CONSTRUCTION OF A QUALITY ASSURANCE SYSTEM FOR SIN...
Knowledge about the Quality Assurance System
With the expansion and diversification of Sino-foreign cooperative education programs，how to ensure education quality is becoming a commonly concerned issue.What the quality indicators for such programs are and how to measure those indicators is，indeed，a real challenge for all interested parties.
Dimensions in Judgements ofEducation Quality
These include：degrees of teachers'and students'satisfactions；to what degree should an education program fulfill its pre-defined goals；if maximum effectiveness was realized under the constraints of limited resources；and whether or not the program can be improved and enhanced.
Pre-Requisites forAssurance ofa Certain Level ofEducation Quality
In the implementation process of cooperative education programs，these include：（a）common assurance system，both sides should have its particular quality control system；（b）forming a joint assurance system is the key for assurance mechanism for future development；（c）target language services are needed for cooperation and communication between the two sides；（d）international experiences，manifested in the flexibility in problem solving with autonomy；（e）multiple integration，courses in the class schedule table should integrate courses of different schools；（f）inner recognition，partner schools could jointly award degrees in their common research fields.To promote the effective education models in Sino-foreign cooperative education programs，to enhance education quality in the cooperative education programs，fundamental preparations should be done and investments for“a good start”is necessary.Three aspects which should be improved with efforts in future cooper-ation for a joint education program include：secure education quality and resources it may offer for both sides；more collaborations across schools and between countries；and all the cooperative programs should be co-coordinated.
Building a True Bilateral Cooperative Relationship
This is the key for formation of an education assurance system.First of all，the two sides should strive for mutual development and recognition.Students should be allowed to complete partial studies in a cooperative school and the alma mater university should offer a full recognition for such studies and researches；secondly，teaching goals for each course should be determined collaboratively，including admission approaches，testing and teaching；finally，students may be offered with independently or jointly awarded degrees.
Influencing Factors for Education Quality System
A successful program must combine team spirit，concentration and patience，clear role positioning under a certain criteria，and coordination between quality control systems and programs.Program evaluation，quality assurance，quality improvement and quality management can be meaningfully implemented only when a program owns such prerequisites.Moreover，a quality system must also include certain value added factors，such as necessary commitment to quality，engagement in competitions for market shares，quality awareness and demands from students，etc.
Stimulating Mechanism for Quality System
This includes a sensitive perception of global education market，an attractiveness of the national or international applicants，an adequate educational resource，a winwin cooperation in the teaching of the core areas and exchanges of experts and joint research between the partners.
Constructing a Scientific Quality Assurance System
Through active exploration and continuous improvement，an initial system for education assurance should be established to continuously improve education quality of Sino-foreign cooperative education programs.Through investigations，the indicator system should be built up and the current indicator system should be associated with factors to make the indicators measurable.Established quality assurance system should have the following features：（a）can be operated via the internet；（b）provide help and guidance for partner school；（c）provide quality assurance with united control procedure and operation model；（d）ensure all students with equal opportunities；（e）indicator system for education quality should be measurable；（f）provide auditors with help.Five sub-systems can be further identified：
Education Quality Control System
Missions and Objectives of the Quality Control System
Sino-foreign cooperative education programs intend to provide students with high-quality，extensive，international appealing and subject-related instruction in foreign language.It also promotes culturally related，ethnically equalized，linguistically diversified，gender impartial cooperation in education between China and other countries.The specific objectives of the quality system include：（a）to realize the goals and valuesrequired by the quality assurance system which is set up through a series of investigations and surveys；（b）to pursue and show high quality educational outcomes and services to attract young students to participate in the programs；（c）graduates of such programs have a generally better employment opportunity than graduates from ordinary schools；（d）the programs have been globally recognized and passed the international assessment.
Implementation Process of the Quality Control System
Firstly，each partner school forms its own competitive fields；then an alliance's core competence is formed，which is the second level of competence；after that a curriculum system is formed for cooperatively run degree programs；finally are the cooperative implementation and awarding of degrees in joint education programs.Quality management should be implemented throughout the entire process of teaching，including each aspect of the complete working system，and every member in each organization level should take an active participation.Specific action procedure includes：identify the quality control system managers；current status of the quality assurance system；students'feedback；teachers'feedback；feed-back from other stake holders；quality assurance system's reflections of the goals，strategies and needs；continuous improvement plan of the quality system；documental quality records；effective feedback to quality system's information；inner quality verification；outside quality verification.
Curriculum Structure
Curriculum structure mainly defines the subjects which constitute a curriculum system and the proportions of the contents of each subject，such as core-courses and elective courses and major courses and comprehensive courses and so on.It demonstrates a certain underlying curricular theory and value orientation.Sinoforeign cooperative education programs should include cooperatively determined core-courses，core-courses determined by alma mater schools，elective courses determined by partner schools，special courses lectured by experts from both sides，which are open to the whole student population，cross-border internships in partner schools and cooperation with business companies，which is supervised by both sides.Various flexible teaching channels can be applied，such as in person teaching，distance learning，seminars and exchange programs，etc.
Students'Expectations
Taking students as the focus of concern is a critical principle that the quality assurance system should persist.In skills and competency，students expect to be able to communicate in a multicultural environment with what they have learned.They expect internationalization can promote their career achievements as well as their problem-solving and decision making abilities in a cosmopolitan context.They expect to be capable of working within an interdisciplinary and international team.They expect to be able to appreciate diversity and multi-cultures，understanding the society and possessing ethnical responsibility.They pay special attention to quality.In terms of services they expect to enjoy，includes carefully organized，effective and competitive teaching，choices of teaching channels，supportive services such as internet network，library，and languages，well defined guidance and mentoring，chances of providing evaluative feedback and participation in teaching development.Other than these，they hope to acquire knowledge matching demands of labor markets，receive a domestic or Sino-foreign jointly awarded degree，which can be of help for their career or academic development.Meanwhile，they hope to build up international network in their major relevant fields.
Education Quality Supervision System
Supervisions for Teaching Process and Teaching Resources
The goal of faculty development is to build up a professional team with solid theoretical foundations and high level teaching competence.Teachers must have proficient language skills.Teachers should be provided with opportunities of special training in pedagogy，language expressions and subject contents.Teachers should be able to apply different teaching methods，include distance learning，teamwork，and group guidance，etc.They must have their personal learning schedules and the student-teacher ratio should be between 20∶1 to 25∶1.
Supervision for Partner Institute
Firstly，the supervision for learning outcome，which usually is vague，is not a well defined criteria.It is hard to have universal criteria of scores for students scattered in different schools.Secondly，in the current teaching quality supervision，most schools hold a final assessment，leaving quality control system of the teaching process undefined and unutilized，which also has no international supervision and certification.Therefore，supervising organization should impose formative supervision.Partner schools should periodically publish the nature，level，curriculum，student recruitments of their programs，making the public well informed about the programs.Diploma and degrees awarded by the foreign educational institutes should be widely recognized in domestic society to ensure that the educated received a true higher-level education（Liang，2006）.
Education Quality Service System
Job tasks for the student affairs should be completely centered around the student，transforming from student regulation and management to student services and guidance，to provide students with safe and dependable livelihood security and have their reasonable demands satisfied.Dormitory，medical services with an explanation in target languages，library service，e-library services for course resources should all be provided.For teachers，similar services should also be provided.Administrative departments should treat teachers as targets of services，creating advantaged conditions and positive supports for teachers'professional growth.These departments should strive to enlarge the space for their academic development and personal growth in addition to improvements of their working and living conditions.
Education QualityAssessment System
Regular and occasional assessments should be combined.The former includes inner assessment and national assessment，which are applied based on year of program operating and education/training cycle in forms of a combination of self-assessment and field investigation.Occasional assessment should take place in the process of daily teaching，in the form of impromptu class observations and the results should be turned in each semester.Formative assessments and controls can be applied for each indicator through such a synchronic supervision system and mechanisms of regular as well as adhoc risk assessment can thus be established.
Information System OfEducation Quality
Most schools periodically collect feedback from employers and/or other stake holders.Feedback system provides teachers with an effectively functioned interface.However，such system/interface is not open to students.Student feedback system doesn't always collect feedback in an uninterrupted manner，while voices of students tend to be most objective and dependable.Therefore，a complete teaching information system should be established to collect information from students，teachers，administrators，employers，education assessment agencies，government administrators and students'parents.Such information should be processed，sorted，analyzed and then sent back to decision makers of the quality system，the quality executive system and the quality monitor system.Some of the information can be published to audiences inside or outside of the campus.Students and teachers should also have the opportunity to participate in works of administrative and/or development departments.