Quality Assurance in Higher Education Mohammad Sahadet Hossain, PhD Additional Director Institutional Quality Assurance Cell (IQAC) North South University Meet the SACs; 2nd June 2016.

Quality Assurance in the system of Higher Education Meet the SACs; 2nd June 2016.

The session will include… Quality & Quality Culture in HEI QA Mechanism in Bangladesh Quality Control (QC) & Quality Assurance (QA) Self Assessment (SA) in QA Self Assessment Committee (SAC) Activities The continuation of QA Culture IQAC, NSU

Very difficult to understand but easy to talk about Quality & Quality Culture Quality can not be Seen Smelt Touched Sold purchased Very difficult to understand but easy to talk about What is Quality ? IQAC, NSU

What is Quality ? and quality can definitely be “felt / assessed” Quality is to be felt by all the stake holders visible every where a continuous process and quality can definitely be “felt / assessed” IQAC, NSU

Why Quality in Education? The graduates must come out of the university equipped with requisite qualifications and skills that the society and the country need for achieving higher economic growth and prosperity. Here quality of graduates has been defined as, fitness of purposes (Woodhouse, 1999).Quality education includes (UNICEF, 2000) Source: UGC IQUA manual. IQAC, NSU

QA Mechanism in Bangladesh Quality Higher education is necessary for the socioeconomic development of a country as it produces skilled workforce for the country. The number of students at tertiary level in Bangladesh is approximately 3.0 million. There are around 37 public and 91 private universities in Bangladesh. Achieving quality in higher education is now the mission of the Government of Bangladesh (GOB). The GOB, World bank has generously funded the project named- Higher Education Quality Enhancement Project (HEQEP), implemented by University Grants Commission. Quality Assurance Unit (QAU) is a part of HEQEP established at UGC to oversee the Quality Assurance (QA) activities at university level. IQAC, NSU

And the real picture….. Prothom Alo- 21st May, 2016 Prothom Alo-29th March 2016 IQAC, NSU

Quality Assurance Principles (some major) Responsibility: QA system of a HEI is primarily responsible for quality assurance in education; Focus: on safeguarding the interests of the major stakeholders; Involvement: Participation of all who are involved in the process of Purpose: Quality assurance is not to prove anything but to improve; Commitment: Commitment to continuous improvement; Continuity: Quality Assurance is a dynamic and continuous process; Flexibility: QA system need to be flexible enough to accept and accommodate feedback from a variety of internal and external constituencies; Fairness: Decisions and measures taken to redress problems and improve the process need to be supported by adequate information and evidences; Transparency: QA system need to be transparent in all aspects of its activities including the academic and financial matters. IQAC, NSU

The relation structure of QAC, IQAC, and SAC IQAC, NSU

Self-Assessment Committee (SAC) The SAC will function its activities for one year. In one year period, the SAC will conduct the self assessment, submit the self assessment report (SAR), facilitate the external peer review and finally prepare an improvement plan The SAC will work with IQAC to develop the overall QA condition of the department The SAC will make sure that all the QA activities undertaken by the IQAC and applicable for the entity are being implemented properly. IQAC, NSU

Self Assessment at Department Level Program self assessment is the systematic collection , review and use of information about educational programs undertaken for the improvement of student learning. It helps the department to : Better understand the ongoing programs under assessment Revisit the program objectives and goals Redress the intended learning outcomes of the program if necessary Conduct SWOT analysis Assess the adequacy of student support services for effective teaching learning Assess the progress of improvement desired Develop strategic plan with commitment and priorities for further improvement IQAC, NSU

Self assessment criteria and standard Governance Curriculum content design and review Student admission, progress and achievements Physical facilities Teaching-learning assessment Student support services Staff and facilities Research and extension Process management and continuous improvement IQAC, NSU

Indicative Allocation to Academic Departments Incentive for the 3 member SA Committee Tk. 320,000 Workshops (three workshops) Tk. 120,000 Printing and Stationary Tk. 10,000 Survey including questionnaire preparation, data collection, data analysis and TA/DA for the faculty members involved in field work Tk. 243,800 Peer Review Tk. 250,000 Operating cost/contingencies Tk. 15,000 Total Tk 958,800 IQAC, NSU

SAC Incentive Incentive: 4 months’ basic pay for the Head, 2 months’ basic pay for the members Incentive according to public university pay scale for respective rank IQAC, NSU

SAC Activities for one year Prepare a self assessment activity schedule Organize awareness building workshops Prepare the survey tools for major stakeholders i.e. students, alumni, employers, staffs, non academic staffs etc. Conduct the surveys Prepare and analyze the data and prepare SAR Organize workshop to share SAR findings Propose the panel for external peer review to IQAC and conduct the external review Prepare the improvement plan based on internal assessment and external peer review The improvement plan will be submitted to the IQAC IQAC, NSU

Thank You !! After one year ! The SA process will run for five years. The first year is for assessments and design of improvement plans, and the next four years for implementation of improvement plans. As the primary objective of the funding is to establish quality culture at department level and institution level, we hope NSU will continue the process and gradually implement the improvement plan on its own. Thank You !! IQAC, NSU