Higher education is undergoing deep transformations driven by increasing demand, high youth unemployment, rising costs and new uses of technology. These have triggered an unprecedented diversification of provision and greater flexibility and autonomy in learner’s paths. Fresh approaches to quality assurance are needed for the emerging innovations in higher education. Higher learning is now provided from different sources, MOOCs, OERs, competency-based education, experiential learning, shorter courses. Learners need the assurance that these innovative forms of higher education are based on systematic processes, authentic content and credible assessment. This paper will review some of the transformations of higher education in the US and globally; present the mission of CHEA’s international quality group (CIQG) and its focus on quality implications of these innovative developments and finally, it will describe a new international tool, the CHEA “quality platform” which is presently piloted to review the quality of innovative and technology-mediated providers of higher education.

Keywords

accreditation · enrolment decline · open learning · quality assurance