In universities worldwide, there is an increased reliance on academic developers to contribute to enhancing higher education. As critical-constructive agents within their universities, academic developers have the potential to contribute to changes on the institutional level as well as on the level of educational practices. While such a role has…

The article deals with the validation of the internationalization imperative in higher education institutions (HEIs) of the Nordic countries. I focus on both the goals and motives behind activities supporting internationalization, but also on the manner of their habitualization and institutionalization in the practice of academic administration…

This article studies issues of coloniality in so-called capacity-building projects between universities in Africa and Scandinavia. Even fifty years after independence, the African higher education landscape is a product of the colonial powers and subsequent uneven power relations, as argued by a number of researchers. The uneven geography and…

In this study, four recent self-initiated educational quality projects at Swedish universities are compared and analyzed. The article focuses on how the universities have handled the tension between external demands and internal norms. The aim is to contribute to an improved understanding of quality management in contemporary universities. On the…

Higher education institutions in Sweden are increasingly exposed to international market conditions and rising competition from a more mobile student body. This increases the need for universities to adapt to their social and economic environment and to their clients, including the political trends and financial opportunities in Sweden and EU, if…

Universities traverse epistemic, sectoral and geopolitical boundaries with increasing frequency, but along the way encounter challenges in mitigating unequal capacities, soaring costs and proprietary concerns. The bridging of disparate stakeholder interests requires an enormous effort, as research policies, institutional norms and organizational…

Present higher education reforms in the Nordic countries diminish the role and influence of the state on the governance of higher education institutions. While still providing a framework for the management of higher education, in general, the state supervises rather than controls higher education institutions (HEIs). The rhetoric of change…

The purpose of this research was to report on a Child-Friendly School (CFS) initiative pilot project in Jordan, which aims at initiating the creation of CFS and to raise stakeholders' awareness of the importance of this project in promoting and implementing Child Rights Conviction (CRC) in Jordan. The study was conducted by a joint team selected…

E-learning in the European Higher Education Area has stampeded its way to the foreground of the Quality Assurance (QA) forum, and has become a key issue among quality assurance agencies and institutions in the European Higher Education Area (EHEA). Because internet-based learning is currently such a relevant topic, there is a dire need for the…

The Quality Convergence Study (QCS) project, a follow-up to a 2002 ENQA (European Association for Quality Assurance in Higher Education) survey of quality assurance practices in European countries, was carried out between September 2003 and October 2004. The project was coordinated by a project team consisting of representatives of ENQA member…