- UNESCO/Council
of Europe
- Code
of Good Practice
- in the Provision
of Transnational Education
(Riga, 6 June 2001)
Preamble
The Parties to the Convention on the Recognition of
Qualifications concerning Higher Education in the European Region (the Lisbon
Recognition Convention),
Conscious of the rapid development of transnational
education, characterised by those arrangements and partnerships between institutions and
organisations in which the students are located in a different country to the one where
the institution providing the education is based, and of its impact on higher education
globally, but also specifically in the
Europe Region;
Conscious in particular of the challenges posed by
transnational education institutions and programmes operating outside of the framework of
any national education system;
Being aware of the fact that transnational higher
education
is rapidly expanding, due mainly to the growing and
seemingly limitless uses of the new information technologies in providing educational
services in a world of borderless higher education;
Convinced that national systems of higher education are,
and will continue to be,
entrusted inter alia to preserve the
cultural, social, philosophical, and religious diversity of the European Region while
also being expected to promote various forms of international and global co-operation;
Attaching great importance to the academic quality of
study programmes and degrees awarded by higher education institutions engaged in
transnational education;
Considering that, regardless of the procedures adopted
for establishing and providing educational services, higher education institutions should
comply with those standards of performance in teaching and learning that are required by
the present and future development of knowledge, technology and the labour market;
Acknowledging
that facilitating the recognition of
qualifications awarded through transnational arrangements will contribute to promoting
both the mobility of students and that of study programmes between higher education
institutions and systems;
Having regard
to the Council of Europe/UNESCO Convention
on
the Recognition of Qualifications
concerning Higher
Education in the European Region that provides an overall normative framework for dealing
with academic recognition matters;
Having regard also to the Codes of good practice
developed and monitored by some of the major providers, such as:
Code of Ethical Practice in the Provision of Education to
International Students by Australian Universities, Australian
Vice-Chancellors' Committee;
Quality Assurance Code of Practice: Collaborative Provision,
United Kingdom Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education;
Principles of Good Practice for Educational Programs for Non-U.S. Nationals;
Mindful that such Codes provide working frameworks from the
perspective of the sending institutions/systems of higher education, and that they have to
be complemented by the perspectives of the receiving institutions/systems;
Having regard also to the Diploma Supplement developed
jointly by the European Commission, the Council of Europe and UNESCO and aiming to provide
supplementary information facilitating the assessment of qualifications;
Confident
that ethical principles and values should
closely guide the international and global cooperation between higher education systems
and institutions;
Conscious of the need to find commonly agreed solutions
to practical recognition problems in the European Region, and between the States of this
Region, and those of other regions of the world, in an ever more global space of higher
education;
Conscious
of the need to permanently update the
implementation mechanisms of the principles and provisions of the Lisbon Recognition
Convention, thus keeping up with the pace of new developments in higher education
cooperation;
Have agreed
on the need for:
A Code of Good Practice in the provision of higher education
study programmes and other educational services by means of transnational arrangements;
Recommendation on procedures and criteria for the assessment of
foreign qualifications, with a view to implementing the Code of Good Practice and to
facilitating the recognition of qualifications awarded following completion of
transnational study programmes/courses of study;
and for these to be considered as fully complementary and mutually
supportive documents.
Section I. Terminology
Terms defined in
the Lisbon Recognition Convention are not mentioned here again and shall, for the
purposes of this Code of Good Practice, have the same meaning as in the Convention. The
following terms , listed in alphabetical order, shall have the following meaning:
Agents
Third parties, such as brokers, facilitators, or recruiters, that
act as intermediaries between awarding and providing institutions for establishing
transnational educational arrangements. An agent is not usually involved in the provision
of educational services.
Agreement
A
document agreed formally by the partners that contains all collaborative
arrangements made between the awarding and providing institutions.
Awarding institution
A higher education institution issuing degrees, diplomas,
certificates or other qualifications.
Educational
services
Any study programme, course of study or parts of a course of study
that leads,
after successful completion, to a qualification. This also includes
services such as preparatory/introductory modules to facilitate access to a course of
study, or training modules that lead to professional development.
Partners
The awarding and providing institutions involved in transnational
arrangements.
Providing institution
An institution or organization which is delivering all or part of a
study programme.
Transnational arrangements
An educational, legal, financial or other arrangement leading to
the establishment of (a) collaborative arrangements, such as: franchising,
twinning, joint degrees, whereby study programmes, or parts of a course of study, or other
educational services of the awarding institution are provided by another partner
institution; (b) non-collaborative arrangements, such as branch campuses, off-shore
institutions, corporate or international institutions, whereby study programmes, or parts
of a course of study, or other educational services are provided directly by an awarding
institution.
Transnational education
All types of higher education study programmes, or sets of courses
of study, or educational services( including those of distance education) in which the
learners are located in a country different from the one where the awarding institution is
based. Such programmes may belong to the education system of a State different from the
State in which it operates, or may operate independently of any national education system.
Section II. Principles
1. Transnational
arrangements should be so elaborated, enforced and monitored as to widen the access to higher education studies, fully
respond to the learners' educational demands, contribute to their cognitive, cultural,
social, personal and professional development, and comply with the national legislation
regarding higher education in both receiving and sending countries. In the case of
collaborative arrangements there should be written and legally binding agreements or
contracts setting out the rights and obligations of all partners.
2. Academic quality and standards
of transnational education
programmes should be at least comparable to those of the awarding institution
as well as to those of the receiving country. Awarding institutions as well as the
providing institutions are accountable and fully responsible for quality assurance and
control. Procedures and decisions concerning the quality of educational services provided
by transnational arrangements should be based on specific criteria, which are transparent,
systematic and open to scrutiny.
3. The policy and the mission of institutions
established through transnational arrangements, their management structures and
educational facilities, as well as the goals, objectives and contents of specific
programmes, sets of courses of study, and other educational services, should be published,
and made available upon request to the authorities and beneficiaries from both the sending
and receiving countries.
4. Information
given by the awarding institution, providing
organization, or agent to prospective students and to those registered on a study
programme established through transnational arrangements should be appropriate, accurate,
consistent and reliable. The information should include directions to students about the
appropriate channels for particular concerns, complains and appeals. Where a programme is
delivered through a collaborative arrangement, the nature of that arrangement and the
responsibilities of the parties should be clearly outlined. The awarding institution is
responsible for and should control and monitor information made public by agents operating
on its behalf, including claims about the recognition of the qualifications in the sending
country, and elsewhere.
5. Staff members
of the institutions or those teaching on the
programmes established through transnational arrangements should be proficient in terms of
qualifications, teaching, research and other professional experience. The awarding
institution should ensure that it has in place effective measures to review the
proficiency of staff delivering programmes that lead to its qualifications.
6. Transnational education arrangements should encourage the awareness
and knowledge of the culture and customs of both the awarding institutions and
receiving country among the students and staff.
7. The awarding institution should be responsible for the agents
it, or its partner institutions, appoint to act on its behalf. Institutions using agents
should conclude written and legally binding agreements or contracts with these, clearly
stipulating their roles, responsibilities, delegated powers of action as well as
monitoring, arbitration and termination provisions. These agreements or contracts should
further
be established with a view to avoiding conflicts of
interests as well as the rights of students with regard to their studies.
8. Awarding institutions should be responsible for issuing the
qualifications resulting from their transnational study programmes. They should provide
clear and transparent information on the qualifications, in particular through the use of
the Diploma Supplement, facilitating the assessment of the qualifications by competent
recognition bodies, the higher education institutions, employers and others. This
information should include the nature, duration,
workload, location and
language(s) of the study programme
leading to the qualifications.
9. The admission
of students for a course of study, the
teaching/learning activities, the examination and assessment requirements for
educational services provided under transnational arrangements should be equivalent to
those of the same or comparable programmes delivered by the awarding institution.
10. The academic work load in transnational study programmes,
expressed in credits, units, duration of studies or otherwise, should be that of
comparable programmes in the awarding institution, any difference in this respect
requiring a clear on its rationale and its consequences for the recognition of
qualifications.
11. Qualifications issued through transnational educational
programmes, complying with the provisions of the present Code, should be assessed in
accordance with the stipulations of the Lisbon Recognition Convention.
Explanatory Memorandum
THE UNESCO/COUNCIL OF EUROPE
CODE OF GOOD PRACTICE
IN THE PROVISION OF TRANSNATIONAL EDUCATION
STATUS OF THE DOCUMENT: this Code was adopted in the third meeting of
the Working Group on Transnational Education held in Jerusalem in November 1999. It will
be submitted to the ENIC Network for approval and to Lisbon Recognition Convention
Committee for adoption.
1. Introduction
The Code which follows is designed to present the perspectives of
both sending and receiving countries regarding the provision of transnational education.
Its contents are to be seen as complementary to the Lisbon Recognition Convention
thus providing a normative framework to be taken as reference by the national recognition
bodies in their specific undertakings.
2. The objectives of the Code
In order to promote good practice in the area of transnational
education - with particular reference to the quality of the provision of study programmes
and the standards of qualifications issued by the Parties to the Council of Europe/UNESCO Lisbon
Recognition Convention, the Code is intended:
-
to meet the expectations of both the sending and the receiving
countries with regard to transnational arrangements in higher education;
-
to provide a source of reference on issues relating to the quality
assurance and evaluation of programmes provided and qualifications issued through
transnational arrangements;
-
to offer "consumer protection" for students, employers and
others who may be concerned with qualifications awarded through transnational
arrangements;
-
to facilitate the recognition of qualifications awarded through
transnational arrangements in higher education.
3. Implementation of the Code
The Code includes a set of principles which
should be respected by institutions or organizations involved in the provision of
educational services through transnational arrangements. These principles are presented in
the form ofs with a normative value. For implementing the provisions of the Code,
mainly with regard to the recognition of qualifications issued through transnational
arrangements, the
ENIC network shall apply the procedures outlined in the Recommendation
on procedures and criteria for the assessment of foreign qualifications. Therefore,
the Code and the Recommendation are fully complementary and mutually
supportive documents.
4. The Scope of the Code
The Code refers particularly to those transnational arrangements which
lead to
the provision of study programmes and to the issuing of qualifications.
Consequently, reference is made to:
a) institutions and programmes
involved in
concluding any type of transnational arrangement whereby an institution provides
educational services outside its country of origin;
b) teaching staff, regardless of their country of origin, who
work in an institution/study programme established through a transnational
arrangement;
c) students, regardless of their country of origin, who are
registered, for a course of study or parts of it leading either wholly or in part to a
higher education qualification, in an institution/programme established through a
transnational arrangement;
d) agents, that are third parties, acting as brokers,
facilitators or recruiters in transnational arrangements;
e) other stakeholders,
like employers and the public at large, interested in the quality of higher education
qualifications.
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