Abstract
The Majority of Higher Education Institutes attracted international collaboration and affiliations as part of internationalization strategy. Upon hosting an academic programme, both universities must assure that the programmes are equivalent in standards, with mutual agreement upon the methodology of delivery. The purpose of this study is to share successful practices of universities that sustained hosting cross boarder academic programmes hosted by local universities with international award from the UK and USA at postgraduate level. The paper will share the method and the adapted framework to enable a long-term relationship between both HEIs, compliance with regulatory requirements, as well as addressing graduate attributes in line with both HEI's missions. This paper will also demonstrate challenges and advantages of alignment to local qualification framework to maintain the equivalency of standards that leads to a sustainable internationalization strategy. As a major conclusion, this paper will demonstrate strategic decisions that could be adapted by leaders of Higher Education Institutions, while considering International collaboration or activating an International agreement. We can analyse this by considering local regulatory requirements and alignment with National Qualification Framework as well as linking the policies and procedures to United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. The findings of this paper provide insights for leaders of Higher Education Institutions and regulators to align their frameworks and policies to support Internationalization.
Highlights
The higher Education Sector faces various demands by different stakeholders including employers, parents, students, regulatory and quality assurance agencies
In terms of quality assurance of collaborative provision, Bahrain Education and Training Quality Authority (BQA) was established in 2008 as an independent body to review the quality of all academic programmes offered by Higher Education Institutes (HEIs) in Bahrain including cross boarder programmes
In the Kingdom of Bahrain, BQA aligned their strategy with United Nations SDG4 related to quality education, one of the main pillars towards quality education is a systematic programme review to assess the minimum requirements of quality assurance standards
Summary
The higher Education Sector faces various demands by different stakeholders including employers, parents, students, regulatory and quality assurance agencies. United Nations promoted Quality of Educations as a Sustainable Development Goal (SDG 4), which includes collaboration with international education bodies through collaborative agreements such as hosting programme, dual qualifications. In terms of quality assurance of collaborative provision, Bahrain Education and Training Quality Authority (BQA) was established in 2008 as an independent body to review the quality of all academic programmes offered by Higher Education Institutes (HEIs) in Bahrain including cross boarder programmes. This paper will describe the importance of NQF in sustaining internationalization strategies by describing the process of NQF foreign qualification alignment to national qualification framework and demonstrate the adapted framework to enable long-term relationship between both HEIs, compliance with regulatory requirements, as well as addressing graduate attributes in line with both HEIs missions. This paper will highlight challenges and advantages of alignment to local qualification framework to maintain equivalency of standards that leads to sustainable internationalization strategy
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