect range of delivery methods used by distance education providers.
Second, it proposes performance indicators so that institutions can gauge their own performance trends, fostering continuous quality improvement in the spirit of a culture of quality.
Third, it provides best practice case studies from across the Commonwealth that can serve as exemplars as institutions consider their respective situations and options.
The performance indicators in the Toolkit were developed by the Distance Education Modernisation Project (DEMP) of Sri Lanka under the aegis of the Ministry of Higher Education in collaboration with COL, which brought together experts from twelve Commonwealth countries and UNESCO to develop international performance indicators.
COL will continue to provide assistance for capacity building in quality assurance in higher education institutions We invite distance teaching institutions to use this toolkit in evaluating and improving their internal systems, policies, plans and programmes. We welcome comments on lessons learned in using the toolkit.
Sir John Daniel
President and CEO
Commonwealth of Learning