Commonalities in diversity: Common denominators of IQAs and EQAs Standards?

1. Commonalities in diversity: Common denominators of IQAs and EQAs Standards? Teay Shawyun1 and Awad Al-Karni2 1 Consultant, 2 Dean of Deanship of Quality, King Saud University

2. Status of World of Higher Education • Evolving status of Educational systems –more progressive western educational systems that are more established and advanced to the developing and fledgling systems in the third world countries • Cross border education – increased burden of equity, cost and access affecting quality issues of quality education quality criteria (Vincent-Lancrin, 2008) • Hodgepodge of EQAs that affects the IQAs of the HEI (Higher Education Institutions) • Quality is a relative concept – “it is a waste of time to define quality” Vroeijenstijn (1991)

3. Diversity leading to commonalities? • More similarity than dissimilarity – IQA and EQA are more similar than dissimilar (Hernesand Martin, 2008) • IQA = EQA –stated that the IQA and EQA is a balanced equation (Teay, 2009) • HEI’s purpose or mission – 4 areas of teaching and learning, research, academic services and social contributions

4. Rehashing Diversity • Common Quality themes rehashed: • Conformance and Compliance to Specifications or Standards • Fitness for Purpose. • Quality as effectiveness in achieving institutional mission and goals. • Quality as meeting customers’ stated or implied needs. • Benchmarking to the best which might not be within the same context or content. (ENQA – European Association for Quality Assurance in Higher Education, 2005; Greene, 1994; Teay, 2005, 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2011)

5. Research Aims Two main aims of this study which are: • "Identifying generally accepted best practices of quality management of the leading universities as practiced in most countries” • "Identifying generally accepted best practices/criteria/standards of accreditation systems as practiced in most countries"

6. 3 Stages Study • Stage I and II study – identify ranked universities or top universities’ quality practices, key standards and criteria of quality practices in the public domain of their website. • Stage III study – identify the main areas of key standards and criteria of quality practices of the accreditation agencies to find a commonality across the quality practices domains of standards and criteria of generally accepted best practices in quality.

7. Stage I to III Study Generalized Findings • Best practices of quality – Very similar and classified into 7 to 17 topical areas related to the specification and management of quality practices and support systems set up in support of the accomplishment of the quality systems. • Best practices of quality – key quality practices of strategic planning, the governance and administration, teaching and learning, learning resources and support services, research, human resources and external services. • Differences in quality practices – dependent on the maturity of the needs of the countries, regions or the universities • No one singular “best practices” or a “benchmarked quality system”. • Generally accepted best practice or the norms of practices – 14 core quality standards areas and 53 “best practices” exist in various forms and formats of the accreditation agencies of the US, Europe and Asia-Pacific.

8. Stage I Study • Study question:“Is there any explicit reference to Quality being defined by ranked or top national universities on the institution home page?” • Study Methodology:Context analysis of key words that explicitly refers to “quality”, “quality management” “quality system”, “quality manual”, “performance audit or assessment” on the main web page of universities.

9. Study Findings of Stage I • Context and Content analysis of 25 universities home page – 19 are ranked universities, 7 are top national universities in the Middle East spanning 4 continents. • References and information of their quality on hyperlinked pages but with no quality manual attached – 4 universities which are referenced to the National system of quality and accreditation. • Prominent in home page or tool bar hyperlink – Research, People (Students, Alumni, Faculty) Engagement, Outreach and External relationships • Attributes featured on the quality maturity matrix – Explicitly, quality might not be featured. Implicitly quality is a “way of live”, “way of practice” • Internalization of quality systems that follows national directives – Implicitly, quality systems of universities are internalized and follow national directives

10. Stage II Study • Study question:“Is there any explicit reference to Quality and practices being defined by the university on its main home page, or on its subsequent hyperlinked sub-section or in quality manual, if one is posted on the web and what are its best practices?” • Study Methodology:Components analysis of the key explicit words like “quality”, “quality management” “quality system”, or “quality manual” were “goggled” from the main web pages of universities, analyzed for “occurrence of reference” and content for • 1) quality systems profile and • 2) key attributes/criteria or key “best” quality practices

11. Stage II Study Findings 1/2 Quality System Profile or “best practices or accepted practices” of the Quality System • Quality system referencing – 1) governing body and key processes, 2) key policies, key procedures and principle/ fundamentals and 3) values. • Frequency of audit or assessment – Annual monitoring approach, with some periodic audit of programs. • Approach – Qualitative approach, through the use of a list of criteria in questions format for mature system and quantitative approach based on standards for developing system

12. Stage II Study Findings 2/2 Key attributes (Criteria) or “best practices” of Quality System • Top ranking attributes are Curricula or Learning and Teaching (9) followed by Governance (8), Faculty (8) and Student Support (8). • Second ranked are Research, Collaborations and (7 each) followed by Strategic Direction, Success, Recruiting and admissions, Measures of programs and Record of students’ complaints and appeals (6 each). • Others are Fiscal and administrative capacity (4), Learning resources (4), Facilities and equipment (3), and Community engagement (2).

13. Stage III Study • Study question:“Is there any explicit reference of standard practices for quality definition of accreditation agencies and what are the accepted standard practices for quality accepted for accreditation?” • Study methodology:A selection of 7 regional accreditation agencies in USA, 5 in ASEAN and Asia, 2 in Australasia and 2 main accreditation agencies and group in Europe and the KSA – NCAAA was used to identify standard practices for quality used as the Standards and Criteria for accreditation.

14. Stage III Study Findings 1/2 14 sets of key standards or “standards of best practices of quality” were identified and ranked in ascending order of: • Learning and Teaching (14 of 16 agencies) • Learning and Support Services (12 of 16 agencies) • Quality Management and (11 of 16 agencies) • Objectives and Planning (11 of 16 agencies) • Governance and Administration (10 of 16 agencies) • Research (8 of 16 agencies) • Student Support Services (8 of 16 agencies) • Human Resources (8 of 16 agencies) • Integrity/Ethics (7 of 16 agencies) • Community Services (7 of 16 agencies) • Management and Administrative Support (7 of 16 agencies) • Financial Management (5 of 16 agencies) • Collaborations and Partnerships (5 of 16 agencies) • Public Information (3 of 16 agencies).

15. Stage III Study Findings 1/2 • 53 criteria or “criteria of best practices of quality” were identified as a normal criteria of best practices • 15 of 16 agencies –Curriculum Management, Student Progress, Student Assessment, Learning Resources and Academic Staff • 14 of 16 agencies –Organizational Structure, Decision Making, Teaching and Learning, Support for Student Learning, Administrative Staff and HR Development coming • 13 of 16 agencies –Review and evaluation, Scholarships, Creative Activities and Achievement, Institutional Governances • 12 of 16 agencies –Planning, Management, Information Resources, ICT Resources, Facilities and Equipment • 10 of 16 agencies – Institutional and Educational Mission and Objectives, Leadership, Planning and Managing for quality, Feedback System, HR Workforce Planning, Research based teaching and learning, Student Admissions, Student Management • 5 to 9 of 16 agencies –rest of the 26 criteria are in the bulk • 2 of 16 agencies –Risk Management, and Research Collaborations

16. Conclusion • Universities have own internalized and unique approach towards quality management and quality systems but based on widely accepted standards and best practices. • The key attributes or best practices are typical across most systems, albeit being stated and applied in different ways. • Accreditation agencies have a very similar set of Standards of best practices related to the teaching and learning, the quality management and assessment, planning and the governance and administrations and the learning resources • Standards and Criteria of best practices are basically common in all the different accreditation systems depending on their levels of maturity • Unique regional needs have different criteria that are not commonly reflected as general practices in other systems.

17. Thank you Question and Answers