MANAGING CHANGE IN QUALITY ASSURANCE TO INTEGRATE MULTIPLE STAKEHOLDERS IN A SHARED SYSTEM: LESSONS LEARNT FROM THE DEVELOPMENT OF TRANSNATIONAL JOINT DEGREE MASTER’S PROGRAMME

It is acknowledged that transnational joint degree provision is difficult (Oostenbrink et al., 2009; Olson, 2012) and consequently there is a dearth of literature documenting the management of the challenges to develop a true cross-border collaborative joint degree leading to a joint award. Driven by a niche requirement identified by European Border and Coast Guard Agency (Frontex) to address the needs of the European border guard organisations’ senior management and the Europe Union border security in the face of an immigration crisis, the consortium partners (higher education institutions) from five European countries, supported by a broad range of stakeholders, developed the European Joint Master’s in Strategic Border Management. Balancing the needs and interests of the prospective students and consortium in the context of conflicting and restricting national law and regulations was a formidable task. The European Joint Master’s in Strategic Border Management was developed only by finding ways of resolving the unintended conflicts of internal and external stakeholders, through effective communication structures and enormous good will to change, develop and accommodate external and internal quality assurance policies and procedures of different European countries and higher education institutions.

Given the potential value of the European joint degree programmes, this paper examines the challenges and established solutions required to realise the project, resulting in the final agreed programme quality assurance and governance structure, achieved through extensive negotiation processes involving international internal and external stakeholders, where critical success factors such as open communication, professional ethics, a shared ethos and values made this programme and the joint award possible. The challenges are further organised around issues relating to the consortium, academic standards and quality assurance.