Standards should provide a means for transparently comparing academic programmes delivered by higher education providers and the research activities they carry out. The purpose of this study is to investigate the different sets of standards related to the quality assurance of academic programmes in four countries with regard to the European Standards and Guidelines (ESG), developed by the European Association for Quality Assurance, for internal quality assurance within higher education institutions. The main aim is to find the convergence and divergence points and to test the consistency of terminologies in use which may impede international collaboration to develop one comprehensive international quality assurance system.,The study relied solely on desk-based research and no fieldwork or interviews were conducted for data collection; a point-by-point comparative approach has been applied to explore the standards related to quality assurance of academic programmes.,Although there is a great deal of convergence between the different sets of standards compared in this study, fundamental differences still exist.,This study compared the standards of academic programmes in four countries with the ESG. To generalise the findings of this study, future research may include other standards for comparison.,This study engages in the debate of how quality of higher education will remain maintained, in times, when higher education is facing challenges such as internationalisation, which requires new initiatives and integrated mechanisms to facilitate mutual recognition of qualifications of students and staff moving across borders.

中文翻译：

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评估学术课程的质量：比较不同的标准集

标准应提供一种方法，以透明方式比较高等教育提供者提供的学术课程和他们进行的研究活动。这项研究的目的是调查由欧洲质量保证协会开发的有关欧洲国家标准和准则（ESG）的四个国家中与学术课程质量保证有关的不同标准集，以在内部高等教育机构。主要目的是找到趋同点和分歧点，并测试所用术语的一致性，这可能会阻碍国际合作以开发一套全面的国际质量保证体系。该研究仅依靠基于案头的研究，没有进行现场工作或访谈。进行数据收集；已采用逐点比较的方法来探索与学术课程质量保证相关的标准。尽管在本研究中比较的不同标准集之间存在很多收敛性，但仍然存在根本差异。研究比较了四个国家与ESG的学术课程标准。为了概括本研究的结果，未来的研究可能会包括其他比较标准。该研究参与了在高等教育面临国际化等挑战时，如何保持高等教育质量的争论。倡议和综合机制，以促进相互承认跨境流动的学生和教职员工的资格。