LEVELS OF PUBLIC POLICY ACTUALIZATION IN THE FIELD OF QUALITY ASSURANCE IN HIGHER EDUCATION AND ITS MAIN ENTITIES

Abstract

The presented study is an attempt by the author to rethink the theory and practice of the functioning of individual elements of the mechanisms of public management of quality assurance in higher education, namely those of them, the actualization of which occurs through the determination of the levels of public policy in the field of quality assurance in higher education and the specification of its main subjects. As a methodological basis for organizing scientific research, the theory of public management was chosen, as well as traditional scientific approaches for its development and methods of scientific knowledge. The choice of this methodological tool was due to the purpose of this publication, namely - to formalize the levels of actualization of public policy in the field of higher education, as well as to specify the main subjects of public policy in the field of quality assurance in higher education. The achievement of this goal was ensured by analyzing regulatory documents and generalizing the experience of the functioning of the system of quality assurance in higher education. The study encapsulates the need to perceive the levels of public policy actualization in the field of ensuring the quality of higher education through the prism of their circular (circular) structuring. In the most simplified form, the formalization of this structure can look like this: “state or central level – sectoral-regional level – system-profile level – organizational-structural level – subject-object level or basic level – state or central level”. Achieving the greatest effect from the functioning of circular (circular) structuring is possible only if the paradigm of subject-object relations between representatives of different levels is changed to the paradigm of partnership-consulting relations. Among the possible mechanisms for realizing the potential of the model of partnership-consulting relations in the field of ensuring the quality of higher education may be the representation of public organizations formed with the participation of scientific and pedagogical workers at each of the levels we have identified. The study concludes that scientific and pedagogical workers and public organizations created with their participation should not only be represented at each level of updating public policy in the field of quality assurance of higher education, but also have real tools to influence the adoption of management decisions by other entities specified at the appropriate level.