THE MALAYSIAN QUALIFICATIONS FRAMEWORK MQF

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THE MALAYSIAN QUALIFICATIONS FRAMEWORK(MQF)

• Sharifah Hapsah Shahabudin
• MBBS MHPEd MD FAMM
• Quality Assurance Division
• Ministry of Higher Education

MAPCU National Conference 4-5 October 2004
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Outline of Presentation

• What is the MQF?
• Some issues regarding qualifications
• Features of the MQF
• Implementing the MQF

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Malaysian Qualifications Framework (MQF)

• A unified system and reference point for all
  national qualifications
• Uses nationally endorsed principles, criteria,
  guidelines competency standards that set the
  boundaries for naming, positioning and linking
  qualifications
• Qualifications are awarded by certified providers
  acting under different Acts and mechanisms
• Providers operate within or outside the formal
  education system including individually-driven
  life long learning efforts and verifiable
  workplace training and experiences.

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Certified provider

• Educational and training institutions whose
  qualifications have been properly assessed and
  quality assured by an agency that is accredited
  to conduct quality assurance.
• e.g programs/institutions that have been quality
  assured by LAN, QAD or a professional body

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TERMINOLOGY IN QUALITY SYSTEM

• CERTIFICATION OR REGISTRATION
• ACCREDITATION

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CERTIFICATION

• process of assessing whether an
  institution/program has conformed to a set of
  predetermined standards established in the field.
  
• Certification is done by the most competent
  certification/registration body.
• In many countries the term accreditation is
  used instead of certification, permissible as
  long as the definition is clearly stated.

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Certification of Quality

• Standards of educational programs institutional
  quality system
• Standards of practitioner/graduate performance
• Standards of professional practice

• Certification of Input or process criteria that
  support learning outcomes
• Certification of individual competence or
  achievement of learning outcomes
• Practice guidelines e.g hospital certification

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Assessment of Individual Competence

• Competence Assessment
• Institutional examination
• National licensure examination
• Professional examinations
• Performance assessment practice audit or
  observation of specific aspects of the
  performance of an individual in comparison to
  some pre-defined standards
• individual outcome (professional growth and
  development)
• Managerial outcomes (better processes etc)
• product outcomes
• Community Outcomes
• Socio-economic indicators (e.g health status of
  the community)

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Outcomes of Certification

• The evaluation report of the institution or
  program or individual is submitted to
• a certifying/registering authority.
• Purpose to certify whether an institution or
  program or individual qualifies for a certain
  status.
• status may have implications for the institution
  itself (example permission to operate) and/or
  its students (example eligibility for grants )
  and /or its graduate (example for certain
  employment).
• HEI quality enhancement
• Policy makers

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ACCREDITATION

• process of assessing whether a certification/regis
  tration body or quality agency has complied with
  predetermined standards and procedures of quality
  assurance which are consistent with
  accountability and improvement of higher
  education

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Quality System in Education (adapted from Dept of
Standards Malaysia)

MQA/MQF
DSM
ACCREDITATION PROCESS
QUALITY AGENCY
Professional bodies /guilds etc

University/ degree
Vocational/ technical
MLVK
CERTIFICATION PROCESS
PROVIDERS
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Examples of providers

• post secondary schools
• colleges including community colleges,
  polytechnics and other vocational and technical
  institutions
• Universities and college universities
• other higher educational institutions (e.g INTAN,
  training institutes of the various Ministries)
• professional organisations, guilds
  industry-related organisations

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Issues regarding qualifications

• Confusion in qualification nomenclature
• Use of contact hours to calculate credits
  formula varies from institution to institution
  need to standardise meaning of credits
• Diversity of qualifications, uniquely Malaysian
  need for transparency to facilitating
  international comparability mutual recognition
  
• indigenously grown programs
• Franchise/twinned programs
• Truly foreign
• Qualification by competency assessment/examination
  
• No mechanisms to support realise the policy
  life long learning need criteria procedures
  for recognition of prior learning experiences
• Public/private sector divide need for avenue
  for collaboration

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DIVERSITY OF EDUCATION TRAINING RECOGNITION
ISSUES
GRADUATION
LOCAL MMED, MS, MOG OVERSEAS ROYAL COLLEGES
BOARD CERTIFIED OTHERS RECOGNISED AS SPECIALIST
IN COUNTRY OF ORIGIN (AT LEAST 5 YEARS) GAZETED
BY MOH AFTER 6-12 MTHS
LOCAL PUBLIC PRIVATE OVERSEAS
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Features of the MQF

• clear criteria for defining each qualification
  underpin standards
• Provide flexible learning pathways systematic
  credit transfer for progression within across
  educational sectors, including RPL within/outside
  the country
• Not a rigid system- accommodates new
  qualifications that arise according to needs
  growth of knowledge

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Qualification

• The basic unit of the MQF
• public certification by an accredited provider
  that a person has successfully completed a
  specified set of learning outcomes with a
  particular purpose and at a particular level,
  which are properly assessed and quality assured.
• marks the achievement of positively-defined
  outcomes not as compensation for failure or by
  default (e.g giving a pass or general degree
  for students who do not achieve the Honours).
• conforms to internationally and nationally
  endorsed principles, criteria, and standards of
  quality which set the boundaries for naming,
  positioning and linking the qualifications.

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Elements of a Qualification

• Level, defined by learning outcomes
• Character or purpose
• field
• credit or academic load

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1. Qualification Levels

• Certificate
• Diploma
• Advanced Diploma
• Graduate Certificate Diploma
• Bachelor with Honours
• Masters
• Postgraduate Certificate Diploma
• Doctoral/PhD

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3. Learning Outcomes

• The LEVELS are distinguished from each other
  principally by learning outcomes
• Other distinguishing characteristics may include
• minimum entrance requirement,
• typical duration
• cumulative duration in full time equivalent
  (part-time courses)
• Note distinguishing characteristics need to be
  reviewed in light of flexible education modeled
  on Life Long Learning

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Learning Outcomes

• Abilities in various domains of learning that
  students are expected to demonstrate as evidence
  of competency.
• Mastery of body of knowledge (depth, breadth and
  relative difficulty of specific content)
• practical or psychomotor skills (range and
  complexity),
• scientific method, critical thinking, problem
  solving, autonomy in decision-making
• communication skills, leadership and team work
• information management and life long learning
  skills
• personal attributes, ethics, shared values and
  professionalism
• social responsibility and accountability

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Leaning outcomes
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2. Purpose /character of qualification

• At the same level, there may be different nature
  or purpose of qualifications example
• MASTERS LEVEL
• scholarship (Masters by course work)
• preparation for research and deepening subject
  knowledge (Masters by research)
• Research scholarship (combined coursework
  research)
• professional and practice-related (e.g postgrad
  Medicine)
• CERTIFICATE LEVEL
• skills training
• occupational oriented
• preparation for higher education.

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3. Field

• Subject-related knowledge and is the program
  CONTENT e.g Surgery, Int. Medicine, Fam. Med
• Each field adapts the level learning outcomes to
  define the field/discipline learning outcomes
• the field learning outcomes determine the
• Content
• Minimum academic load or credits their
  distribution throughout the program
• broad guidelines for program structure
• types courses or modules and sequencing
• general approach to teaching and learning
  supervision
• system of trainee assessment.

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Field Technical Committees(subcommittee of
conjoint board)

• Formulate requirements for the respective
  disciplines
• Comprise representatives of
• academia (public private)
• Employers (Ministry of Health)
• Profession (Academy of Medicine relevant
  colleges)

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4. Credit or academic load

• measure of the learning effort or volume of
  learning a student must undertake to achieve a
  defined group of learning outcomes
• all forms of learning in hours - lectures,
  tutorial, work-based, research, experiential,
  practical activities, private study, preparation
  for assessment etc
• formal contact hours additional hours of work
  students are expected to undertake on their own.
  
• Qualifications with the same name have the same
  minimum total credit requirement.
• Qualifications at the same level may have
  different credit requirements (e.g between MMed,
  MS and MOG).

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Specification of credits

• Range of credits for each qualification level
  (bachelor, masters etc)
• Minimum credits for a field at a particular level
  (Medicine, Engineering, Science)
• Minimum credits at exit level
• Limit total credit that can be transferred
• Eliminate practice of condonement
• Some flexibility in program design

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Credits as total student effort to achieve
learning outcomes facilitate

• credit transfer between programs
• Articulation of equivalence of qualifications
• Recognition/accreditation of workplace
  training/experiences and life long learning
• flexible learning open access to education.
• Institutional autonomy to creatively design their
  programs to meet various needs (e.g full time,
  part time, weekend, distance, e-learning,
  problem-based, hands-on etc).
• Even distribution of academic load among the
  different components (e.g unit, course, module)
  of the program
• Elimination of confusion due to institutional
  differences in interpretation of contact hours
  and academic semesters or year.

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MQF
Post sec non tertiary
Certificate 1, 2 3
Diploma
First stage tertiary
Adv Diploma
Graduate Certificate Diploma
Postgraduate certificate diploma
2nd stage
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RPL

• MQF provides structure for dealing with learning
  that is undertaken by individuals as life long
  efforts to improve themselves, including work
  place training.
• recognition of prior learning (RPL) is done by
  assessing the standards of performance achieved,
  not how learning occurred.
• Prior learning (corpus of knowledge, skills and
  experience) is assessed and awarded appropriate
  credits at the appropriate MQF level (Recognition
  of Prior Learning RPL or Accreditation of Prior
  Experience Learning -APEL or Accreditation of
  Achievements APA) by accredited providers.
• guide used is ISO/IEC FDIS 17024 Conformity
  Assessment General requirements for bodies
  operating certification of persons.

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Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL)

• possession of a first degree not necessarily
  required for the achievement of a postgraduate
  qualification
• Postgraduate study could build upon knowledge,
  abilities and skills through conversion
  programs
• Graduate Certificate
• Graduate Diploma.

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EDUCATIONAL PATHWAYS
POSTGRADUATE CERTIFICATE DIPLOMA, (POSTGRADUATE
PROFESSIONAL AWARDS), FELLOW
PhD HIGHER DOCTORATE
Recognition of Prior Learning
Experience (RPL)

OVERSEAS QUALIFICATIONS

PROFESSIONAL MASTERS (4 YRS) MASTERS BY
RESEARCH COURSE WORK COMBINED

GRADUATE CERTIFICATE DIPLOMA,
BACHELOR (HONS) (3-5 Yrs)
ADV DIPLOMA
ADV DIPLOMA
SKILLS DIPLOMA
VOCATIONAL DIPLOMA
STPM/ STAM MATRICULATION FOUNDATION
TECHNICAL VOCATIONAL CERTIFICATE
CERTIFICATE 3 (K-worker Certificate) CERTIFICATE
2 CERTIFICATE 1
OVERSEAS QUALIFICATIONS
TRANSFER DEGREE 30, twinning, credit transfer,
advance standing, external degree
SPM other approved qualifications
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Graduate Certificate/diploma

• Awarded upon demonstration of achievement of
  competencies/learning outcomes expected at the
  undergraduate level
• Example refresher courses taken by General
  Practitioners at the undergraduate medical level
  (CPD)
• Difference between Certificate and Diploma is the
  credit load (6 mths to a year)
• conferred through the recognition of life long
  learning
• -professional practice or workplace experiences
• -institution/organisation-based courses
• -or in combination

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Uses of graduate certificate/diploma

• Accreditation of continuing professional
  education/education CME credits
• Converting to a new field of study
• conversion into entry qualifications for a
  higher qualification (e.g from diploma/advanced
  diploma to Bachelor (Hons) or Masters.
• When used as conversion awards for entry to a
  higher level of qualification, a maximum volume
  of aggregated credits that is permissible below
  the higher award is specified.
• promotion at the workplace

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Postgraduate Certificate or Diploma

• postgraduate in time and level
• substantial portion of the credits at least at
  the Masters level
• difference between Certificate and Diploma is the
  credit load
• awarded after successful attainment of learning
  outcomes either in
• formal programs
• Credentialing/ recognition of life-long learning
  and workplace experience
• Credits can be accumulated

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Purpose of postgraduate certificate/diploma

• certify competence to perform advanced procedures
  in specific disciplines, ( credentialing), e.g
  to perform minimally invasive surgery,
  interventional radiology, etc
• recognize specialists in subspecialties of the
  professions (e.g in Medicine, as a Cardiologist,
  Nephrologist, Endocrinologist)
• accumulate credits towards a Masters or PhD
  requirement
• recognise advanced standing in the profession
  (e.g to be entitled to carry a specific title
  such as Consultant Ir. to grant a certain status
  in the profession e.g Fellowand so on)
• be eligible for promotion in the workplace

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Example of Qualification characteristics masters
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Character

• first higher (postgraduate) degree in Malaysia.
• participants may be eligible to convert to a
  doctorate
• either academic or professional
• awarded after completion of taught courses,
  programs of research, or a mixture of both, and
  professional practice-based or skill based
• Duration of at least one year (if taken
  full-time) and 4 years for medical specialty
  programs
• credit-rated
• Much of the study will have been at, or informed
  by, the forefront of an academic or professional
  discipline.

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Learning Outcomes/Competency

• able to integrate new ideas with established
  knowledge
• show originality, creativity, flexibility and
  independence in applying knowledge to tackle
  complex issues and solve problems
• have mastery or overview of the theoretical/
  applied aspects of a complex, specialised
  advanced body of knowledge and skills or
  professional practice, with understanding of how
  the boundaries of knowledge are advanced through
  research
• demonstrate a high order skill in analysis,
  critical evaluation and/or professional
  application in the planning and execution of
  project work or a piece of scholarship or
  research.

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Job destination

• Employment in circumstances requiring
• sound judgment,
• personal responsibility
• initiative in planning and taking responsibility
  for related decision making, in complex and
  unpredictable professional environments.

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Thank you
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PhD/Doctoral

• tertiary programs which are devoted to advanced
  study and original research
• not based on course-work only
• typically requires the submission of a thesis or
  dissertation of publishable quality which is the
  product of original research and represents a
  significant contribution to knowledge including
  the creative and performing arts.
• typical duration is 3 to 5 years.
• not credit-rated or achievable by accumulation of
  credits
• credits earned from credit-rated courses do not
  contribute summatively to the award of the
  doctorate
• credit-rated courses must be at the doctoral
  level

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Competency at PhD/doctoral level

• Ability to
• produce original research or advanced programs of
  a professional or practice-based character with
  specified outcomes at a doctoral level and in
  appropriate volume, which are done in a way to
  make significant contribution to advance a field
  of inquiry or practice,
• conceptualise, design and implement projects for
  the generation of significant new knowledge
  and/or understanding.
• create and interpret knowledge which extends the
  forefront of a discipline.
• make informed judgments on complex issues in
  specialist fields, and create innovations in
  tackling and solving problems.

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Job destination

• Holders of doctorates will have the qualities
  needed for employment requiring
• research
• development
• consultancy
• The degree also prepares graduates for faculty
  and research posts.