| Abstract: | In recent years, globalization and internationalization are becoming central issues for higher education
worldwide. Globalization has prompted the internationalization of higher education as one of the key new
trends in higher education systems. The terms ‘Globalization’ and ‘Internationalization’ are closely intertwined
and linked concepts. Whereas globalization is the increasing flow of technology, finance, trade, knowledge,
people, values, and ideas across borders internationalization is the process of integrating an international
dimension into the teaching, research and services functions of higher education institutions. Forces driving
internationalization include: increasing demand for access to higher education; cross-border providers of
higher education as a profit-making business; competition to attract the best academic staff and students;
international competitiveness to use knowledge for creating knowledge-based economies; the harmonization of
higher education to facilitate recognition of academic qualifications; and international cooperation for
improving quality of higher education.
The internationalization of higher education in its various forms poses major challenges for quality assurance
and accreditation. One major impact of internationalization is the pressure created in the development of new
mechanisms for recognizing credits and qualifications earned elsewhere. The increase in cross-border student
and professional mobility has put the issue of recognition of academic qualifications high on the international
agenda. Globalization and internationalization of higher education have made it imperative for quality control
measures to be introduced in order to protect students from poor quality education. In the context of growing
globalization, there is an urgent need for international initiatives to review the quality assurance mechanisms
of higher education provision. There is also a growing agreement on the viewpoint that globalization in higher
education urgently asks for a transnational approach to quality assurance and accreditation.
This paper examines various literatures regarding globalization and internationalization implications to quality
assurance in higher education. It first introduces briefly the concept of globalization and internationalization.
Then it discusses some aspects of globalization that include the growing importance of the knowledge economy;
trade in education services and private higher education; rapid expansion of distance education and quality
concerns; cross-border higher education and quality assurance issues; and the need for recognition of
qualifications, and international approach to quality assurance mechanisms and accreditation. Finally, the
paper makes some recommendations that might be useful to the Ethiopian context. |
