Quality Assurance of Egyptian Higher Education: A Policy Transfer Perspective

Abstract

A higher education is considered the source of opportunities and prosperity in all countries all over the world; also it is vital for competitiveness in the increasingly globalizing knowledge society Egyptian higher education, at the beginning of the new millennium, faces unprecedented challenges: not only is the demand for access unstoppable, but also higher education (HE) is recognized as a key force for modernization and development. Discussions of policy diffusion and transfer have primarily focused on official actors, and networks of the political and economical sectors. Policy transfer in HE sector, especially quality assurance (QA) policy, in national departments and nongovernmental organizations, is a relatively neglected dimension. Accordingly, this paper addresses a brief history of QA and accreditation policy of HE in Egypt, which we divide simply into main distinct phases; the Quality Assurance and Accreditation (QAAP) Phase, and the Program of Continuous Improvement and Qualifying for Accreditation (PCIQA). We also address how the Egyptian QA and accreditation life cycle is developing from the policy transfer perspective. This cycle we divide into two main stages according to the process; the QA formulation and setting stage, and the implementation stage. In the last section of our paper, we present a theoretical actor model of QA policy transfer. Based on our suggested model, we argue that both the Egyptian policy-setting and formulation, and implementation stages of QA and accreditation policy are strongly influenced by several actors, channels, of transfer; global, international, regional, and national channels.