From 'quality' assurance to 'quality enhancement': Addressing the transition from 'teaching' to 'learning' in engineering education

Quality assurance programs are now commonplace in higher education. Although widespread, Newton (2002) points out that such top-down quality assurance systems are both under-researched and under-theorized. This paper is an attempt to identify the key dimensions of quality assurance and quality enhancement programs and to investigate their application in one engineering course at a Norwegian university. The aim is to contribute to conceptual clarification, and in particular to clarifying decisions made in relation to ‘quality assurance’ and/or ‘quality enhancement’, drawing upon insights gained from a conceptual model devised by the author. To investigate the course under review, the author collected data from a student group, reviewed the teachers’ course review, and inspected students’ learning achievements in the form of their examination results. The result was to identify consequences, both intended and unintended, of using the institutional quality assurance procedures. By considering the outcomes for teachers and students, rather than relying on the stated aims of quality assurance procedures, the author makes a case for shifting the focus from ‘quality assurance of teaching’ to ‘quality enhancement of learning’ and offers recommendations for others undertaking similar quality assurance procedures in the future.