Institutional and Identitarian Influence of International Quality Assurance in Salvadoran Higher Education Institutions
Castellanos Menjívar, Fernando José (2024)
2024
Master's Programme in Research and Innovation in Higher Education
Johtamisen ja talouden tiedekunta - Faculty of Management and Business
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Hyväksymispäivämäärä
2024-06-24
Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:tuni-202406036648
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:tuni-202406036648
Tiivistelmä
Quality assurance for higher education has been a topic of much discussion across systems in Latin America since the end of the 20th century (Lemaitre, 2017). For the case of El Salvador, progress was made with the enactment of laws on higher education in 1995 and 2004 (Flores, 2021), with the last being current at the time of this publication. For the national legislation, the final accreditation of quality assurance is an optional process, with only 15 of 40 institutions possessing it. Despite this context, some of the current nationally accredited universities go even further and pursue international accreditations. Given this context, this research seeks to find the aspects of the institutional environment and organizational identity of such institutions that are influencing their pursuit of international quality assurance as part of their activities.
To answer this question, this study follows a qualitative approach with semi-structured interviews of key personnel on quality assurance in two nationally and internationally accredited Salvadoran higher education institutions, as well as documental analysis of both institutions’ current strategic plans. The personnel chosen are top level figures in the institution, with an average of 15 years of work experience across various roles.
The results of this research demonstrated that the organizational identity of nationally accredited institutions has a fundamental role for the choice of institutions in embarking on international quality assurance processes. From the three pillars of new institutionalism, this study proved that the Salvadoran higher education system is highly heterogeneous, with various clusters of institutions following different meanings in the regulative, normative, and cultural cognitive areas (Scott, 2014). This, combined with a mostly outdated system of regulations, created a divide among higher education institutions in which the ones with national accreditation established a deeper sense of belonging towards the continuous improvement and fitness-for-purpose concepts of quality (Harvey & Green, 1993). This resulted in the reliance of international quality assurance as a guide for institutions to continue their institutional goals and further differentiate themselves in the national system.
To answer this question, this study follows a qualitative approach with semi-structured interviews of key personnel on quality assurance in two nationally and internationally accredited Salvadoran higher education institutions, as well as documental analysis of both institutions’ current strategic plans. The personnel chosen are top level figures in the institution, with an average of 15 years of work experience across various roles.
The results of this research demonstrated that the organizational identity of nationally accredited institutions has a fundamental role for the choice of institutions in embarking on international quality assurance processes. From the three pillars of new institutionalism, this study proved that the Salvadoran higher education system is highly heterogeneous, with various clusters of institutions following different meanings in the regulative, normative, and cultural cognitive areas (Scott, 2014). This, combined with a mostly outdated system of regulations, created a divide among higher education institutions in which the ones with national accreditation established a deeper sense of belonging towards the continuous improvement and fitness-for-purpose concepts of quality (Harvey & Green, 1993). This resulted in the reliance of international quality assurance as a guide for institutions to continue their institutional goals and further differentiate themselves in the national system.