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ERIC Number: EJ1444789
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2024
Pages: 20
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0268-0939
EISSN: EISSN-1464-5106
Declined Quality? A Poststructural Policy Analysis of the 'Quality Problem' in Taiwanese Higher Education
Ren-Hao Xu
Journal of Education Policy, v39 n6 p943-962 2024
The tension between broadening university capacity and maintaining quality is a global phenomenon. While numerous studies have analysed the enactments of various policies that aimed to address declining university quality, few have examined the underlying beliefs that define what is conceptualised as a 'quality problem' within the policy proposals. Utilising Carol Bacchi's 'What's the Problem Represented to be?' (WPR) approach, this study provides a nuanced analysis of this issue, centring on an underexplored aspect: how the 'quality' is "made to be" a particular kind of problem "within a specific policy." Specifically, it scrutinises an uncommon policy in Taiwan -- proposing the reduction of university places as a solution to declining quality -- to critically analyse "what" quality is established as 'reality' that set limits on how higher education can be thought. A central thesis of this analysis is that higher education system comes into existence through ongoing formation as specific "kind" of object rather than existing as a fixed entity. Understanding the construction of quality problem and the objectification of higher education requires a critical examination of the underlying assumptions and a detailed mapping of heterogeneous practices that create forms of authority for certain perceptions of 'quality' accepted as true.
Routledge. Available from: Taylor & Francis, Ltd. 530 Walnut Street Suite 850, Philadelphia, PA 19106. Tel: 800-354-1420; Tel: 215-625-8900; Fax: 215-207-0050; Web site: http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Higher Education; Postsecondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Taiwan
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A