Promoting a Quality Assurance Culture in Higher Education

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Promoting a Quality Assurance Culture in Higher
Education

• Prof. Shaker Rizk
• and Dr. Abdul Sattar Al-Alusi
• ITTIHAD UNIVERSITY, Ras Al Khaimah, UAE
• shaker115_at_hotmail.com asalalusi_at_ittihad.ac.ae

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Promoting a Quality Assurance Culture in Higher
Education

• THANK YOU

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• Thank You

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Introduction

• (HEIs) face obstacles in implementing (QA) and
  establishment (QC) in their academic programs.
• Creating a QC involves engaging administrative
  and academic systems and all stakeholders of the
  HEIs.

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QC Features, Requirements, and Phases

• A QC places students at the centre
• focuses on partnership co-operation
• sharing experiences team working
• aims at supporting the individual as an
  autonomous scholar

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Features of academic quality

• monitoring that ensures accountability,
• inspirational rather than dictatorial leadership,
  
• external and internal peer critical evaluation
  and support
• facilitating and encouraging self-reflection,
• developing and implementing improvement
  initiatives

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Features of academic quality contd

• engaging the whole institution,
• attentive to cultural aspects and change
• encouraging partnership and co-operation
• a willingness to engage in self-evaluation
• clarity and consistency of procedures

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Implementation phases/steps

• The set-up phase concentrates on promotion of a
  common QC
• The consolidation phase focuses on
  implementation of QA procedures which form the
  basis of the emergence of a common QC shared by
  partners.
• The maintenance phase builds up routine QA
  procedures which are constantly tested and
  re-adjusted by evaluation procedures

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Advantages of QC to HEIs

• QC in HEIs is the foundation of accreditation
  processes worldwide
• QC creates a positive quality environment leading
  to continuous improvement
• QC increases cooperation and competitiveness
• QC enables change, develops staff
• QC encourages staff to take risks, admit failure
• QC gives students opportunities to be heard as
  equal partners
• QC is a comprehensive approach for institutional
  development
• QC involves multiple internal and external
  stakeholders
• QC cannot be implemented from above

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Obstacles Threats of implementing QC

• Misunderstanding HEIs values, procedures,
  expectations that promote quality
• clashes between cultures risk hatred
• heterogeneity of program and college structures
  and practices
• lack of sustainability in face of policy/practice
  change
• inappropriate QA systems

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Obstacles Threats of implementing QC contd

• too many players and no harmony or cohesion
• separation from everyday life
• lack of strong senior leadership
• authoritarian and bureaucratic management styles
• lack of employee participation and involvement

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Suggested Framework for QC

• It adopts an analytic, universal framework
• It involves success factors and practices that
  have ongoing impact on performance toward quality
  educational services
• It encompasses both internal and external
  stakeholders
• It includes six major factors leadership, SWOT
  analysis, benchmarking, stakeholders, change, and
  a feedback loop

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1. Leadership Involvement

• Leadership should create and support a QC
• Leaders should align culture with the vision of
  the institution
• Leaders should adopt new training methods and
  staff participation
• Leaders should provide new values and ethics
  based on cooperation
• Leaders should become more reflective of the
  constituents they serve

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Leadership and change

• Changing culture is hard and it takes time and
  must come from the executive level
• Reshaping a positive culture through exercise of
  power
• Emphasis on top-down management that lead to
  changes or reforms in HE
• Management and leadership should be effective
  agents of change

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Leadership and change contd

• Leaders must communicate the vision frequently
  and effectively
• They should articulate it in different ways to
  different constituencies
• Leaders must encourage informal communications in
  passing on their vision
• Have consistent and dependable integrity
• Accept heterogeneity and diversity
• Focus on competence, be open to contrary opinion

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Leadership and change contd

• Fully knowledgeable of the need for change
• Willing to remove obstacles and empower employees
  at all levels
• Communicate easily, understand the concept of
  equity
• Lead through serving
• Appreciate the skills and talents of others
• Diplomatic
• Tell why rather than how

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2. SWOT Analysis

• SWOT focuses on understanding HEIs strengths and
  weaknesses and looking at the opportunities and
  threats they face
• essential for evaluating present situation
• make use of its strengths
• improve its weaknesses
• recognize opportunities when they arise
• eliminate threats
• help institutions formulate a sustainable
  strategy in HEIs

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Aims of SWOT Analysis

• Affirming an open communication process in a
  bottom-up inclusive process
• Identifying institutional strengths and
  weaknesses
• Taking note of external threats / opportunities
  that shape long-term future
• Designing a strategy that helps distinguish a HEI
  from its competitors
• Illuminating/informing what needs to be done, and
  putting problems into perspective

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3. Benchmarking

• A benchmark is a point of reference against
  which something may be measured
• formal and structured process leading to
  excellent performance
• essential tool for continuous improvement of
  quality
• explores possibilities of cooperation and
  friendship
• learning process which requires trust,
  understanding
• assessment and evaluation tool for quality
  improvements
• emphasizes comparison, transparency and
  visibility of quality
• response to the growing competition among HEIs
• involves the whole institution

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Types and Methods of benchmarking (Woodhouse,
2000)

• internal benchmarking comparisons are made
  against another division within the same
  institution
• public information using publicly available
  data about another institution
• sector benchmarking a benchmarking partner(s)
  in the same sector is selected
• generic benchmarking involves comparisons of
  processes and practices
• best practice benchmarking selects a comparator
  believed to be best in the area to be benchmarked

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Benchmarking methods (

• Ideal type standards based on idealized best
  practice
• Activity-based method activities are analyzed
  compared among institutions
• Vertical benchmarking quantifying costs,
  workloads, productivity performance of a
  defined functional area
• Horizontal benchmarking analyzing the cost,
  workloads, productivity performance of a single
  process
• Comparative performance indicator method.

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Benchmarking application in HEIs

• 1) Develop a mechanism to learn from ones own
  and others experiences
• 2) Improve continuous improvement mechanism of
  enquiry, action, and feedback
• 3) Learn for a purpose
• 4) Enhance a culture of facilitating conditions
  fostering innovation and improvement
• 5) Encourage taking risks creating the sense of
  reflection or evaluation of HEIs

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4. Recognizing and Engaging Stakeholders

• Ss voice and viewpoints should be heard to
  promote QC in HEIs
• Ss must be trained as active participants and
  partners in the assessment process
• Ss needs expectations should be considered
• Ss feedback in the institutional should be used
  in HEIs self-assessment
• Ss and employers should be valued in continuous
  QC improvement

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Recognizing and Engaging Stakeholders contd

• Ss must be cared for from staff and faculty and
  should be involved in the QA
• Ss shouldnt be ignored/penalized for providing
  information, making comments or initiating
  appeals
• Ss should be accepted as full and equal partners
• Teachers, governance and community are basic
  components of change in HEIs
• Administrative Staff should be active
  participants team members in QA QC

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5. Designing a Change Framework

• chief executives are the key factor in any change
  situation
• executives can identify, adapt use key success
  factors suitable for their institutions
• Stakeholders, faculty and staff should recognize
  their value to the institution
• re-engineering employees' duties
• focus on management commitment, leadership
  continued improvement and QC

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Steps for Change

• Executives, faculty, and other stakeholders need
  to shift their thinking about work
• After the shift, different questions in search of
  new answers should be asked.
• Change should be seen as a positive value in
  culture
• Leaders should cultivate change attitudes plan
  to support, promote and execute QC change
  initiatives
• Adopt Holistic implementation to achieve academic
  excellence
• Create Change Action Plans based on assessment
  recommendations

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6. Designing a Feedback Loop

• a feedback loop holistically assesses HEIs
  improvement in educational, administrative,
  service, and management sectors
• Self-assessment assesses program effectiveness
  and improvement, curriculum review and
  development, staff development, and stakeholder
  satisfaction
• Peer institutions assessment aims to exchange
  views with peer institutions in the UAE in all
  aspects to arrive at setting quality indicators
  of planned targets, monitoring and auditing
  strategies, and creating a QA culture that fits
  UAE HEIs
• National and international feedback reviews HEI
  against CAA and INQAAHE or other international
  standards

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Results of the suggested feedback loop

• Producing graduates involved, engaged motivated
• Forming partner relationships between employers
  HEIs
• Improving reputations for academic institutions
• Creating a culture sensitive to changes in
  external internal levels
• Enhancing collaborations among all stakeholders
• Preparing self-assessment reports, SWOT analysis
  and benchmarks
• Achieving bilateral national international
  agreements with peer HEIs
• Inviting accreditation bodies and external
  reviewers occasionally

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Conclusion and Recommendations

• Promoting a QC in HE is a necessity for
  institutional continuous improvement
• This study has suggested a framework that
  encompasses leadership, SWOT analysis,
  benchmarking, stakeholders involvement, change
  strategies, and a feedback loop in an attempt to
  achieve QA and QC in any HEI.
• Some of the suggested elements in the framework
  have been applied and adopted by Ittihad
  University and resulted in positive consequences
  on the road of QA manifestation. For detailed
  components see (Rizk Al-Alusi,2009 and
  Al-Alusi and Rizk, 2009).

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• THANK YOU