Quality Assurance in Higher Education with special reference to Bangladesh
Professor Dr. M. Abul Kashem
The Concept of Quality Assurance
Quality Assurance is an
all-embracing term referring to an ongoing, continuous process of evaluation
(assessing, monitoring, guaranteeing, maintaining, and improving) the quality
of higher education system, institutions or study programs. As a regulatory
mechanism, quality assurance focuses on both accountability and improvement,
providing information and judgments (not ranking) through an agreed upon and
consistent process and well-established criteria.
Quality Assurance System (QAS)
Quality comes out of a well structured process or system. This system
refers institutional arrangements including infrastructure, evidence of good
practices, and guiding principles for education. Quality assurance process determines whether
the graduates achieved the predetermined standard in terms of knowledge,
skills, attitudes and values that addresses the expectations of the stakeholders.
The quality assurance process includes,
designing academic programs with specific ILOs (Intended Learning Outcomes),
strategies, implementation, and systematic review of the process to measure the
effectiveness and continuous improvement.
Quality Assurance
Principles
1.
Responsibility: QA system is primarily responsible for
quality assurance in higher education;
2.
Focus: should focus on
safeguarding the interests of major stakeholders;
3. Involvement: participation of all who are involved
in the process of education need to be ensured with clearly assigned
responsibilities for quality assurance;
4.
Purpose: QA is not
Prove anything BUT to Improve
5.
Commitment: commitment
to continuous improvement;
6.
Continuity: QA is a
dynamic and continuous process;
7. Flexibility: QA system need to be flexible enough to
accept and accommodate feedback from a variety of internal and external
constituencies;
8. Organized Effort: QA practices need to be initiated and
managed under a structured organization;
9. Shared Benefit: all the developments and improvement
out of the QA system need to be shared duly among the stakeholders;
10. Fairness: decisions and measures taken to redress
problems and improve the process need to be supported by adequate information
and evidences;
11. Autonomy: QA system should exercise the autonomy
with a prime objective of quality assurance in education with accountability;
12. Transparency: QA system should be transparent in all
aspects of its activities including the academic and financial matters.
Reasons
for Quality in Higher Education
There are two main reasons for attaining Quality in
Higher Education:
(a)
Fitness of the Purpose for…
Graduates to
attain outcomes in terms of knowledge, attitudes and skills so that
they are being able to meet the needs of stakeholders; the knowledge, attitudes
and skills are interrelated to one another as depicted in Figure 1.
Figure
1. Interrelationships among the cognitive (knowledge), affective (attitudes)
and psychomotor (skills) domains
b)
Fitness for the purpose of....
Improving
institutional/entity (a) Capacity and (b) Process to facilitate the
attainment of Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs).
a.
Capacity
} Quality of Learners with commitment and interest.
} Quality of Staff in terms of commitment, knowledge,
skills and attitudes
} Content that is reflected in relevant curricula
for the acquisition of basic skills, attitude and knowledge referring for life
} Facilities in terms physical, co- &
extra-curricular activities
} Environments in terms of Governance, Health &
Safety
b. Processes
} Enrollment: Admissions, financial aid, registration
} Curricula: effective
and student centered learning (SCL), meaningful assessment to facilitate
attainment of learning and reduce disparities.
} Budgeting: operations/salaries;
capital; endowment management etc.
} Planning: strategic
planning, curricular planning, etc.
} Staff development: education/ training, communication
} Student Support: student advising & counseling,
progress toward degree completion, scholarship sanctions, etc.
} Residence Life: housing selection, training for
residential hall staff, conflict resolution/mediation
} Advancement: fund-raising,
alumni relations, public relations, government/corporate relations, community
relations, etc.
Elements
of Quality Assurance
The Quality Assurance System (QAS) has two distinct elements: (i)
Internal Quality Assurance (IQA), and (ii) External Quality Assurance (EQA).
The details of the elements are shown in Figure 2.
Figure 2.
Elements in the Quality Assurance (QA)
A: Internal
Quality Assurance (IQA)
Internal quality
assurance system is composed of the arrangements within the institution to
provide assurance of learning with people’s confidence. Internal QA is
considered as the corner stone of QA in higher education. Everybody working in
an institution must be responsible and accountable to develop the quality
culture.
Purposes of
Internal Quality Assurance (IQA)
- Continuous
improvement
- Curriculum change & staff
development
- Public confidence and information
- External profile
- To encourage the development of
quality systems and ensure compliance
- Harmonize workloads
- Consolidate research activity and
infrastructure
The quality of higher education needs to be ensured
in terms of:
} Effectiveness
of the program
} Accountability
to the Stakeholders
} Evidence of
good practice
} Assurance of
Learning
} Transparency
and Credibility
The major
functions and responsibilities of the Internal Quality Assurance (IQA) have
been diagrammatically presented in Figure 3.
Figure 3. Functions and Responsibilities
of Internal Quality
Assurance (IQA)
B: External Quality Assurance (EQA)
External quality assurance (EQA) refers to the actions of
an external body, which may be quality assurance agency or another body
different from the institution, which assesses its operation or that of its
program in order to determine whether it is meeting the standard that have been
agreed upon. It also refers to the review by an external agency (e.g. a
national quality assurance agency) or body (e.g. a professional body), which
evaluates the operations of a university (institutional) or of its program to
ascertain the level of compliance with set minimum standards. External quality
assurance is mainly carried out through the instrumentality of accreditation
and involves a self-study, peer review and a reporting system.
External quality assurance according to Martin and Anthony
(2006) has three main broad purposes.
(a) Quality
control
(b) accountability
/ guidance and
(c) Improvement
purposes
Quality control relates to the traditional role of
governments in ensuring that higher education provisions are in line with
minimum requirements of quality. Secondly, the external quality assurance is
mainly geared towards accountability. It is commissioned by public authorities
as part of their higher education policy agenda. It is frequently linked to
concerns over value for money, and creation of transparency and public
assurance. To make higher education accountable and have it conform to
standards set the public must be kept institutions ―fitness for purpose,
soundness of public satisfaction with them. Third, external quality assurance
may be geared towards improving existing practices. To achieve this, it must
rely largely on the individual or collective involvement of academic staff.
Quality Assurance in Higher Education: the Scenario of
Bangladesh
Achieving the
quality in higher education has now become a global concern. Although the
developed countries have made significant progress in attaining quality
education in tertiary level, the developing countries are striving to achieve
quality in higher education. The government of Bangladesh is also concerned
about it and has taken an active initiative. To this end, the Ministry of
Education, with the assistance of the World Bank, has undertaken a Higher
Education Quality Enhancement Project (HEQEP). The project aims at improving
the quality of teaching-learning and research capabilities of the tertiary
education institutions through encouraging both innovation and accountability
and by enhancing the technical and institutional capacity of the higher education
sector. The University Grants Commission of Bangladesh (UGC) is the
implementing agency of the project (HEQEP website). The project is jointly
financed by the World Bank and Government of Bangladesh, contributing to 88 per
cent and 12 per cent of the total cost respectively (MoE, 2015:13). Initially
the duration of the project was from 2009 to 2013; however, considering its
satisfactory implementation performance, the tenure of the project has now been
extended up to December 2018 with a total cost of US$238.10 million (IDA US$
206.00 million + GOB US$ 32.10 million) (ibid).
The HEQEP has
five components as follows:
i.
Promoting
Academic Innovation
ii.
Building
Institutional Capacity of the Higher Education Sector
iii.
Raising
the Connectivity of the Higher Education Sector
iv.
Establishment
of Quality Assurance Mechanisms
v.
Project
management, Communication, Monitoring and Evaluation
Establishment of Quality Assurance
Mechanisms in Bangladesh
Self-assessment
(SA) is the first step towards establishing quality assurance mechanism in an
institution. However, the past records reveal that none of the academic
institutions in Bangladesh had ever undertaken self-assessment of the degree
programs (MoE, 2015:30). And that is why 25 Self-Assessment sub-projects (04 in
Round 1 and 21 in Round 2) had been implemented in different universities in
Bangladesh since 2011. These self-assessment sub-projects for the first time
created awareness among teachers, students and relevant others for undertaking
quality assurance activities at the program level for raising the quality of
education. Built on the success of the self-assessment sub-projects the HEQEP
has introduced a new component on “Quality
Assurance Mechanism” in the project in August 2014.
The University
Grants Commission of Bangladesh (UGC) has responded positively to the Quality
Assurance (QA) issues in higher education and consequently has set up a Quality
Assurance Unit (QAU) within the organizational structure of the UGC. The
general objective of the QAU is to promote a quality assurance culture within
the higher education institutions in Bangladesh. However, the specific
objectives are to (QAU, ud):
ü
Guide
the universities for establishing a functional Institutional Quality Assurance
Cell (IQAC);
ü
Improve
the governance and management of academic programs by establishing QA
mechanism;
ü
Ensure
good practices for quality assurance in higher education in Bangladesh.
The salient
features of the Quality Assurance System to be introduced are:
- The Institutional Quality Assurance Cells (IQACs) will be established and managed in conformity with the policy guidelines provided in the IQAC Operation Manual;
- The Institutional Quality Assurance Cells (IQACs) will manage the internal quality assurance system in individual universities;
- The universities will be responsible to maintain quality of their of their own academic programs and education;
- The QA system is completely participatory and consultative approach;
Establishment of Institutional Quality
Assurance Cell (IQAC)
The call for
proposals of Round 1 of IQACF (Institutional Quality Assurance Cell Fund) was
announced on 26 August 2014; after completing the evaluation procedure, 13
Group A universities (more than 200 full time teaching staff) were awarded
funds, out of 21 proposals received from Group A universities. Call for
proposal for Round 2 was published on 29 April 2015 and after following the
evaluation process 21 universities, 19 of Group A universities and 02 of Group
B universities (100-200 full time teaching staff), were awarded fund since June
2015. Call for proposal for Round 3 has been published on 04 October 2015; in
response to this call 27 universities - 20 of Group C (less than 100 total full
time teaching staff), 02 of Group A, and
05 of Group B universities have
submitted proposals. The proposals have been evaluated on 08 December 2015 and
are in the process of awarding to the universities. Thus, 34 Institutional
Quality Assurance Cells (IQACs) have already been established in 61
universities (29 public universities and 32 private universities). The next 21
IQACs are expected to be established in 21 universities (04public and 17
private universities) by June 2016.
As a part of
quality assurance activities, the self-assessment programs of different degree
programs in different universities have already started. There are 355 eligible
SA entities in Round 1 universities while 133 activities are going on since
January 2015. The numbers of eligible SA entities in Round 2 universities are
374 out of which 149 SA activities are in progress since July 2015. In the SA
operations, among many other work activities, the vital part is collect data
from five categories of stakeholders: (i) students, (ii) teachers, (ii)
employers, (iv) alumni, and (v) non-academic staff. Moreover, data are also
being collected through participatory methods, such Focus Group Discussion
(FGD), as well as Key Informants’ Interview (KII).
The QAU has
prepared a Self-Assessment (SA) Manual. Both the QAU officials as well as IQAC
officials of the Round 1 and Round 2 universities have received overseas
training on the QA process.
The 25
Self-Assessment sub-projects which had been implemented during 2010 -2011 led
to some definite conclusions and recommendations for making improvement plans
at the respective universities. Among many other recommendations, the
significant ones were: (i) duplication and repetition of many aspects in the
syllabi of different departments (ii) lack of need-based course curricula,
(iii) dominance theoretical aspects over the practical aspects, (iv)
inappropriate students’ assessment procedures, and (v) inadequate guidance and
counseling facilities from the teachers.
Accreditation of Degree Programs
The degree programs
of almost developing countries are accredited by both the national and
international accredited councils/bodies. Even among the developing countries,
such as Brunei Darussalam, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia,
Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka have their accreditation
councils as well as national qualification frameworks, while Cambodia, China, Lao
PDR, Vietnam have their accreditation councils. Unfortunately, among the South
Asian Countries, Myanmar and Bangladesh have got neither any national
accreditation council, nor national qualification framework. However, the draft
Accreditation Council Bangladesh (ACB) Act - 2016 has already been prepared and
submitted to the Ministry of Education. The Ministry developed the draft and
uploaded to the website of the Ministry of Education (HEQEP, 2015). It was kept
for sometimes for comments and suggestions from the stakeholders. A national
workshop involving all categories of stakeholders was arranged on 03-01-2015
for finalizing the draft ACB Act - 2016. The stakeholders included the
Vice-Chancellors of all public and private universities, representatives from
all relevant professional societies, university teachers’ associations, the
association of universities in Bangladesh (AUB), and the association of
non-government universities in Bangladesh (ANUB), eminent educationists, elites
of the civil society and high officials on the Ministry of Education. The
Minister of Education was the chief guest in the workshop while the Chairman,
University Grants Commission of Bangladesh (UGC) chaired the occasion. Achieving
accreditation is a long journey; it starts from conducting the Self-Assessment
exercise followed by a series of activities towards establish quality culture
at the universities towards the end of the journey to accreditation at large
for the degree programs as well as for the institutions (cf. Figure 4).
Conclusion
The
establishment of quality culture at the tertiary level of education in
Bangladesh, i.e. at the universities – both public and private - is inevitable
now in order to get the degrees offered from the universities recognized
initially by the ACB and subsequently by the International Accreditation
councils/bodies. Initially it may seem to be difficult task, but if
persistently we can continue in giving efforts we would definitely be
successful in achieving our cherished goal. In Sri Lanka it took about 12
years, and in Malaysia it took about 10 years to reach the goal from its bottom
to the peak. In Bangladesh, the journey for quality enhancement in higher
education, in fact, started in 2009 through the introduction of the HEQEP
(Higher Education Quality Enhancement Project) funded by the World Bank and
implemented by the Ministry Education through the University Grants Commission
of Bangladesh (UGC). At present there are 12 international/ regional
accreditation bodies agencies (INQAAHE, APQN, CHEA, CANQATE, ENQA, BAC, ANQAHE,
IARC, ICC, MQA, PAASCU, and AQAC). These accreditation bodies have their own
parameters/ indicators of measuring the quality assurance issues and areas at
the universities. Optimistically it expected that we would be able establish the
quality culture at the universities by the end 2018 and subsequently would be
able to fulfill the criteria for accreditation of institutional as well as
degree programs of all the universities, especially the universities which have
participated in improving their quality of education through HEQEP initiatives.
World Bank deserves special thanks for providing financial assistance to
implement HEQEP towards establishing quality culture at the universities in
Bangladesh.
