Purpose: Prospective students and other stakeholders in the education system use global and national rankings as a measure of the quality of education offered by different higher educational institutions. The ranking of an Institution is seen as a measure of reputation and has a significant role in attracting students. But are students happy in…

The Society for Learning Analytics Research (SoLAR) defines learning analytics as "the measurement, collection, analysis and reporting of data about learners and their contexts, for purposes of understanding and optimizing learning and the environments in which it occurs" (SoLAR, n.d.). To fully realize the potential of learning…

Drawing on the data collected via a European funded project with eleven higher education partners, the article proposes a five-stage working model which can be adopted in and adapted to different institutional contexts so as to shift perceptions, strengthen engagement and channel commitment with a view to developing the desired quality culture.…

Academic advising is one of the key practices in U.S. higher education institutions for supporting students' success. However, the complexity of academic advising program structures, the difficulties in identifying appropriate outcome measures, and the lack of inclusion of multiple stakeholders' perspectives continue to challenge scholars to…

Higher education institutions (HEIs) are increasingly being held accountable for maintaining quality in their activities by governments, industry, students, and the community as a whole. Accreditation agencies formulate assessment criteria covering the entire range of HEI activities so that the quality of HEI activities can be measured. However,…

As the price tag of higher education continues to rise, colleges and universities across the country are under increasing pressure to demonstrate their value. Graded on numerous metrics, including cost and ability to prepare students for the job market, colleges must satisfy requirements from multiple stakeholders. State and federal governments…

The literature on quality management at higher education institutions has for some time been working on the basis of two issues: a) the diversity of ideas as to what "quality" means, which makes it harder to apply the principles of quality management in this context; and b) the idea that this diversity is in some way a response to the…

In the context of the ongoing changes in the management systems of higher education, the issue of higher education institutions' (HEIs) relationships with external stakeholders are of key importance. This article discusses this problem from the perspective of Polish higher education system. The aim of it is to answer the following questions: (1)…

One can, in principle, identify numerous arguments for mergers in higher education (HE), including efficiency, diversity, quality, and regional needs. This diversity can be explained by the growing societal interest in the sector, not least concerning the contributions from HE to society at large. However, research on merger processes has tended…

It has been suggested that higher education institutions (HEIs) may develop different activity profiles (including research, teaching and socio-economic engagement) in their attempt to maximise the fit between institutional resources and strategic opportunities; the latter include strategies of engagement with different groups of external…

Fast development of technologies, changing needs of digital learners and other aspects of the digital era have had a major impact on universities and their learning management procedures. Access to information online, possibilities of open online learning and need to manage one's time lead to the changed profile of today's students and their need…

In the last few decades, global changes such as an ever more integrated world economy, new technologies or the emergence of an international knowledge network have increasingly determined developments in European higher education. Policymakers have addressed these challenges using processes that support the practical orientation of higher…

The paper analyses employability as a floating signifier--a construct that accommodates different and often contending meanings. A preliminary analysis of scholarly literature identifies two opposed interpretations of employability--an individual responsibility versus a comprehensive context-aware construct. These are subsequently applied to the…

Interest in collecting and mining large sets of educational data on student background and performance to conduct research on learning and instruction has developed as an area generally referred to as learning analytics. Higher education leaders are recognizing the value of learning analytics for improving not only learning and teaching but also…

This chapter proposes a simple framework, "orthogonality," to help clarify what stakeholders think about learning in college, how we assess outcomes, and how clear assessment methods might help increase confidence in returns on investment.