Cultural synergy and digital innovation in internal quality assurance: a multi-institutional qualitative study on globalizing higher education outcomes
通过对北京高校43位管理者和专家的访谈，识别出内部质量保障的七种机制（如文化协同、数字整合）及实施障碍，提出适应性质量保障需兼顾本地价值与国际标准，对政策制定者和高校管理者有参考价值。
Internal quality assurance (IQA) has expanded with internationalization, yet it is commonly operationalized as compliance and rarely specified in terms of mechanisms that plausibly affect student learning and employability, especially outside Western systems. Addressing this gap, the study examines how IQA is implemented in Beijing universities and the conditions under which it can support desired outcomes. We conducted 43 semi-structured interviews with administrators, IQA officers, municipal regulators, and international accreditation experts and analyzed them using reflexive thematic analysis. The analysis identifies seven interlocking mechanisms (cultural synergy, adaptive accreditation, transnational collaboratives, student-centric metrics, holistic digital integration, sustainability alignment, and global competency frameworks) and surfaces implementation frictions (bureaucratic path-dependence, data-capability gaps, workload constraints). We theorize adaptive IQA as aligning locally salient value commitments with internationally legible routines (e.g. outcomes-based mapping, dashboards, participatory feedback). Adaptive IQA is most plausibly consequential when governance alignment, data capabilities, and collaborative accreditation/benchmarking co-occur. The study contributes a mechanism-grounded account from a major non-Western system and specifies policy-relevant conditions for shifting IQA from compliance to enhancement.