Prepared by Dr. Janet K. Poley

WELCOMING ADDRESS -Glenn R. Jones, CEO, Jones International Ltd and Founding Member of GATE

Jones summarized the message from his new book: Cyberschools: An Educational Renaissance, see http://www.cyberschools.com
1996 ISBN: 1-885400-54-3

He said the new era of digital convergence needs to be approached from a mindset of solutions and opportunities, NOT problems and barriers.

"Move the Sacred Cows"

We must:

1. Move information to people, rather than people to information.
2. Move entertainment to people, rather than people to entertainment.
3. Move merchandise to people, rather than people to merchandise.
4. Move education to people, rather than people to education

There are 65 million cable subscribers in the U.S. representing 188.5 million people - that's 40 people per class, that's 4 million classrooms.

Wally Griffin, President, Jones Education Networks (USDA and Multinational) formerly of U.S. West.

Marjorie Peace Lenn, Co-Host GATE and Executive Director, Center for Quality Assurance in International Education (USA)

Reasons for Assuring Educational Quality:

1. Healthier economy.
2. Massification of education.
3. Rise of private education.
4. Professions moving across borders - we need to prepare people for the global economy (trade agreements and multinationals).
5. Matching programs to labor needs.
6. Doing more with fewer resources.

Globalization of Accreditation

1. Multiple Accreditation - North America and Europe.
2. Regional Accreditation - (this will parallel trade agreements).
3. International Network of Quality Agencies in Higher Education (will involve 60 countries).

GATE - plans to be the International organization and will include national accrediting bodies and national higher education associations - not limited to distance education, but distance education is pushing need to make this International forum rather than national or regional.

Primary Issues and Services

1. Need for reliable and current database of transnational education programs globally.
2. Need to cooperatively develop principles of good practice.
3. Need for an International forum to coordinate quality assurance in new delivery form.

1992 - 1.2 million International students - U.S., CA, Germany, France, U.K.

Largest Exporters of Educational Products are:

• Australia - $1 Billion U.S. dollars - 1993
• U.K. - $3-5 Billion???? - 1993
• U.S. - $7 Billion - 1994 - this is number six U.S. export after transportation

The Providers

• Old - Individual Institutions of Higher Education
• Newer - Consortia of Institutions of Higher Education
• Newest - Corporations

Types of Transnational Programs

1. Distance education programs.
2. Study abroad programs.
3. Single purpose programs.
4. Branch campuses.
5. Programs on military bases.
6. Linkage-twining programs.
7. Institutions chartered in home country operating abroad.
8. Language programs.

Principles of Good Practice
Australia - Association of Vice-Chancellors

• U.S.
• ACE
• NAFSA
• Center for Quality Assurance
• WICHE
• Regional Institutional Accreditors

GATE will meet annually and also regionally - will operate as an International Association - Multinational Sector will assist with this (OECD, UNESCO)

Transnational Education and Quality Imperative: Key Issues

Bob Smith, Executive Director, Australian Education Office, Washington, D.C.

Key Issue: whether we agree that there should be credible, persistent and strenuous advocacy for the processes, structures and protocols that will insure minimum quality standards in the content, organization, delivery and assessment in education.

General

1. Mission

   • mission of higher education is to faster creativity and responsiveness to change
   • institutions modify this by role statements that reflect strategic decisions about preferred size, program mix, delivery modes and clientele
   • an institution's commitment flow logically from mission and role statements

2. Cultural Diplomacy

   • The delivery of education to nationals of other countries is an important dimension of cultural diplomacy

     • trading, diplomatic and power relationships

3. Accountability and autonomy

   • each institution wants a niche - institutions are accountable for resource deployment and choices relating to size, location, program mix

4. Domestic and Off-Shore Delivery

   • predominant clientele nationals
   • institutions make deliberate choices about off-shore and should be accountable

5. Industry and Government

   • diversity of providers should accommodate needs of clientele - domestic and International
   • consumer friendly system - regular industry audits is preferable to government regulation

6. International students

   • 1992 - 1.4 million 607,000 Asia
   • 1995 - 1.5 million 687,000 Asian
   • 2000 - 1.8 million 1.8 million Asian
   • 2025 - 4.9 million 2.9 million Asians

   IDP: Source

7. Australia

   • 81,000 overseas students in Australia 1995
   • 57,000 in higher education
   • 36 public universities out of 38 universities (2 private)
   • 1 university-college
   • 33 are publicly supported
   • Programs delivered in 20 countries - 303 programs
   • 164 bachelors programs
   • 74 masters programs
   • Sprinkling of others - certificates and diplomas
   • Where delivered?
   • Malaysia - 116
   • Singapore - 76
   • Hong Kong - 55
   • China - 10
   • Delivery combinations
   • Host Country Only 132 out of 305
   • Host country and Australia - 109
   • Distance education only 49
   • Distance Ed and Australia - 9
   • Host Country and Distance ed - 6
   • Partners
   • These 33 universities have 85 partners colleges
   • 82 special purpose institutions
   • 64 companies
   • 42 universities

All preconceptions fall by the wayside with what is coming with the WWW.

There is a need for advocacy for Quality Transnational Programs

Maria Jose Lemaitre del Campo, Director, National Accreditation Council-Chile

• growing demand for higher education
• massification
• need for it on job
• aspiration in most countries
• "almost any kind of student will do is attitude of institutions as funding pressures increase" - opportunity it change in mode of delivery - will have much more competition

We are moving to elimination of barriers to higher education and it will be subject to the marketplace - i.e. need to define quality.

No longer will be scarce - old way used to be easier to regulate - no correspondence in old system between supply and demand - but that all changes now that higher ed can be imported and exported.

Lots of similar, but different programs - hard for institutions to have adequate information on foreign programs - many countries and institutions take the attitude that it is our degree and our country and the importing country has nothing to say about it.... need to agree on quality principles - databases and transparent information for customers very important.

Most work will continue to be done within national border - quality assurance will be managed by national and International agreements whether distance or other types...

GATE plans to "add urgency" to important issues and be sure the issue of quality is not left behind.

Higher Education Institutional Perspective - Richard Lewis - Pro-Vice Chancellor - Open University

Why Transnational Education? When a course is designed in one country and delivered in another country.

20,000 transnational in Open University U.K.

1. Partnership with Singapore.
2. Working with employees to develop company training networks and deliver management education.

Universities want to create opportunities and want to help, but universities also want to help themselves - this is going to be a powerful engine of social change

We need to be careful that we "still do good."

Some universities are doing things overseas that they would not do at home.

Poor quality transnational education

• just in it for the money
• just in it for the excitement
• naivete
• cultural issues

This must be part of the mainstream universities for excellence -too often organized quickly without good academic base just to make money.

Difficulties are academic as much as financial.

Academics love to roam and things are being done without sound basis

• people chose poor overseas partners
• we must have a system for auditing collaborative ventures
• people don't handle cultural issues well
• there is a lot of detail in all this - not just a willingness of spirit

There are large benefits coming in Transnational Education through Technology

1. Big financial advantage to exporting organizations.
2. Increased opportunity to recruit students in the exporting countries.
3. These countries will move away from a parochial curriculum and have a much enriched curriculum which will attract more students - smart cross culturally rich - get richer.
4. Must look at equivalence or accreditation of qualifications and standards.

U.K. is debating what is meant by "graduateness"
It is of growing importance to ask

1. How will an individual's qualifications bring respect, not in a particular country, but in the world?
2. How will this education help working internationally?

GATE should bring an end to the "bad".

Education is now customer driven - customers and their interests are the most important - cannot be faculty driven as in the past - this has to drive the definition of quality - "this conference does not have adequate student representation".

Wally Griffin - The Corporate Perspective

We plan to meet customer needs exactly - this is quality.
We are going to figure out who the customer is.
Quality is the responsibility of the provider and it is a priority survival issue.

The Changing needs of the Corporation in a Global Marketplace

• national borders are a barrier to growth
• borders are a barrier to learning
• borders are a barrier to customers
• borders are a barrier to education
• borders are a barrier to markets

Jones is going to take University Education worldwide through the Jones Education Networks - it will have an adult learning focus, programming will be by T.V. (cable and videotape) and Internet in new convergence - will work with an array of organizations, colleges and universities.

We are interested in health and wellness, business and finance, careers, language and culture - International University College - will build quality - this will be the 21st century model for higher education and lifelong learning - IUC is a consortium of 30 plus community colleges.

We have to have standards and access to better serve transnational business in higher education including:

• portability, standards and access
• must customize for business needs
• mix and match using best practices

"Users do not want to worry about standards and quality." Multi-nationals want access to education anywhere in the world - they want customization in the country where the principles will be applied - they want access to the best of the best - want to take from various institutions-consortia and have packages approved - don't want to deal with lots of individual units - we need speed - we must learn today and apply tomorrow quickly.

We want people working and learning - not accumulating seat time - we need to be responsible - sensitive to local culture - understand and meet the needs of customers - recognize the long term impact of our actions - education critical to competitiveness and it is a competitive business.

We see the first line customer as businesses - next individuals - this is self-interest for the Jones enterprises.

John Maudlin-Jeronimo, National Architectural Accrediting Board

• professions are now globalizing
• professionals must be prepared to be lifelong learners
• quality, organized continuing education is a must for professions
• industries are providing continuing education - they must - it is in their self-interest.
• Associations also see doing this to serve their members - professional associations are really where continuing education is for the future

Associations will take over the major responsibility for this in a global, transnational way - can't be left to small parochial state units. Associations will certify quality and best programs - will work with business and industry.

We must have quick response entrepreneurs.....higher ed is way too slow - change is now too quick - higher ed doesn't recognize that professional time is the most valuable commodity for business. Berlitz charges $8000 to learn Spanish in two weeks - this is better than universities, but still too long - we want programs in hotels, motels, ability to use technology to multi-task so people can literally be learning at work, on airplanes, on the road. This will have to be done by self-directed learners - this will be part of being a professional - no more hand holding.

Professionals plan to regulate this area - the World Trade Organization is gearing up for this - looking at how to get this harmonized across many countries.

Architects are opposed to harmonization if by harmonization we homogenize - we need standards but it is essential that we allow difference - describe differences - so don't harmonize and homogenize.

We should instead: make offerings transparent, convertible and compatible - this is where the future is**************** Won't be in anyone's interest to make everything the same. People must be able to compare systems and identify gaps that might be significant for performing a certain job or in a certain country.

We must focus on CONTENT: What is the CONTENT of the learning unit - promote the assessment of outcomes - what has the student learned - what can the student do?

If principles are valid, they can be made transferable and we shouldn't be worrying about all content being the same - THE IMPORTANT QUESTIONS REALLY: Are the principles the same and are they learned and can the student apply the principles - in what situations and settings? Otherwise, shouldn't worry about making everything the same - really counterproductive.

Sir John Daniel, Vice Chancellor Open University, U.K.

Lots of credible institutions are really incompetent in this new environment.

Key today is understanding the convergence of cognitive science, telecommunications and computing - if you don't really have this together, you don't belong in the higher ed business in the future....

Open University of good model - more people study relevant things in the Open University than in many other institutions... Tomorrow we need high access, high technology, high quality and low cost - without all four you're dead - U.S. universities have lots of cost problems and if they try to do this in the wrong way, they will be further handicapped - Mega universities will be a reality - i.e. 3 million students and costs have to come down to about $350/student a semester - Open University and business plans to meet this target and do it in quality way.

We can't have students getting degrees without doing any work - society has vested institutions of higher ed with responsibility.

Also, we'll have lots of problems transnationally - when we start publishing assessments across borders, we'll get into questions of national interest - this is going to result in big trade wars.

Anybody working in this area must have

1. Excellent course materials.
2. Strong student support system.
3. Good student logistical arrangements.

Also, those who make it will do it with strong long networks and partners - won't be done by foreigners coming in.....this is essential in the developing an emerging nations.

Leo West - Pro Vice-Chancellor - Monash University, Australia

Transnational education will expand

• huge human resource needs in developing countries and industrialized countries and the demand for western education will continue

• enterprising institutions have become major exporters of education and are now preparing to expand into off-shore delivery

• we know that Australians will be employed in Asia and Asians will be employed in Australia

• the new technology now allows us the means to deliver education globally

• the new potential providers will be those who own the delivery networks - they will buy out the educational providers

• the stakeholders need some system of quality assurance/code of ethical practice/behavior with integrity

• institutions would benefit from some agreed set of good practices that could form the basis of an internal system of quality assurance for its courses

Problems at Monash

• internally generated standards - we need an externally generated set of standards

• there is no public information about this - institutions that act responsibly would value having this more recognized - we need a GATE seal of approval

Evaluation should be both intrinsic and extrinsic.

• Intrinsic: Are the courses and the awards of the quality expected by the institution for all of its courses?

• Extrinsic: Are the courses and teaching culturally sensitive, pedagogically sound, educationally relevant?

Various methods for recognizing compliance with the guidelines:

1. Institution formally agrees to comply.
2. Institution submits its procedures for approval by GATE.
3. Institution's procedures include a periodic review - GATE nominee certifies compliance.
4. GATE as an international accrediting agency.

Philip Palin, Chairman, Laurasian Institution

We are now discussing education as a unit of trade - we are talking about "human" capital - this is how wealth is developed - human capital is necessary for human prosperity and peace.

Between 1970-1990 real expenditures per pupil rose 350% in East Asia...68% in Mexico and 38% in Kenya - the annual growth rate is 7% in Korea and 2% for Mexico and Kenya - this is why governments are investing in human capital.

Secondary School Education

Those that remain at lower levels economically did not invest in human capital and are suffering the results.

World Bank has determined that growth in education and training have contributed substantially to East Asian miracle.

There is an enormous demand for higher education - but a limited ability to respond to this demand due to lack of facilities and cost.

We must move from low tech delivery to high tech - there will be a huge explosion of demand for higher education unless war, ecological disaster or internal problems happen in china or Indonesia - as economies become more and more integrated - growth will take off.

TO RESPOND TO THE NEED AND DEMAND FOR WORLDWIDE HIGHER EDUCATION, INTERNET BASED AND OTHER VIRTUAL MEANS OF EDUCATIONAL DELIVERY WILL BECOME UBIQUITOUS AND IN THE PROCESS, COMPLETELY TRANSFORM THE CULTURE OF EDUCATION - THE STRUCTURE AND PROCESS OF HIGHER EDUCATION WILL CHANGE...THUS QUALITY ASSURANCE PRINCIPLES AND PROCESSES APPROPRIATE FOR AN INTERNATIONAL AND CROSS CULTURAL ENVIRONMENT ARE A NEAR TERM AND REAL NEED IN ORDER TO ENCOURAGE EDUCATIONAL QUALITY IN A TIME OF PROFOUND TRANSITION. THIS PROCESS CHANGE WILL BE BOTH MESSY AND PAINFUL - WE CAN USE QUALITY STANDARDS AS A WAY TO CONTROL THE MESS AND PAIN.

Now is the time to hand out the key to higher education - nations of the world must have this - quality assurance can keep the revolution civilized.

Carin Berg - UNESCO - Swedish - working with Russia

European higher education is moving from politeness to truth - lots of professional mobility - Europeans have started asking real questions about quality, standards and comparability between and among institutions in Europe - we must do this. With improvements in information systems, we can move toward standardization - we must have accurate information about programs that is comparable (including linguistic understanding).

Translation is a big issue: People with real knowledge of several systems of higher education AND linguistic understanding/ability are very rare. We are seeing this now - we have Russian students who have credit from the UK Open University - but can these courses be applied for a Russian degree? Also we have a problem - higher education focuses on regional studies not on world studies as we must in the future.

Let the real conversations begin - we must put the issues on the table. GATE is very timely as a way to help us do this - it will promote common principles and good practice. People will be increasingly mobile and what people now want higher education to do is prepare them for the global marketplace that is already here.

Peter Debreczeni - Consultant Higher Education - Hungary Trends

Increase of student numbers.

As competition intensifies, employers want assurance of skills. We must have international academic standards - certification that will be recognized in the labor market.

Comparability is key.

Certification - we must come to agreement on official ratification of knowledge and have instruments that are recognized in professions.

Assessment has no purpose outside of the educational system - this is just for internal evaluation and control - evaluating educational institutions as a whole is not necessarily related to the value of the student - student is not passive recipient.

Contents of Certification - systems differ - we must move toward common content including knowledge (cognitive), ability to act on things and solve problems and develop the skills to accomplish specific tasks - this is what should be measured in the professions.

All training and education systems not in tight contact with the world of work are outdated - and providing useless qualifications.

We must be careful that we don't move from educating "competent people" to short term training cycles that results in nice but useless education - job of higher education is to produce competent people that are outcomes of experiences and education - we should not confuse qualification and competency. It is easy to establish a system of qualification - it is nearly impossible to do this for individual competencies. The best approach is to increase the involvement of the workplace and professions in the world of higher education. Main needs in Eastern Europe are in agriculture, business, English language, history and geography - increasing number of customers - Hungary serving Serbia, Slovakia, Romania with a mix of distance education and week-end programs - financed by Hungary.

Johan Brink - Quality Production Unit, Committee of University Principles (South Africa).

Globalization and mobility are driving us to do things differently - South Africa is both a first and third world country - demand for education has exploded.

Two distance ed institutions in SA exporting higher ed - 500 new entrants per year - other African countries.

South Africa needs to import education- total capacity of higher education is 350,000 - in 1995 there were 92,000 people qualified and ready to go to higher education - projected that by 2005 that will grow to as much as 700,000.

Large opportunity for foreign institutions that market in South Africa - you must find diverse new ways to do this - telephones still a problem in many places.

There is a big market and there is a big opportunity - but people are coming in to make a quick buck and we must find a way to regulate participation of foreign institutions. We need the database we are discussing at this conference so we can separate the qualified providers from those that are just in it for the money.

Four Types of Institutions are in operation:

1. Institutions with bona fide accreditation.
2. Institutions with degree programs that admit they are not accredited.
3. Institutions with degree programs having doubtful or no accreditation - the fly by night - here today and get the money - gone tomorrow.
4. Institutions offering degrees cooperating with local institutions.

We need to stop number three.

Dale Gough - Director, Office of International Education, AACRAO

We will build a global database including:

• admissions requirements
• program descriptions
• program length
• institutional profiles
• grading system
• sample documents - credentials awarded by that system

Any non-indigenous program offered will be listed under distance education.

Staff is just starting to work on the database (we saw a sample from Zambia).

Customers for the database are: corporations, institutions, agencies, government ministries and individuals.

Hank Spille - VP -ACE

We are in the beginning stages of an educational revolution - the school based system is broken and won't be fixed by doing more of the same.

Characteristics

What is taught and learned?

• learning to learn
• reasoning
• critical thinking
• team work

These are expected as outcomes, but employers are not satisfied. Employees with these skills succeed. Employers also want more job specificity. We must develop a new set of academic and employability skills - the competent individual coming from higher education must be able to access and apply knowledge.

Where We Learn Is Changing. When we learn is changing - a great technology room and setup does not guarantee learning - adult learning is critical and this learning has to be at home - 24 hours a day.

Adults want learning organized around learning outcomes.

They want learning organized into manageable units.

They want sustained interaction with teacher/facilitator and other like involved students.

They like group projects.

They like instructors who practice what they preach.

They want instructors with depth of real life experience.

The subject matter experts of the future must know:

• how to access information
• have the ability to make this come alive

Facilitate application.

Who will provide education: The new providers of adult education will not be individual institutions of higher education for the most part - they will be corporations - non-profit consortium, professional organizations, military, labor organizations and organizations including colleges and universities.

Who will credential - quality credentials are essential. We must make diplomas, certificates, degrees documents that "recognize outcomes" - we must communicate much more so that employers know very specifically what that credential means - what does it represent?

Diploma Mills are moving to the forefront - send us your money. Seventeen states exempt religious institutions - so we see people establishing their own religions so they can get into the education game. For example, the council on Post Secondary Christian Education - doesn't exist, FBI invaded LaSalle - confiscated $10 million in cash - a second $500,000 trust was also found - these organizations are now targeting markets around the world - sadly they are contributing to the international trade.

We must develop a global alliance with new services!

Andus Hellnan - GM Competence Development Centre - Ericson Telecon (Sweden and Multinational)

We want employees with university degrees that are qualified, competent and can work in harmony in other cultures.

We have 26 training units serving 114 countries - we train 50,000 students per year Europe - 50%, U.S. - 11%, Latin America - 7% and Africa - 2%.

The worldwide trends in telecommunications are - mobility and development of a person to person community - international, not national and convergence of media.

Our company's future goal: Ericson personnel will have great learning capacity.

Here's what we want in employees:

• they trust their own ability to learn
• reduce mental blocks
• take time for reflection
• interested in learning - want to network, understand and can speed read
• can manage stress
• ability to unlearn - can let go and develop new thought patterns

We will expect our employees to learn 5 to 20 times faster by 2000 than they did in 1992.

We must provide them with "instant" access to learning support.

We must provide tools for personalized training support.

We now spend 6 months to a year training a new engineering graduate.

Ericson wants to have partners in training from whom they can buy the right kind of training.

Stephen Bieglecki - United Technologies (USA and Multinational)

Business: aircraft, helicopters, space equipment, air conditioning and elevators.

Outsourcing their training through universities - use Stanford, Boston University, Carnegie Mellon - delivering entire degree programs in the workplace with technology - customer base has expanded. We use this as an incentive program - we pay all tuition and books - if people achieve their degree, we give them stock shares as an incentive to complete.

Our suppliers don't think of our students as "off-campus" or "distant students" - they are "new" students.

We think this program gives us $4.6 million annually in cost avoidance.

We don't use any one delivery method - we involve multiple technologies - interactive video and satellite about 25% each - videotape - 5% and live 20%.

Our goal is to get universities to deliver courses that are more applicable in our business - about 60% of our education and training comes out of universities.

We do not want to go to internal experts - this is not our core business - we want to outsource.

Multinational Delivery Methods requires whole other set of skills and language understanding - we use E Mail and videotape plus interactive video - this combination serves us well.

Challenges internationally: time difference, language of instruction and thinking, telecommunications infrastructure, responsibility for quality and accreditation - i.e. we want continuing education credits.