Post on 19-Dec-2015
Professor Dr. Mohammed Abdul Aziz Vice Chancellor
University of Information Technology & Sciences (UITS)Bangladesh
Web: http://www.uits.bd.edu Email: info@uits-bd.org, aziz@uits-bd.org
Building Bridges in Higher Education: Quality Assurance
Silk Road extending from southern and eastern Europe through Egypt, Somalia, the Arabian Peninsula, Iran, Central Asia, Indian Subcontinent, Java-Indonesia, and Vietnam until it reaches China.
The land routes are red, and the water routes are blue.
The Changing Global Environment
Knowledge as a Key Factor in Development
The Information and Communication Revolution
The Global Labor Market Political and Social Change
Opportunities and Threats stemming from Changes in the Global Environment
Building Bridges
Bridges as metaphorsWhat bridges?
between different organizations and stakeholders in higher education
between higher education, business and society
across geographical borders, time and space, disciplines and learning methods
Globalization and Higher Education: Building Bridges
The foundations for these bridges:• The World Declaration for Higher Education
in the Twenty-first Century
• The Global Forum on International Quality Assurance, Accreditation and the Recognition of Qualifications
UNESCO GLOBAL FORUM –The Action Plan
Standard-setting activities Capacity Building in QA and different modes of
deliveryreview of regional conventionsprinciples for responsible partnerships in cross-
border educationgenerating empirical evidence through research
on the impact of trade in education and the concept of the public good
Clearinghouse: Information Tools for Students
A Way Forward
Greater participation from all regions, including Ministers and governmental representatives
higher education at the centre of social sustainable development.
Building bridges: from words to action (1)
Strengthen regional conventions
Research on Widening access to higher education through trans border provision
Building bridges: from words to action (2)
Principles for Responsible and Sustainable Partnerships between HE, Business and Society
Develop a continuum model for partnerships between HE and society that would take account of differences in needs, capacities and issues
Empowering Learners: Students Choice Behavior
Results of Studies on Students Choice BehaviorsFlexibility of choice: link HE with Lifelong Learning
Currently, as centers of education, knowledge, innovation, talent and business, universities are expected to provide society with three primary functions:
Globally Engaged Network
Platform for Sustainability
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Entrepreneurship & Spirit
of Innovation
Transformation from Industrial to Information age
Knowledge Economy and Knowledge Society
Rapid Growth and Urbanization
Population Diversity and Immigration
Challenges in Knowledge Economies
Thus, universities are faced with critical
challenges while priming to address
society’s needs, which include:
Universities Provide the Core
Cultivate creative capital
Generate knowledge capital
Train human capital
Build social capital
Attract financial capital
Preserve natural capital
Produce spillovers to regional and national economies
However, universities are
the primary locus of opportunity to address challenges associated
with innovation, economic expansion,
and population growth for the city-state. They:
Per capita income (1999) Source: U.S. Census Bureau,Census 2000 Summary File 3, Matrix P82
For example, trends indicate that highly educated populations and higher university funding influence a higher per capita income
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Academic Success, Economic Strength
Geographic concentration of highly cited scientists http://www.casa.ucl.ac.uk/citations/citations_maps.htm
Why Quality Assurance is Necessary? Massification of Higher Education Diversified Higher Education System Risk of Lowering Academic Standards Globalization and Economic Integration Growing Danger of “degree mills” and “accreditation
mills” National Quality Assurance Systems should act in
accordance with the International Standards
International Network for Quality Assurance Agencies in Higher Education (INQAAHE)
Established in 1991 and has NGO status with UNESCO
200 Members from 6 Continents and 80 Countries
Main Purpose: To collect and disseminate information on current and developing theory and practice in the assessment, improvement and maintenance of quality in higher education
International Network for Quality Assurance Agencies in Higher Education (INQAAHE)
Promotes good practices in the maintenance and improvement of quality in higher education and facilitates research into the practice of quality management
Provides advice for new quality assurance agencies and facilitates links between accrediting bodies
Memorandum of Cooperation with INQAAHE Arab Network for Quality Assurance in Higher Education (ANQAHE) ASEAN Quality Assurance Network (AQAN) Asia-Pacific Quality Network (APQN) Caribbean Area Network for Quality Assurance in Tertiary Education
(CANQATE) Central and Eastern European Network of Quality Assurance
Agencies in Higher Education (CEEN) Eurasian Quality Assurance Network (EAQAN) European Association for Quality Assurance in Higher Education
(ENQA) European Consortium for Accreditation (ECA) Ibero-American Network for Quality Assurance in Higher Education
(RIACES) Quality Assurance Network for African Higher Education (AfriQAN)
Quality Assurance in European
Higher Education Area (EHEA)
Globalization requires mobility and competitiveness which widens the market for higher education
Bologna Process:Bologna Declaration includes 46 member states
in Europe (plus EU COM with voting rights) and 8 consultative members (CoE, EUA, ESU, EURASHE, EI, BE, UNESCO, ENQA)
Concentrates more on teaching and learning than on research
Quality Assurance in European Higher Education Area (EHEA)
The E4 group (ENQA, EUA, EURASHE and ESIB/ESU) has developed the European Standards and Guidelines (ESGs) comprising three key components:Standards for internal quality assurance
within higher educational institutionsStandards on external quality assurance
of higher educational institutionsStandards for quality assurance of quality
assurance agencies
Questions and Challenges about EHEA
Quality assurance agencies are still largely restricted to traditional higher education: degree programs leading to Bachelor's / Master's degrees
Transnational education, Lifelong learning is still largely located outside the scope of quality assurance and is insufficiently accredited
Quality Assurance should examine whether thedegree program of a university:
is oriented towards explicit and published learning outcomes
takes into account the necessary workload leads to the necessary competencies and skills is student-centered and not traditionally teacher-
centered observes the qualification framework enables students to use opportunities of
mobility
Quality Assurance in Asian
Universities The higher education landscape and Transformation of quality assurance in the Asian Region is characterized by: Cultural, linguistic, social, political and economic
pluralities Many growing economies Increasing attention to higher education and its quality Considerable diversity in quality assurance systems,
approaches and stages of development Need for a regional harmonization of frameworks and
approaches Increasing regional cooperation
Quality Assurance in Asian Universities
ASEAN Quality Assurance Network (AQAN) aims: To promote and share good practice of
quality assurance in higher education in the region
To collaborate in capacity building To share information and to facilitate the
mutual recognition of qualifications throughout the region
To develop a quality assurance framework for Southeast Asia
Internal and External Quality Assurance of Higher Education Internal Quality Assurance: Through selfassessment, the institution tries to discoverits own quality and to find its strengths and weaknesses.
External quality Assurance: It often servestwo masters:
It helps the institutions to enhance and to improve the quality
It provides information for government, policymakers and taxpayers
Perspective of the Universities of Bangladesh and UITS
30 Public Universities and 54 Private Universities exist Bangladesh
External Quality Assurance:Ministry of Education, Bangladesh
University Grants Commission of Bangladesh (UGC)
All Public and Private Universities of Bangladesh are controlled by External Quality Assurance Authority
Perspective of the Universities of Bangladesh and UITS
UITS has Internal Quality Assurance
Committee in addition to External Quality
Assurance Authority:
Quality Assurance Committee of UITS
Quality Assurance and Improvement Society (QAIS):
UITS is the founding member of QAIS
Executive Board of QAISChairman Prof. Dr. Alimullah Miyan
Vice Chancellor, IUBAT
Vice Chairman National Professor Nurul Islam
Vice Chancellor, USTC
Secretary General Prof. Dr. Mohammed Abdul Aziz
Vice Chancellor, UITS
Treasurer Prof. Dr. Shamsul Haque
Vice Chancellor, NUB
Member Prof. Dr. Rahim B Talukder
Vice Chancellor, Eastern University
Member Prof. A J M Nuruddin Chowdhury
Vice Chancellor, SUB
Member Prof. Dr. Abdul Mannan Chowdhury
Vice Chancellor, WUB
Member Prof. Dr. M Afzal Hossain
Vice Chancellor, HMDSTU
Member Prof. Dr. N R M Borhan Uddin
Vice Chancellor, City University
Mission of QAIS
Has a mission appropriate to higher education
Guided by well-defined and appropriate goals for student learning
Assesses both institutional effectiveness and student learning outcomes, and use the results for improvement
Mission of QAIS
Enhancement of quality of higher education
Quality education assurance is primarily the responsibilities of higher educational institutions themselves and should respect institutional integrity
Promoting academic freedom and intellectual and institutional integrity
Mission of QAIS
Ensuring that higher education is accountable to its various stakeholders and in the protection of theirInterests. Stakeholders includes- Students and potential students Their families and other individuals who provide
them with financial and other supports Employers Governments Foundations and other agencies that support the
work of higher education. The wide community, including the internal,
external, regional and international community
Mission of QAIS
Review Process of the Society should be independent and should not be subject to external influences whether from governments, institutions or elsewhere
Should be carried out in the context of criteria and procedures that are published in advance of any review
Mission of QAIS
Decisions made by the Society should be based on clear and published criteria and should be reached after the application of transparent processes and procedures
QAIS recognizes that a great deal of co-operative work with the other organizations or agencies of same objectives is conducted at internal, external, regional and international level
Mission of QAIS
Establishing transparent processes and procedures for institutional and program accreditations based on published criteria
Identifying a set of core guidelines that should strengthen the Society’s activities
Collaborating and Cooperating with other organizations/agencies of similar objectives at local, regional, and international level
Functions of QAIS
Advocacy of Quality Assurance and improvement
Formulation of indicators and measurement instruments
Development of consensus on the indicators and measurements
Encourage the setting up of internal Quality Assessment mechanisms
Functions of QAIS
Initiating self assessment Inviting submission for peer review
(voluntary) Inviting submission for external review Conducting review process Development of assesses and reviewers Providing feedback for improvement (no
rating)
Functions of QAIS
Training, workshops, seminars of Quality Assurance
Full assessment of Higher Educational Institution on voluntary basis
Non rated certification on Quality Assurance
Institutional review Program review
Review Panel of QAIS
Reviewers should consist of academics from abroad with experience of Quality Assurance providing a balance of western and regional membership for institutional and program review
After completion of institutional review of most Higher Educational Institutions, the review process will be fully internalized with external participation as may be necessary
The future will belong to those
regions that have strong knowledge-based economies,
built on the success of their
universitiesas knowledge
producers
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Thank You!