Global Values in Higher Education 345at the forefront of the global education agenda. This concern has been
bolstered by an increasingly fragmented global higher education envi-
ronment and various new conceptualizations of ‘education’ stemming
from the affordances of technology, globalization and marketization, as
well as an appreciation of the fact that equitable access to quality educa-
tion is an indisputable prerequisite for the development of responsible
and ethical global citizens. In this context a generic and applicable con-
cept of quality remains elusive and subject to ongoing debate. It is thus
understandable that ‘Ensuring quality and relevant teaching and learning
in terms of inputs, content, processes and learning environments to
support the holistic development of all children, youth and adults’
occupies a central place in the Post-2015 Education Agenda^284.
There can be little equivocation about the implicit ethical dimension
to the quality discussion vis-à-vis higher education. Simply stated, poor
quality education is unethical. Traditional understandings and practices
of quality management and assurance have centred on quality as a holis-
tic fitness-for-purpose framework.^285 It is however increasingly evident
that these traditional frameworks do not provide sufficient guidance with
regard to principles and criteria that should be embedded - pedagogical-
ly and in terms of course content - towards a fundamental clarification
of the ethical dimensions of quality which will inform responsible, ethi-
cal and critical global citizenship.
Given the acknowledgement that 21st century graduates are often con-
sidered under-prepared for the world-of-work, the Post-2015 Education
Agenda makes a series of cogent recommendations on improving the
quality of education, and by extension, of graduates. These include:
a. Recruiting and retaining well-trained and motivated teachers
who use inclusive, gender-responsive and participatory pedagog-
ical approaches to ensure effective learning outcomes. b) Provid-
284
285 Unesco 2015d:9^
Woodhouse 2012:7