Arts & Humanities
, 
Education and Pedagogy

Handbook of Higher Education, Volume 2: Governance, Evidence & Quality Culture

Authors

By 
Mustafa Kayyali
Mustafa Kayyali (ed), Maaref University of Applied Sciences
Orcid https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3300-262X

Dr. Mustafa Kayyali is an academic leader, editor, and researcher specializing in quality assurance, accreditation, university rankings, internationalization, digital transformation, academic governance, and higher education management. He serves as Manager of the Quality Assurance and Accreditation Directorate at Maaref University of Applied Sciences, Syria, and as a Lecturer in Social Sciences. He is also a Full Professor in Management and Education at Azteca University.

 

Dr. Kayyali holds a PhD in Quality Management, a Master’s degree in Quality Management and Evaluation in Higher Education from Universitat Oberta de Catalunya, an MBA, and a BA in English Language and Literature. His academic and professional work bridges higher education policy, institutional quality, ranking systems, accreditation, strategic management, and international academic cooperation, with particular attention to fragile, developing, and post-conflict higher education contexts.

 

He is the founder and manager of HE Higher Education Ranking and has served in several international quality assurance and accreditation roles. His published books include works on global university rankings, quality assurance and accreditation, internationalization, academic transformation, crisis management, resilience in higher education, and strategic management in academia. Among his major titles are Quality Assurance and Accreditation in Higher Education: Issues, Models, and Best Practices, Global University Ranking Systems: Methodologies, Impact, and Repercussions, Higher Education Rankings and Their Worldwide Significance, Rebuilding Higher Education Systems Impacted by Crises, and Perspectives on Higher Education Systems and University Management.

 

Dr. Kayyali has also published extensively in journals and edited volumes on topics such as academic reputation, university rankings, quality assurance, AI in education, faculty development, internationalization, equity, and digital governance. His work has gained international visibility through citations, indexing, academic libraries, and editorial leadership across journals, book series, and large-scale higher education publishing projects.

STAR SCHOLARS PRESS
DOI: https://doi.org/10.32674/qtkq4n16
Publication date : August 6, 2026

Keywords:

Governance Quality Culture Quality global higher education educational research academic leadership

Synopsis

This volume explores governance not as a distant administrative machinery, but as the lived architecture through which universities decide, justify, improve, and sometimes resist change. It brings together discussions of evidence-based decision-making, institutional accountability, quality assurance, leadership, accreditation, and academic culture. The central concern is not merely whether universities collect evidence, but whether they know how to listen to it wisely. Across its chapters, the volume argues that quality culture cannot be manufactured through forms and audits alone; it grows through trust, participation, intellectual honesty, and the patient alignment of institutional purpose with everyday academic practice.

Chapters

Copyright

Copyright (c) 2026 STAR SCHOLARS PRESS