Quality and relevance

This priority involves a review of public policies and mechanisms that target the improvement of quality and equity in higher education, promoting alignment with a global quality criteria framework for higher education institutions and an increase in the percentage of lecturers at the doctoral level.

For this priority, the Institute has formulated the following objectives and activities:

1



Assistance with a review of public policies and mechanisms that contribute to the improvement of the quality, relevance and equity of higher education

  • Preparation of the UNESCO Report on Higher Education in Latin America and the Caribbean. This biennial report reviews progress from the perspective of quality, relevance and equity in the region, including references to ongoing reforms or new initiatives, and in particular pointing out linkages with CRES 2018 guidelines.
  • International offer of three annual research scholarships on public policies of higher education for doctoral students , financed by the Institute and many others with international funding.
  • International offer of three annual visiting researcher positions.
  • Creation of a regional network of specialists in higher education from principal research centers and UNESCO Chairs specializing in this field.
  • Reinforcement of the IESALC Documentation Center to make it an international research source.
  • Upgrading of the Higher Education and Society Journal (ESS) to gain international recognition for its quality.
  • Launch of a training program, in collaboration with UNESCO Chairs, on MOOC (Massive Open Online Course) format for higher education actors and practitioners on quality, relevance and equity policies.

2


Promote alignment with a regional framework criteria of quality and relevance of higher education institutions that serve as a reference for all agencies and is regularly updated

  • Preparation of an international comparative study on the criteria of quality and relevance for higher education institutional accreditation and the operations and composition of national agencies, showing emerging trends.

3



Significantly increase the percentage of teachers at the doctoral level in those countries with greater deficit

  • Conduct a study of the growth in the percentage of higher education teachers in the region, including incentives and impediments.
  • Prepare, in conjunction with other international organizations, an international hybrid doctoral program to benefit those countries where faculty doctoral level rates are the lowest, and identify the required action to raise resources.

Related resources

The transformation of higher education

Francesc Pedró | This contribution has opted for an approach to the transformation of higher education that attempts to describe and analyze trends of which we are just beginning to have signs.…