NETWORKING THEORY OF THE DEVELOPMENT OF QUALITY ASSURANCE AND ACCREDITATION POLICY IN HIGHER EDUCATION: A COMPARATIVE STUDY BETWEEN KINGDOM OF BAHRAIN AND EGYPT.

Abstract

Quality assurance and accreditation notions denote a new paradigm shift to reinforce higher education reform policies. This research aims to elaborate a detailed analysis of the networking policies between the quality assurance and accreditation authorities and the universities by conducting a comparison of the networking strategies implemented in the Kingdom of Bahrain and the Arab Republic of Egypt. Recent literatures explain that the approach of public policy network is considered today as a principal stream of thought within the field of public policy analysis. Therefore, resorting to this framework of analysis makes it possible to approach differently the subject studied while trying to understand the interactions between all actors concerned. The results of this research support that the nature of networking strategy between the National Authority for Qualifications and Quality Assurance of Education and Training (QQA) in the Kingdom of Bahrain and the Bahraini universities may be described as Pluralistic network. However the networking strategy between the National Authority of Quality Assurance and Accreditation (NAQAAE) in Egypt and the Egyptian universities tend to be Clientelist network.