Emblems of Quality in Higher Education : Developing and Sustaining High-Quality Programs

There has been a growing public concern that the nation's colleges and universities are not preparing individuals adequately for the demanding challenges of tomorrow's workplace. Legislators, bombarded by taxpayer complaints about the rising costs of higher education, are pressuring colleges and universities to become more accountable through quality control and program review mandates. And declining financial support for higher education is forcing many institutions to look critically at programs to decide which merit continued funding.
To be sure, post-secondary educators have always been concerned about the quality of their programs. But "quality" has often been defined in terms of faculty research or student test scores - measures that do not meet today's educational needs. This book challenges educators to reexamine their assumptions and beliefs about program quality. It offers a comprehensive theory of quality in higher education, organized around one central idea: that student learning is the focal point of a high-quality undergraduate or graduate program, and consequently that program quality is a result of student, faculty, and administrative engagement in mutually supportive teaching and learning.
To ascertain the components of an academic program that is seen as successful by all those who have a stake in it, the authors examined the literature and analyzed interviews with 781 students, faculty, administrators, alumni, and employers of program graduates in a broad range of disciplines at a wide variety of colleges and universities. They identified seventeen specific factors, which they grouped into five clusters of attributes: diverse and engaged participants, a participatory culture, interactive teaching and learning, connected program requirements, and adequate resources. Supporting excerpts from the interviews illuminate the authors' detailed examination of these factors.

Jennifer Grant Haworth is Assistant Professor of Higher Education at Loyola University Chicago.