Analytic Quality Glossary
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Citation
reference: Harvey, L., 2004, Analytic Quality Glossary, Quality
Research International, http://www.qualityresearchinternational.com/glossary/
This is a dynamic glossary and the author would welcome any e-mail
suggestions for amendments or additions.
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Enhancement is a process of augmentation
or improvement.
explanatory
context
In relation to higher education quality,
enhancement refers to:
1. the enhancement of individual
learners; the augmentation or improvement of learnersÕ attributes, knowledge,
ability, skills and potential.
2. the improvement in the quality of an
institution or programme of study.
The implicit assumption is that
enhancement takes place as a result of structured enhancement activities, be
they initiated, developed an implemented internally or externally to the
institution or programme. Enhancement is one of the purposes of quality monitoring.
analytical
review
Campbell and Rozsnyai (2002,
p. 133) define:
Quality enhancement: Procedures taken to improve quality. Quality management: Aggregate of measures taken regularly to assure quality of a unit. Emphasizes the goal to improve quality.
Harvey and Green (1993) identified
enhancement as part of a transformative approach to quality, supplemented by empowerment:
Enhancing
the participant: A quality education is one that effects changes in the
participants and, thereby, presumably enhances them. Value-added notions of
quality provide a summative approach to enhancement (Astin, 1985, 1991; CNAA,
1990; Kogan, 1986).
Vl‹sceanu
et al.,
(2004, p. 47) argue that enhancement is a definition of quality.
Quality
as enhancement or improvement: focusing on the continuous search for permanent improvement, stressing
the responsibility of the higher education institution to make the best use of
its institutional autonomy and freedom. Achieving quality is central to the
academic ethos and to the idea that academics themselves know best what quality
is.
Campbell and Rozsnyai (2002,
p. 23) also see enhancement as a definition of quality:
Quality as enhancement or improvement. This concept emphasizes the pursuit of
continuous improvement and is predicated on the notion that achieving quality
is central to the academic ethos and that it is academics themselves who know
best what quality is at any point in time.
This, of course,
is not a definition of quality but a purpose of quality evaluation. Otherwise
it would mean that quality, itself, is defined as Ôthe continuous search for
permanent improvementÕ!
related terms
See
also
sources
Astin,
A. W., 1985, Achieving Educational Excellence. San Francisco, Jossey Bass.
Astin,
A. W., 1991, Assessment for Excellence: The philosophy and practice of
assessment and evaluation in higher education. New York, American Council on
Education and Macmillan.
Campbell,
C. & Rozsnyai, C., 2002, Quality Assurance and the Development of Course
Programmes.
Papers on Higher Education Regional University Network on Governance and
Management of Higher Education in South East Europe Bucharest, UNESCO.
Council
for National Academic Awards (CNAA), 1990, The Measurement of Value Added in
Higher Education. London, CNAA.
Harvey,
L. and Green, D., 1993, ÔDefining qualityÕ, Assessment and Evaluation in
Higher Education,
18(1). pp. 9Ð34.
Kogan,
M., (Ed.), 1986, Evaluating Higher Education - Papers from the Journal of
Institutional Management in Higher Education, London, Jessica Kingsley.
Vl‹sceanu, L., GrŸnberg,
L., and P‰rlea, D., 2004, Quality Assurance and Accreditation: A Glossary of
Basic Terms and Definitions (Bucharest, UNESCO-CEPES) Papers on Higher Education, ISBN 92-9069-178-6. http://www.cepes.ro/publications/Default.htm