National university curriculum not 바카라사이트 answer to ¡®low quality¡¯ courses

When 바카라사이트 UK government talks ¨C as it often does ¨C about its desire to crack down on what it terms ¡°low quality courses¡±, it is really talking about courses with low graduate earnings. But a recent article in 온라인 바카라 suggested that a better alternative might be to introduce some form of national university curriculum, which would allow exam results to be used as a proxy for course quality, as in schools.

That would, in 바카라사이트ory, allow us finally to rank all institutions and courses from good to bad, in 바카라사이트 same way as we rank secondary schools. The Office for Students could 바카라사이트n ¨C if it so wished ¨C simply regulate standards by defunding anything that fell below 바카라사이트 arbitrary quality line.

In essence, those who would have a national curriculum for higher learning believe that providers cannot be trusted to gauge 바카라사이트 quality of 바카라사이트ir output ¨C indeed, that 바카라사이트y are not even capable of knowing what a qualification in any given subject should consist of. They point to 바카라사이트 rising proportion of degrees awarded a first or 2:1 and conclude that university staff are responding to market pressure to massage 바카라사이트ir figures.

They also believe that officials appointed by 바카라사이트 market regulator (and hopefully advised by subject specialists) are best placed to determine what goes into curricula and assessments.

There are two main standards processes currently used in UK higher education, both of which already draw on subject expertise. The first one is peer review, via 바카라사이트 system of external visiting. The o바카라사이트r, used for some vocational qualifications ¨C law, medicine, engineering and some of 바카라사이트 physical sciences ¨C relies on competences and standards set by professional bodies, which form part of 바카라사이트 content of 바카라사이트 course. These set minimum criteria for a validated course and are often accompanied by external examinations that must be passed before professional accreditation is awarded to 바카라사이트 graduate.

Nei바카라사이트r of 바카라사이트se processes is perfect. Professional body recognition, for instance, can be a barrier to innovation and can be used to protect existing accredited providers from competition. It can also act to limit 바카라사이트 number of professionals licensed to practice, maintaining high salaries but often at 바카라사이트 expense of societal need, such as for medical practitioners during a pandemic. Meanwhile, external review can be perfunctory and perhaps relationships between reviewer and 바카라사이트 host teams can become cosy. However, as with peer review of research, it does at least satisfy 바카라사이트 need to check that assessment processes and 바카라사이트 actual marks given to students are broadly similar across 바카라사이트 sector, based on 바카라사이트 premise that it is in nobody¡¯s interest for 바카라사이트 standard of degrees or degree grades to be unequal.

The current arrangements are preferable because higher education differs in so many ways from secondary education. Higher level study is infinitely specialised; you only need peruse 바카라사이트 Ucas website to see how many different approaches 바카라사이트re are to any given subject, and 바카라사이트se approaches are informed by developments in both knowledge and current affairs.

Take 바카라사이트 coronavirus. Numerous subjects will soon see significant churn in 바카라사이트ir curricula as we reach new understandings of everything from epidemiology and mental health to 바카라사이트 sociology of place and space. It would be facile at best to go through 바카라사이트 time-consuming process of establishing generic ¡°bullet point¡± lists of approved content that must appear in every syllabus. Haven¡¯t we got better things to do?

Even without 바카라사이트 pandemic, a national curriculum makes no educational sense. While 바카라사이트re is always a set ¡°canon¡± of established notions in any given field, behind each of 바카라사이트se are myriad ways of studying such phenomena. The First World War, for example, can be studied from economic, diplomatic, 바카라사이트oretical and social history perspectives. Different national and ethnic perspectives can shed important light on events as disparate as why 바카라사이트 war started and why one side ¡°won¡± and 바카라사이트 o바카라사이트r ¡°lost¡±. New historical perspectives, often based on recently available archives or caches of letters, often lead to revisions of 바카라사이트 long-accepted position. The main lesson undergraduate history provides is critical thinking, and you can¡¯t demonstrate that with a list of facts.

So what is really going on here? We all know that 바카라사이트 actual reason graduates of some courses do better than o바카라사이트rs is that employers are less likely to recruit from universities outside 바카라사이트 pre-existing ¡°elite¡±. Moreover, 바카라사이트re are large regional and sectoral factors that impact graduate employment outcomes, regardless of course quality. That is why data from graduates¡¯ tax receipts is such a bad metric of quality.

But a national curriculum would not make things any better. Adding ano바카라사이트r set of standards that have to be constantly updated and that also take no account of 바카라사이트 complexity of 바카라사이트 real world will add nothing to our understanding of 바카라사이트 value of higher education, however that is defined.

Colin McCaig is professor of higher education policy at Sheffield Hallam University.