Quality Assurance Units in HEIs Challenges Dolina Dowling

Quality Assurance Units in HEIs: Challenges Dolina Dowling Presentations 2, 3 December 2010 dolinasd@yahoo. com 1

Challenges facing QA Units These include: Ø QA Units Ø Institution Ø University staff Ø Implementation Ø Impact Ø Students Ø Quality Agency; external bodies dolinasd@yahoo. com 2

Challenges facing QA Units Within QA Units Ø Staffing Ø Training Ø Resources: physical; finance Ø Documentation development dolinasd@yahoo. com 3

Challenges facing QA Units Institution Ø Lack of commitment and support from leadership Ø Lack of clear and realistic institutional mission and goals Ø Lack of strategic plans at different levels within institution Ø Lack of embedded culture of QA dolinasd@yahoo. com 4

Challenges facing QA Units Staff Ø Ø Indifference ‘Fine as long as I am left to get on with my work’ Resistance ‘Have successful research record and many high achieving graduates why would I change now’ Time ‘This takes me away from my primary responsibilities of teaching and research’ Lack of knowledge and understanding dolinasd@yahoo. com 5

Challenges facing QA Units Implementation Ø Awareness at all levels of policies and procedures Ø Consistent implementation of policies and procedures Ø Implementing activities that enhance quality and meet external agency requirements Ø Time dolinasd@yahoo. com 6

Challenges facing QA Units Miscellaneous Ø Ø Ø Impact How to measure effectiveness of QA Unit Students How to get student involvement in quality issues Higher Education Sector Little or no co-operation/sharing dolinasd@yahoo. com 7

Challenges facing QA Units Quality Assurance Agency Ø Overstretched by QA Agency requirements and requests Ø Time gap between site visit and publication of report Ø Developing Plan to address findings in Audit Reports Ø Gaining staff buy-in (again) Ø Implementing Improvement Plan Ø Resourcing issues for implementation of Plans within Unit; across institution dolinasd@yahoo. com 8

Activity 2 Break into groups Consider challenges that you have faced Develop strategies to overcome What is needed for success dolinasd@yahoo. com 9

Developing a Culture of Quality Some ideas dolinasd@yahoo. com 10

Developing a Culture of Quality Ø QA Unit leader to have academic credibility Ø Academic Board and Faculty representation Ø Responsiveness Ø Good of Unit team communication strategy dolinasd@yahoo. com 11

Developing a Culture of Quality Ø QA champion in each faculty or unit Ø Staff buy-in of policies and procedures ◦ Focus groups ◦ Intranet ◦ Take comments on new policies and procedures seriously ◦ Not something that Unit does alone ◦ Facilitating role ◦ Everyone’s responsibility dolinasd@yahoo. com 12

Developing a Culture of Quality Ø Collegiality Ø No Ensure room for discussion mismatch between institutional values and QA model Planning, monitoring and evaluation mechanisms on T&L, research, need to be aligned to staff’s own work and peer review Ø Implementation Staff, students of feedback dolinasd@yahoo. com 13

Developing a Culture of Quality To sum up: Ø Strong commitment from Executive Ø Credible QA leader Ø Sufficiently resourced Unit to fulfill its role Ø QA representation on all key committees Ø Collegial approach Ø Robust communication Ø Measuring impact and ensuring good outcomes known dolinasd@yahoo. com 14

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