Dr Sandra Gift releases new book on a university culture of persistent quality
The emergence of COVID-19 has been one of the most disruptive events in modern history, and institutions of higher education have not escaped its consequences.
United Nations Academic Impact (UNAI), an initiative that focuses on the organisation’s relationship with higher education institutions (HEIs), stated that the pandemic “has proven challenging for both students and educators, who must deal with the emotional, physical and economic difficulties posed by the illness while doing their part to help curb the spread of the virus.”
Higher education is a major investment and, as societies are required to deal with the impact of events of this nature, they will undoubtedly reassess that investment. In fact, The UWI has in recent years been faced with financing challenges as Caribbean governments shift their budgetary priorities. So how do HEI’s improve their quality and therefore increase their value? How do they prove - and keep proving - to society their importance and relevance to society?
A new book edited by Dr Sandra Ingrid Gift and published by UWI Press explores the principles and strategies of “continuous quality improvement” of higher education in the region. Caribbean Quality Culture: Persistent Commitment to Improving Higher Education, consists of essays from some of the region’s top educators, academic administrators, scholars in education, and education policymakers.
Dr Gift, who held the post of Senior Programme Officer and Head of the Quality Assurance Unit of the Vice Chancellery at UWI St Augustine, states in the opening chapter of Caribbean Quality Culture:
“The intention of this publication is to focus on the deliberate strategies employed to achieve improvement of the quality of Caribbean higher education, as part of or in addition to quality assurance processes in institutions that have been investing in building a quality culture.”
Consisting of five parts, the book focuses on governance, curriculum and teaching and learning, continuous quality improvement processes, external quality assurance, and lastly, “the way forward”. At 23 chapters, one of its outstanding features is the number of diverse specialists and their contributions on topics like leadership and ethics in higher ed, financial challenges to quality education, online learning, community engagement and service-learning, and graduate employability. Several chapters deal specifically with The UWI - its agenda for continuous improvement and case studies on how it has dealt with quality-related issues.
“The contributions reveal,” says Dr Gift, “that there is much fertile ground for ongoing research to inform the deepening of understanding of the optimum processes for success of all present and future efforts and, consequently, for achieving the desired positive impact of the higher education enterprise on the sustainable development of Caribbean nations.”
For more information on Caribbean Quality Culture: Persistent Commitment to Improving Higher Education, visit UWI Press at https://www.uwipress.com/author/sandra-ingrid-gift/.
