College of Arts and Social Sciences
Academic Accreditation Roadmap
June 2013
Academic Accreditation Roadmap
Contents
1-Introduction
2- Preparation Stages of Academic Accreditation Roadmap
3-Overall Vision of the College of Arts and Social Sciences
2
4-Accreditation Implementation Mechanism in the college
5-Accreditation Agency
6-Timeframe
7-Requirements to Implement the Academic Accreditation
Plan
List of Diagrams and Tables
5
Diagram 1: Preparation Stages of Academic Accreditation
Roadmap
Diagram 2: Proposed Organizational Structure for the
Accreditation Team in the College
Table 1: International and National Institutions that can carry
out the Specialized Program Accreditation in the College
Table 2: Proposed Timeframe for Implementing Institutional
and Academic Accreditation for the College of Arts
Table 3: Human Resources Needed to Implement the Plan
Table 4: Financial Resources Needed to Implement the Plan
Table 5: Logistical Resources Needed to Implement the Plan
4
1
3
4
7
9
10
6
8
9
10
10
11
Academic Accreditation Roadmap
.
1 Introduction
The success of Universities in the developed world is attributed to total
quality assurance, continuous evaluation and application of accreditation
criteria.
University education in the fields of humanities and social sciences in the
Arab world has witnessed a rapid expansion during the last three decades;
however, this expansion was only to accommodate growing numbers of
students wishing to pursue their higher education in these fields and was not
really matched with an expansion and improvement of quality. This type of
education, and for several reasons, remained traditional whether in terms of
its philosophies, aims and organizational structures or in terms of its
contents, programs, and methods.
Due to the traditional methods of teaching adopted by the colleges of arts
and social sciences, these colleges are commonly criticized of being
ineffective and inefficient as they could not respond to the social, economic,
cultural, and political needs of our rapidly changing societies. Critics also
think that these colleges could not keep up with and utilize the scientific,
informational, and technological revolutions that other academic fields such
as medicine and engineering have benefited from.
The College of Arts and Social Sciences at SQU offers many specializations
in languages and literature (Arabic and English), humanities (History,
Geography, Information studies, and Archaeology), social sciences
(Sociology and Social Work, Tourism, and Mass Communication),
performance arts (Theatre, Music and Musicology). The college consists of
11 departments offering 11 bachelor programs, 9 master programs, and 3
PhD programs. This puts the College in the second position in terms of the
number of departments following College of Medicine which has 18
departments. The College of Arts and Social Sciences has 181 faculty
members in the 11 departments, and this accounts for around 19.2% of the
university’s total faculty members. Again this puts the College in the second
position after College of Science with 195 faculty members.
The College of Arts and Social Sciences has the highest percentage of
students registered in the university in the academic year 2010-2011, about
15.2%. The number of registered students has increased dramatically in the
past ten years. The growth percentage between 2000 and 2010 was 167%.
2
Academic Accreditation Roadmap
Also, the number of accepted students increased dramatically to reach 74%
during the same period.
In light of this growth, the College of Arts and Social Sciences at Sultan
Qaboos University seeks to engage seriously and effectively in the coming
years in the application of total quality assurance criteria and in the
institutional evaluation of its academic programs in accordance with the
vision of the University. This will be done through building and
establishing an integrated system of academic accreditation to improve
academic performance and the quality of college graduates to meet the needs
of the Omani society, maintain the Omani identity, and respond to the
changing needs of the job market. The College also seeks, through the
implementation of this program, to strengthen and consolidate its image in
the society and the job market.
This report, aims to present a detailed plan about the steps the College is
going to take to attain academic accreditation of its programs. The report
also includes a timeframe, a proposed implementation mechanism, and an
estimated inventory of human, financial and logistical resources necessary to
begin the implementation of the program.
2. Preparation Stages of Academic Accreditation Roadmap
The preparation of the academic accreditation roadmap was based on the
strategic vision of both the College and the University. It also took into
consideration consultations with accreditation experts such as the Office of
Quality Control at SQU and colleges of Engineering and Education. It also
consulted regional institutions such as College of Arts at Kind Saud
University (KSA), College of Arts at University of Qatar, and College of
Arts at University of Sharjah. Moreover, the College has already made some
initial contacts with international accreditation institutions. A participatory
approach with the specialized departments has been adopted to get this
roadmap into a commonly shared vision to ensure its success. Diagram 1
shows the preparation stages of academic accreditation roadmap for the
College of Arts and Social Sciences.
3
Academic Accreditation Roadmap
Diagram 1: Preparation Stages of Academic Accreditation
Roadmap
3. Overall Vision of the College of Arts and Social Sciences
The College of Arts and Social Sciences differs from other colleges at SQU
due to its educational mission which is to offer academic programs in
languages, literature, theater, mass communication, and applied humanities.
The diversity of these programs presents a special situation as far as the
application of TQM criteria and academic accreditation are concerned. This
diversity requires a special evaluation of the performance of the College as
an institutional unit within SQU in light of its management of such academic
diversity. As it is known, there are two types of academic accreditation:
 Institutional Accreditation: also known as "comprehensive
accreditation". This requires a comprehensive evaluation of the
performance, management, academic achievement of students, student
services and others within the College.
 Specialized Accreditation: This type of accreditation is for specific
academic programs such as engineering and it is done by specialized
or professional accreditation agencies.
4
Academic Accreditation Roadmap
The College of Arts and Social Sciences aspires to achieve both of these
accreditations. It aims for institutional accreditation, to measure the quality
of managing different specializations and languages and the quality of the
learning environment provided to encourage creativity and innovation. The
College aims also to carry out the specialized accreditation type which is
directed to assess the quality of specific academic programs in the College.
4. Accreditation Implementation Mechanism in the
college
The College suggests the organizational structure shown in diagram 2 to
supervise the accreditation implementation plan in the College. In light of
the components of the organizational structure, the College proposes the
provision of a vacancy for an Executive Supervisor of Accreditation at the
College level. This office is expected to carry out the following
responsibilities:
 Supervise institutional accreditation at the College.
 Liaise with accreditation agencies.
 Follow up the updates of the standard criteria with accreditation
agencies.
 Coordinate with the accreditation officers in the departments and the
accreditation agency.
 Follow up with the accreditation officers in the departments the
implementation of the plan within the timeframe.
 Provide procedural, technical, financial, and logistical resources
needed for the accreditation process.
 Submit periodical reports to the Assistant Dean for Undergraduate
Studies and the Dean.
Moreover, the College suggests to have: (1) an Executive Supervisor, who
can be selected from among the faculty of the College. In this case their
teaching load would be reduced, and (2), an international expert who will be
hired specifically to assist implement the accreditation roadmap. In addition,
the College plans to provide this position with an officer and a coordinator.
The College proposes that an accreditation officer be chosen in each
department, in which case the teaching load of whoever is selected for this is
also going to be reduced.
5
Academic Accreditation Roadmap
Quality and Accreditation Committee
Dean
Assistant Dean for Under Graduate Studies
Studies
Executive Supervisor of Accreditation
Programs
Heads of Departments
Department Accreditation Officer
Department Quality and Accreditation
Committee
Diagram 2: Proposed Organizational Structure for the
Accreditation Team in the College
6
Academic Accreditation Roadmap
5. Accreditation Agency
Due to the diverse nature of the academic programs in the College, the
College is planning to contact European and American Accreditation
Agencies as well as the Oman Academic Accreditation Agency as follows:
 Institutional Accreditation: The College proposes – Agency for
Quality Assurance through Accreditation of Study Programmes –
(AQAS) to do the institutional accreditation. It should be noted
that AQAS is an independent non-profit organization, supported by
more than 80 member institutions, both higher education
institutions (HEIs) and academic associations. AQAS was founded
in 2002 and has accredited more than 3,500 degree programs at
universities and universities of applied sciences so far, including
numerous programs outside of Germany. The activities of AQAS
in accreditation are not restrained to specific academic disciplines
or degrees. AQAS carries out accreditation procedures for study
programs
in
all
academic
disciplines
[http://www.aqas.de/information-in-english/information-on-aqas/]
Additionally AQAS is a member of European Quality Assurance
Register for Higher Education (EQAR). (EQAR) is a register of
Quality Assurance agencies in Higher Education, who have
demonstrated their substantial compliance with a common set of
principles
for
quality
assurance
in
Europe.
[https://www.eqar.eu/news.html].
 Specialized Accreditation: Table 1 shows the international and
national institutions that could be contacted for specialized
accreditation.
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Academic Accreditation Roadmap
Table 1: International and National Institutions that can carry out the
Specialized Program Accreditation in the College
s
1
2
Department
English
Proposed Accreditation Institution

Literature Program : Academic Program Review
Office (APRO), Sultan Qaboos University
Mass
 Accrediting Council on Education in Journalism and
Communication
Mass Communications (ACEJMC)
Country
Oman
USA
3
Sociology &
Social Works
 Accreditation Agency in Health and Social Sciences(AHPGS)
Germany
4
Music and
Musicology
Geography
 Agency for Quality Assurance through Accreditation
of Study Programmes – (AQAS)
 Agency for Quality Assurance through Accreditation
of Study Programmes – (AQAS)
 Chartered Institute of Library and Information
Professionals (CILIP)
 Agency for Quality Assurance through Accreditation
of Study Programmes – (AQAS)
Germany
 Quality Assurance for Tourism Education, Training
and Research Programmes, UNWTO.TedQual
World Tourism
Organization, UN
5
6
Information
Studies
Tourism
Germany
UK
Germany
France
Arabic
 French Organization Evaluation Agency for Research
and Higher Education (AERES)
 Oman Academic Accreditation Authority (OAAA)
10
History
 Oman Academic Accreditation Authority (OAAA)
Oman
11
Theatre**
 Self-Study
8
Archaeology*
9
Oman
External
Examiner
*Accreditation of Master Program as there is no Bachelor
**Doing a self-study as the department give supporting courses.
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Academic Accreditation Roadmap
6. Timeframe
The proposed plan for academic accreditation for the College of Arts and
Social Sciences will take 4 years beginning in 2014 to 2017 as shown in
table 2.
Table 2: Proposed Timeframe for Implementing Institutional and
Academic Accreditation for the College of Arts
s
Institutional/Specialized
Accreditation
Information Studies
4
Tourism
5
English
6
Geography
7
Music and Musicology
8
Sociology and Social
Work
9
Arabic
10
History
11
Archaeology (1)
12
Theater (2)
Institutional
Accreditation
External
Examiner
3
Second
Self
Study
2017
Preparing for Accreditation
Mass Communication
First
Self
Study
Second Self Study
2
2016
First Self Study
College
2015
Preparing for Accreditation (Spreading Accreditation Culture,
Contacting Accreditation Institutions, Forming Accreditation
Committees and Training them)
1
2014
(1) Specialized Accreditation in Master Program
(2) It offers supporting courses so a first-study and second self-study will be
conducted and then evaluated by a foreign evaluator.
9
Academic Accreditation Roadmap
7. Requirements to Implement the Academic
Accreditation Plan
The Academic Accreditation Roadmap needs human, financial, and
logistical resources in its first phases as shown in tables (3-4-5):
Table 3: Human Resources Needed to Implement the Plan
s
1
2
3
4
Human Resources
Executive Supervisor of
Academic Accreditation of the
College
Specifications
Choose from College Faculty
and Reduce Teaching Load to
3 hours
Accreditation Officer in Each
department
Staff to Supervise the
Administrative and Technical
Issues and Manage
Accreditation Documentation
Coordinator of Quality and
Accreditation Committee of the
College
No
Requirements/Qualifications
1
*
Choose from College Faculty
and Reduce Teaching Load to
6 hours
11
Visiting professors to
compensate the time spared for
accreditation by accreditation
officers in departments
Full Time Appointment
1
Competent user of English and
Computer skills specially
statistical programs
Full Time Appointment
1
Competent user of English and
Computer skills
Table 4: Financial Resources Needed to Implement the Plan
S
1
2
3
4
5
Requirements
Attend workshops and training programs in the
area of Academic Accreditation and Quality
Control
Hire Experts in the area of Accreditation and
quality assurance
Host delegations of Accrediting Institutions
Travel of supervisors of accreditation programs
in the college and departments to look at others’
experiences
Aim/Justification
Disseminate the culture of Quality in the College and
prepare for the accreditation
Having excellent experience in academic accreditation
and quality assurance
Prepare for Accreditation and follow up the process
Spread the culture of quality in the College and
prepare for the accreditation and follow its
implementation
Execute the Institutional and Specialized
Accreditation Program
Accreditation Fees
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Academic Accreditation Roadmap
Table 5: Logistical Resources Needed to Implement the Plan
S
Requirements
1
Offices
2
Store and
Kardex Lektriever
Automated Filing Systems
Archiving System
1
3
Computer
High-Performance
5
4
Flat TV screen
Big size
3
5
Server
High-Performance
1
6
Color Printer Laser (A3)
High-Performance
1
7
B&W Printer Laser (A4)
High-Performance
2
8
Camera
High-Performance
1
9
Storage space on college
and university pages
*
*
10
High storage space in the
university email
11
Stationary
Descriptions
Numbers
*
4
250MB
*
11
Justifications
Designate a unit for Quality and
Academic Accreditation in the College
Designate an integrated archiving system
in the College
For Quality and Accreditation Unit in the
college
Broadcast College advertisements and
spread quality culture in the College
Upload Accreditation files
For Quality and Accreditation Unit in the
college
For Quality and Accreditation Unit in the
college
For Quality and Accreditation Unit in the
college
Disseminate accreditation data and
information and make them available
digitally to all stakeholders
*
For Quality and Accreditation Unit in the
college
*
For Quality and Accreditation Unit in the
college and accreditation committees in
the departments