Time to (Re-)think-Feel ‘Quality’ in Higher Education Learning and Teaching

Abstract

This article proposes (re-)thinking-feeling the current Western-centric metrics-driven measurement of ‘quality’ in learning and teaching in higher education. We argue that ensuring ‘quality’ in learning and teaching is an undeniable imperative, as it not only cultivates possibilities for students to think critically and engage imaginatively in an ever-shifting global environment. The challenge is not only the measurement but the confusion between what is measured and what is experienced and the neoliberal marketisation regime of higher education (HE) that has transformed institutional priorities, connecting ‘quality’ and the performance metrics that underpin it. Conversations with five academics who participated in this study within the UK context, reveal a consensus that applying a standardised, ‘one-size-fits-all’ measurement of ‘quality’ in learning and teaching in higher education is fraught with difficulties. Each discipline must embrace tailored, contextually appropriate, and discipline-specific approaches to conceptualising and evaluating ‘quality’. We argue that Ubuntu ethico-onto-epistemological philosophy and praxis, decoloniality and posthumanism can help us think about ‘quality’ differently, enabling ways to resist colonial paradigms and neoliberal logic and their impact.