In the name of Allah,
the most Beneficent,
the most Merciful
A BRIEF
ON
QUALITY ASSURANCE SYSTEM OF HEC
By
Muhammad Taimur Khan
Director, Quality Enhancement Cell,
University of Peshawar
Objectives of Today's Workshop
1. Awareness regarding demands of
globalization with respect to higher
Education
2. Quality Assurance System/ Mechanism in
higher Education institutions
3. HEC Self Assessment Manual- Guidelines
for quality enhancement
1. Globalization with respect
to Higher Education
• Globalization i.e. the increasing inter-nation
interaction affects standards, learning,
import and export of education, recognition
and mobility.
• Higher Education in Pakistan can not be
isolated from the rest of the world.
• Education, especially, higher education
provides the bedrock for reducing poverty
and enhancing social development.
Continued…
• We have been able to increase access to
higher education. The number of higher
education institutions has multiplied in the
last couple of years.
• It is, however, not just the quantity but the
quality of higher education which is
important for the growth of a country.
Continued…
• You must be aware of the fact that not a
single university of the 57 Muslim countries
is among the top 500 best universities of the
world.
• Only recently four Pakistani universities
including NUST, QAU, KU and PU of the
Muslim World have found their place in the
top 600 universities as compared to other
developing countries. This is alarming.
Continued…
• An education system of poor quality may be
one of the most important reasons why poor
countries like Pakistan do not grow.
• Without quality higher education, Pakistan
will find it increasingly difficult to benefit
from the global knowledge based economy.
Globalization
• Globalization i.e. the increasing internation interaction affects standards,
learning, import and export of
education, recognition and mobility.
• Higher Education in Pakistan can not
be isolated from the rest of the world.
Contd…
• You can see that none of the universities of
the 57 Muslim countries are listed among the
top 500 best universities of the world.
• It is however heartening to know that as per
current ranking six universities i.e. NUST,
QAU, KU and PU of Pakistan, Cairo
University of Egypt and University of
Istanbul of Turkey of the Muslim World
have found their place in the top 600
universities.
Paradigm Shift
There is a paradigm shift from old
to new emphasizing outcomes i.e.
what have the students achieved.
In other words, the competency of a
graduate makes him/her useful to the
society.
Paradigm Shift
Old Paradigm
New Paradigm
• What we give to the students
• What the students can/are
able to do
• Outcomes
• Student learning
• Education
• Educational activities as
means to an end
• More qualitative (how well)
as well as quantitative
•
•
•
•
Inputs
Faculty Teaching
Curriculum
Educational activities as an
end
• More quantitative (how
much)
Continued…
• We often consider graduates as the end
product/output of education. It is not about
just the ”Output” but about the “Outcome”
of higher education institutions that matters
in today’s market economy.
• The number of graduating students is the
output, while the QUALITY of graduates is
the OUTCOME, in other words, the
competency of a graduate makes him/her
useful to the society.
Continued…
• Globalization has both direct and indirect
impact on higher education, its quality and
quality assessment. Quality in higher
education has assumed great significance in
recent times in the context of “knowledge
Society” or Knowledge driven Society.
• The youth of today are now global citizens,
so it becomes obligatory to educate it
according to international standards.
2. Quality Assurance Mechanism of HEC
Definition of Quality:
Quality can be defined as the means
through which an institution can guarantee
with confidence and certainty, that the
standards of its educational provision are
being maintained and enhanced.
Continued…
• Quality assurance is used as common
denomination for a variety of mechanisms
intended to control, guarantee and promote
quality in higher education institutions.
• It is a developmental aspect of higher
education, and, therefore, will never be
achieved in total.
Continued…
• Quality Assurance is one of the following three
pillars of education upon which the whole
structure of Higher Education in Pakistan will
be based.
- Access
- Quality
- Relevance
Continued…
• Increasing access to higher education
without enhancing its quality and relevance
to the needs of the country can not be
expected to achieve the goal of a knowledge
based economy.
Continued…
• It is a common belief/perception that
majority of the Pakistani universities do not
meet the international standards of higher
education.
• We have to accept Quality assurance as a
challenge, which can not be met without
enhancing the quality on sustainable basis.
Continued..
• Quality Assurance is an activity carried out
at two levels i.e. External & Internal.
• External Quality Assurance (also called as
accreditation) is carried out by
regulatory/professional bodies at the
national level to ensure the minimum
performance level of educational
programmes and institutions, in this case
the HEC.
Continued…
• Internal Quality Assurance is an internal
and integral part of the institution’s
administration and management systems.
• It implements a set of policies, programmes
and procedures set-up by an institution.
Continued..
• In order to achieve these objectives, the
Higher Education Commission of Pakistan
has established a Quality Assurance Agency
(QAA) in 2004 at HEC Islamabad.
• The major function of Quality Assurance
Agency is to integrate the concepts of
quality in higher learning systems and to
develop practical guidelines and policies for
the uplift of education in Pakistan through a
viable quality assurance mechanism.
Continued…
• Under the umbrella of Quality Assurance
Agency (QAA) a Quality Assurance
Committee has been constituted which has
developed guidelines for a viable system of
quality assurance.
• The Quality Assurance Committee (QAC) is
composed of Vice Chancellors of about 30
public sector universities. The Chairman of
the Committee is Prof. Dr. Abdul Raouf of
Institute of Management & Technology,
Lahore and ex-Rector, GIK.
Quality Assurance System at HEC
HEC
QA-Department/
QAA
QAC
International
Linkages
Accreditation
Councils
QEC
HEIs
Continued…
• The Academic Quality Assurance concepts
and practices are frequently being developed
and adopted in several education systems
across the world.
• A sample of universities which have adopted
these practices include: MIT, University of
Michigan, University of Illinois at Urbana,
University of Wisconsin at Madison, Texas A
& M University in USA, Al Ain University at
UAE, King Fahd University of Petroleum
and Minerals, Dhahran and many others.
Continued…
• The Higher Education Commission (HEC) in
Pakistan is paying growing attention to the
application and adoption of quality assurance
mechanism in higher education system of
Pakistan.
• Higher Education, it is often argued, can not be
isolated from what precedes it i.e. quality of
primary and secondary education. Improvement
in quality at all levels of education are essential.
Continued…
• Education in today’s global context is an
importable and exportable commodity like
any other manufactured good. It, therefore,
must be checked against certain quality
standards.
Continued…
The Quality Assurance programme of the
HEC essentially has three major components:
• Development of criteria and standards for various
quality parameters in Higher Education
• Development of processes and capacity building to
ensure implementation of these criteria
• Develop a system for arranging regular internal and
external monitoring of the higher education
institutions in respect of the status of implementation
of the quality criteria and quality control processes.
Continued…
•
•
•
•
•
The Quality Assurance Committee has
developed a set of criteria for:
Award of MPhil & PhD degrees
Affiliation of Colleges/Institutions
Ranking (Assessment) of Universities
Guidelines for Self Assessment by
Universities
Examination System (NTS etc.)
Continued…
• The approach taken by HEC is that Quality
Assurance is something which is the
responsibility of the respective institutions.
• The HEC would facilitate the process of
Quality Assurance by providing quality
assessment guidelines.
Continued…
A number of steps have been taken by HEC
for capacity building such as:
• Establishment of QECs
• Guidelines for good practices for Accreditation
Councils
• Self Assessment Manual for Universities
• International linkages have been developed for
membership of Asia Pacific Quality Network
(APQN) and International Network for Quality
Assurance Agency in Higher Education
(INQAAHE)
Continued…
Quality in Higher Education is a dynamic
entity which is the outcome of interacting
among many factors.
Some of the factors include; leadership,
quality of faculty, quality of students,
infrastructure, facilities, research and
learning environment, governance, strategic
planning, assessment procedures and
market forces.
Continued…
•
•
•
•
•
A set of guidelines “Self Assessment
Manual” along with the following requisite
proforma have been circulated to assess
various aspects of higher education:
Faculty Course Review
Student Course Evaluation
Annual Programme Monitoring
Student Programme Completion Survey
Research Student Progress Review
Continued…
•
•
•
•
•
The institutions of higher education, may
deploy certain quality models to realize
ideals of academic excellence such as:
EFQM- European Foundation for Quality
Management
HEFCE- Higher Education Funding
Council of England
BNQA – Baldrige National Quality Award
TQM- Total Quality Management
ISO- International Organization of
Standards
Continued…
• Very often questions are asked in academic
circles whether such quality models should
be used in higher education to ensure
quality or achieve academic excellence.
• The major controversy revolves around the
presumption that these quality models
which are based on Total Quality
Management (TQM) philosophy, were
originally developed for manufacturing and
business organizations and are hardly
justified for higher education.
Continued…
• Away from this controversy, the
achievement of excellence in terms of
quality of teaching, learning, research and
scholarship remain the cherished desire of
us all.
• Accordingly, quality ideals or academic
excellence needs an effective management
methodology.
Continued…
• It is argued that the quality models like
EFQM, BNQA & ISO 9000 are capable of
providing the management methodology
needed to achieve quality ideals in higher
education, especially at institutional level.
Continued…
• Effective assessment of teaching and
learning has become a major issue for
higher education all over the world.
• Effective assessment methodology helps the
universities to upgrade their pedagogy and
course curriculum according to the
requirement of stakeholders and market
competitiveness.
Continued…
• Effectiveness in assessment is generated by
the mutual agreement of students, faculty
and management on applied assessment
methods.
• The HEC has introduced two types of
assessment models i.e. Programme Self
Assessment Model and Institutional Self
Assessment Model
Establishment of QECs
• The Quality Assurance Agency established
10 offices known as Quality Enhancement
Cells in the public sector universities in
2004 to implement quality assurance
mechanism in the universities.
• Recently 20 more such cells have been
established including UET, FWU,AU,KUST
from NWFP increasing the number to 30.
3. Self Assessment
 Self Assessment by the Universities
 External Academic Audit by HEC
 Monitoring Teams by HEC
Continued…
 Assessment is a systematic process of
gathering, reviewing and using important
quantitative and qualitative data and
information from multiple and diverse
sources about educational programs, for the
purpose of improving student learning, and
evaluating whether academic and learning
standards are being met.
Continued…
 Self assessment is an assessment conducted
by the institution to assess whether
programs meet their educational objectives
and outcomes with the purpose to improve
program’s quality and enhancing students
learning.
Objectives of Self Assessment

Improve and maintain academic standards
 Enhance students’ learning
 Verify that the existing programs meet their
objectives and institutional goals
 Provide feedback for quality assurance of
academic programs
The elements of a successful assessment
•
•
•
•
•
Purpose identification
Outcomes identification
Data collection
Analysis and evaluation
Decision-making regarding actions to be
taken.
Selected Results of Self Assessment Exercises in
Univ: of Peshawar
Faculty Survey
Department of Geology
Q.1: Your mix of research teaching and community service
V.Satisfied
0%
0%
Satisfied
25%
25%
Neutral
25%
25%
Dissatisfied
V.Dissatisfied
Not Attempted
Selected Results of Teachers
Evaluation Survey
Q.1 Ability To Create Interest
No. of Respondents
14
12
V.High
10
High
Average
8
Low
6
V.Low
4
Not Attempted
2
0
1
2
Teachers of tw o Departm ents
Selected Results of Self Assessment Exercises
in Univ: of Peshawar
Faculty Survey
Department of Pharmacy
Q.1: Your mix of research teaching and community service
0%
7%
0%
V.Satisfied
Satisfied
Neutral
Dissatisfied
V.Dissatisfied
Not Attempted
7% 6%
80%
• The institutions have initial
apprehension about the philosophy of
assessment and external review but it
will end up in appreciation of the
intrinsic benefits of quality assurance
system because quality adds value to
higher education.
Thank you