A perspective on institutional quality assurance

A perspective on

Institutional Quality Assurance

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National Conference on Innovations in Higher Education

Quality Quality

Enhancement

Quality Sustenance

Quality Promotion

Quality

Culture

Quality Awareness

Quality

Assurance

How are they different ?

QUA LITY ASSURANCE

Quality Culture

The Quality Assurance Program

Advance

Sustain

Attain

Higher Education - Today• More people entering higher education than ever before

– Developed countries – working to expand higher education resources– Developing countries – enhancing existing infrastructures to cope with demand

• The globalisation of education– Growth in networks of higher and further education institutions across regions

and countries– Move towards mobile learning and remote learning– Online learning increasingly at the heart of education

• Increasing competition– Universities competing for staff, students (particularly from abroad), research

funding, and partnerships– Institutions investing heavily in ICT to support and maintain competitive

position

• Increased Access, Equity and Accountability• External Quality Assessment & Accreditation

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Institutional quality assurance - REQUIREMENTS

Entire Institution!

All Programmes!

What?

What are the standards ?

Policy and procedures for quality assurance

Formal mechanisms for the approval, periodic review and monitoring of the programmes and awards.

Assessment of students Public information

Information systems

Learning resources and student support

Quality assurance of teaching staff

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QUALITY ASSURANCE AT THE LEVEL OF AN INSTITUTION

Q = 9 M factors Man (Academic staff, Students) Materials Machines-Equipment Management Methods Measurement Motivation Money Markets

Monitoring and measurementSelf assessment Analysis of dataContinuous improvementHuman Resource ManagementManagement review

Need for Internalizing and Institutionalizing Quality Assurance –

measurement, analysis & improvement

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The National Policy on Education NPE-86 recognises that a human being is a positive asset and a precious national resource which needs to be cherished, nurtured and developed with tenderness and care, coupled with dynamism.All Educational Institutions with the primary responsibility of human resource development must cater to Holistic Education leading to Student centric development:Personal skills (Self-awareness and Self-esteem)Interpersonal Skills (Teamwork ) andSocietal Skills (Knowledge about Indian constitution and civic responsibilities)

Therefore, Educational Services of an Institution should be directed towards Learner-develpment

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 "Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn."

Ben Franklin

Therefore, all activities should be learner-centric

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Evaluating Institution Effectiveness - Challenging

Programs

Institution

StudentsCentral focus

of learning

Courses

Social Experiences(Adventitious happenings)

PreviousAcademic

Experiences

Intentions,Goals,

Commitments

Psychology of

individuals

Pre entry attributes

I

N

T

E

G

R

A

T

I

O

N

Empirical supportStrong

Weak

Competenciesand Life Skills

acquired

Societaldemands

Aspirations, Goals,

Commitments

21st Century global

competition

Departure attributes

and decisions

M

A

R

K

E

T

D

E

M

A

N

D

S

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NEED FOR A HIGH QUALITY LEARNING EXPERIENCE

In the 21st century context Self learning

Skills for moving with

times

Communication skills

Significant and lasting learning

Augmentation of

Intelligence Quotient IQ)

Emotional Quotient(EQ)

Spiritual Quotient(SQ)

Practical skills

Foundational

knowledge

Student engagement

Human dimensions

Value education

The following aspects are to be emphasized:

1. Commitment2. Team work and Team building3. Planning the Quality Assurance activities4. Arriving at an Institutional quality Model5. The discipline of Continuous Improvement6. Willingness to adopt changes7. March towards Excellence through strategic planning8. Meet global challenges

1. Commitment

Wanting to do well, to feel a sense of belonging to a group or a team of people working towards the same goals, and being determined to achieve those goals or targets should be the natural aspirations of staff in any organisation

2. Importance of Team work and

Team Building

“It’s a fact that people working as a team can achieve better results than individuals working alone.”

Use the Team Building Tool

http://www.teambuildinginc.com

Key Roles of Teams

PLAN

CHECK

DOACT

3. Planning the Quality Assurance activities:The PDCA Cycle has utmost relevance to education institutions

Plan a change to the process. Predict the effect this change will have and plan how the effects will be measured

Implement the change on a small scale and measure the effects

Adopt the change as a permanent modification to the process, or abandon it.

Study the results to learn what effect the change had, if any.

Missionstatement

goals&

aims

expected outcomes

process

study programmes

researchprojects

communityservices

output

graduates

scientificproduction

services

4. Arriving at an Institutional Quality Model

input

management

policy

staff

students

funding

facilities

Realised mission

Achievedgoals

Achievedoutcomes

Satisfactionstakeholders

5. The Discipline of Continuous Improvement

Deploy

Integrate

Approach

Learn

21Teaching, Learning, Community Building

Q

P

D

A

C

P

D

A

C

P

D

A

C

P

D

A

C

Time

Quality Level

Quality improvement(TAKING MEASURES FOR CORRECTION AT EACH CYCLE)(TAKING MEASURES FOR CORRECTION AT EACH CYCLE)

TEMPORAL QUALITY ASSURANCE AT THE LEVEL OF

AN INSTITUTION

Every next cycle must be of better quality

6. Be willing to adopt changes Survival of any Institution ……

depends on recognizing the writings on the wall !

• It has to change with the times• It has to learn from others who are doing

better• It has to brace up for the challenge: -from competition, -impact of internet, -sophistication of technologies, -constant response to stakeholder

preferences -global demands.

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What makes an institution Strong?

Quality and versatility • The continued relevance, quality and

attractiveness of its courses

• The ability to renew itself without losing its base of excellence

• Committed and capable men and women who build and sustain it, regarding it as their own

Do the staff belong to the college or does the college belong to them?

Every institution must Plan for Change• knowledge sharing activities – match teachers talents

with student training.

• Study demands of the Generation X and stakeholder needs.

• Make a 10 year blue print for the campus/institution

• Specify short-term goals for each year – review progress

• Net working/twinning for -sharing resources & manpower -exchange programme tie ups with other institutions in the neighbourhood (a thought on cluster institutions)

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Quality Assurance calls for:

Quality system deploymentAdvanced quality planningComprehensive quality manualsUse of quality costInvolvement of non-production

operationFailure Mode and Effect AnalysisStatistical process control

Quality enhancement is a multi-pronged transformation process

Gap analysis and awareness

creation

Faculty attitudinal

change

Institutional Institutional resources resources

and and innovationinnovation

Policy reviewsAdministrative

commitment

Improved learning

Changes

In the Curricula

Outcome:

Effective education & employable graduates

Multi-Stakeholder participation (all levels)

Internalization and Institutionalization of

Quality

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Changing Ahead of the Curve

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“Many institutions wait too long to attempt transformations, doing so only when the signs of trouble have become obvious. But in today’s unforgiving environment, that’s probably too late. High performers by contrast, change before they must, knowing that the best way to transform is from a position of strength.”

Institutional Processes to Improve

PerformanceImprovement, Benchmarking& Innovation

ProcessImplementationImprovement

Plan(PIIP)

Process Evaluation

• Student Learning

• Student Services

• Employee Services

• Support Services

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7. March Towards Excellence through Strategic Planning:Adopt the Performance Excellence Model

Strategic Planning

SharedLearnings

Adopt

Vision into Action is

Strategic Planning

Vision Mission

Culture Values

Why are we in business??

How do we do business??

Where are we now??

Where do we want to be?? Strategies

Environment Assessment

Gap Analysis

Goals Tactics

Coordination

Budgets

How can we get there??

How will we know we’ve arrived??

Stakeholder

satisfaction

Reports

Milestones

Strategic Planning Process contd…

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The The difficult difficult bit is bit is ALWAYS ALWAYS yet to be yet to be achievedachieved

IN THE CLIMB UP THEEXCELLENCEMOUNTAIN

8. Higher Education: Global ChallengesTechnology enablersTechnology enablersChallengesChallenges DescriptionDescription

• Collaboration tools Collaboration tools

• Provide students with personalised learning experiences

• Help develop new learning/teaching platforms with stronger accountability and performance tracking

• Meet students demands for new learning tools and solutions to take advantage of Internet capabilities

Teach

ing

Rese

arc

h

Recruit, retain, results

• Integrate and access a variety of Integrate and access a variety of student data securely (health, student data securely (health, academic, business, legal) academic, business, legal)

• Utilise better solutions to manage Utilise better solutions to manage administrative (HR, Finance) and administrative (HR, Finance) and supply chain demandssupply chain demands

Improve management processes

Opera

tion

s

• Cross institutional/business information-sharing and tracking

• Build research communities that are geographically dispersed

Realise value of

research

Drive collaboration

for innovation

• Institutions seeking opportunities to Institutions seeking opportunities to build global value chainsbuild global value chains

• Expand “for profit” opportunities to Expand “for profit” opportunities to support financial needs.support financial needs.

• Web based systems to Web based systems to process student data process student data

• Integrate data and Integrate data and applications across applications across functionsfunctions

• Implement management Implement management tools to cut IT costs tools to cut IT costs

• Virtual classroom Virtual classroom environment to provide e-environment to provide e-learning environment for learning environment for “anywhere” access to “anywhere” access to classesclasses

• Create web based Create web based instructional tools and instructional tools and easier access to digital easier access to digital resourcesresources

• Deliver cost- effective IT Deliver cost- effective IT infrastructure, access, infrastructure, access, multi-media learning multi-media learning environmentsenvironments

• Use of high powered Use of high powered computing & custom computing & custom applications in research applications in research centrescentres

ICT Challenges– Mobility (students, faculty members) wireless

capabilities, always-on connectivity, information sharing

– Data management Database capabilities, hosting, reporting, sharing

– e-learning/distance learning Infrastructure for remote and/or live lectures, conferences and seminars

– Community and collaboration Collaborative infrastructure, networking (portals, extranet…), anywhere/anytime access, identity management

Seek Solutions to Meet the Digital Challenge

Learning Delivery &

Management

Teacher/StudentTechnologyExperience

Managed Operating

Environment

Integrated Administration

LearningPotential

Learning Gateway Learning Suite

Learning Network Manager

Integrated Administration

Enable Connected Learning

Need: A Learning Gateway for a single, consistent framework that supports thriving communities of educators, policy makers, administrators, governments and students

In too many cases stakeholders in higher education operate in loosely connected networks preventing true collaboration

•Accreditation by any Quality Assurance Agency must not be the beginning but an end to the internal quality enhancement processes and efforts of any institution so that the spiralling effects of internalizing Quality Assurance paves way for perceivable enhancement in all constituents of the institution and leads to Excellence Otherwise……

This is how an HEI (and individual components of an HEI) would get entangled if change is not adopted at an appropriate time to MOVE FORWARD!!! Then it would be a point of no return !!! SO LET US ALL ACT NOW

This is how an HEI (and individual components of an HEI) would get entangled if change is not adopted at an appropriate time to MOVE FORWARD!!! Then it would be a point of no return !!! SO LET US ALL ACT NOW

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Right Qualification frame work

Right infrastructure

Right Faculty

Right Learning resources

Right Delivery mechanism

Right encouragement for research and Consultancy

Right programs for institution-specific staff development &

Right mechanisms of Internal Quality Assurance

Therefore, Let us pledge to promote the eight Therefore, Let us pledge to promote the eight “Rights” in an educational institution:“Rights” in an educational institution:

Let usLet us all see Learning in a Whole New Light? all see Learning in a Whole New Light?

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