Following the enormous success of the Sixth Quality in Higher Education International Seminar, on the 'End of Quality?', supported by SRHE, it emerged that there is a pressing need for a transformation in the nature, conceptualisation and evaluation of quality in higher education.

As a result, the Seventh Quality in Higher Education International Seminar, scheduled to take place in Melbourne 31st October - 1st November, will be entitled 'Transforming Quality'. This will be a joint endeavour of two research centres in the antipodes of the world: the Centre for Research into Quality in Birmingham, UK and the Centre for Management Quality Research, in Melbourne, Australia. SRHE members are warmly invited and will benefit from a discount on the Seminar fee.

At the heart of the Transforming Quality seminar will be focussed discussion groups, these will be augmented by keynotes and parallel papers, and proposals for papers are welcome. There will be three interlinked themes for the discussions on transforming quality:

1. Transformation of what constitutes a quality experience in higher education: to what extent is their a need to reconceptualise how higher education engages with access, employability and funding issues?
2. To what is extent is quality in higher education perceived in terms of the way it transforms students: what constitutes a high quality learning process and outcomes
3. How might quality evaluation be transformed to help improve the quality of the experience and of the learning?

The two-day gathering in Melbourne is at the start of the Spring Carnival season (what better way to have a blossoming of fresh ideas!). It is expected that the keynote speakers who will also be involved in the discussion sessions will come from Australia, Europe, United States and South-East Asia.

Please contact Prof. Lee Harvey on lee.harvey@shu.ac.uk or Mr G.Srikanthan on sri@rmit.edu.au for further details.