1 / 20

Second Global Forum on

Capacity Building for Quality Assurance, Accreditation and the Recognition of Qualifications in Syria: Windows of Opportunities. Second Global Forum on “International Quality assurance, Accreditation and the Recognition of Qualifications in Higher Education”

mulan
Download Presentation

Second Global Forum on

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Capacity Building for Quality Assurance, Accreditation and the Recognition of Qualifications in Syria:Windows of Opportunities Second Global Forum on “International Quality assurance, Accreditation and the Recognition of Qualifications in Higher Education” (Widening Access to Quality Higher Education) June 28-29, 2004 UNESCO, Paris Mohamed Najib Abdul Wahed Ministry of Higher Education, Syria

  2. Outline • Introduction • Syria: the Educational Scene: - the Pattern - the Challenges • The Reform: Strategic Guidelines • The Reform for Quality Assurance: Actions • The Reform for Capacity Building in Quality: Windows of Opportunities

  3. Introduction • Higher education back into the forefront of attention: • Globalization of economies and professional services • Rapid growth and in-depth transformation of Information and Communication Technologies • Explosion in Knowledge • Spiralling Demand for schooling • Increased demand for specialized professionals

  4. Syria: Demographic Information • Population: 17,585,540 (July 2002 est.) • Population growth rate: 2.45% (2003 est.) • High urbaniztion rate: 56% (2002 est.)

  5. Syria: The Educational Scene Number of H.E. Demanders in K Students 132,125 114,298 104,426 96,524

  6. Educational Scene: the Challenges • Intense pressure of numbers of students seeking admission to the university • The female segment of this pressure is significantly high • Vertical expansion has taken place; it originally started in the humanities (literatures and law) but has now expanded into all fields including the sciences and engineering

  7. Educational Scene: the Challenges Driving Forces for the Vertical Expansion : • Bigger age cohorts • Migration to the cities • Larger portion of students who pass the secondary school exams and • Fewer chances to study abroad (however, more than 4000 students go abroad each year)

  8. Educational Scene: the Challenges • Secondary school examination is of a general nature or is not much differentiated into concentrations or pre-specialisation fields of study • Factors working to the detriment of quality and relevance of university education: • Universities stress rote learning and memorisation of facts and do not encourage creative thinking • Poor mechanisms to evaluate student learning outcomes

  9. Educational Scene: the Challenges • Factors working to the detriment of quality and relevance of university education: • Employment and staffing policies in the sector mirror those of the public sector at large: overstaffing and poor remuneration • Centralized decision-making: Education-related decisions are highly centralized • Quality standards are poorely defined: structure, curriculum, teaching material, faculty, research effort, … • Quality control mechanisms are not adequately formalized

  10. The Reform: Strategic Guidelines • Expansion of higher education coverage (widening access) in a sustainable way: • The criteria used for admission • Diversification of programs • Improvement of educational quality, competency and relevance • Introduction of effective governance structures and management practices

  11. The Reform: Strategic Guidelines • Enhancing the quantity, quality and relevance of scientific, basic and applied research • Promotion of entrepreneurship and innovation skills within graduates to stimulate their capabilities in self-job creation • Strengthening university-industry linkages and supporting joint actions between universities/research institutes and the private sector

  12. The Reform: Actions Related to Quality • Establishment of a National Quality Assurance and Accreditation Committee • Individual Initiatives by some Universities • Regional Initiatives: • Recommendations of Arab Ministries of Higher Education • Union for Arab Universities Action • International-Cooperation Initiatives: • Tempus Program • UNDP Initiative

  13. Actions Related to Quality Establishment of a National Quality Assurance and Accreditation Committee: • In a very early stage of development • Affiliated to the Council of Higher Education • Objectives: • Developing Quality Assurance Plans and Strategies • Setting up quality standards • Establishing Quality Assurance and Accreditation units in Universities • Organizing workshops and awareness campaigns

  14. Actions Related to Quality Individual Initiatives by some universities: • Damascus University: • An evaluation process covering: • Staff self evaluation. • Peer Evaluation. • Faculty member evaluation by student.

  15. Actions Related to Quality • Regional Initiatives: • Recommendations of Arab Ministries of Higher • Education: • Establishing National QAA Board in each Arab Country • Establishing the Arab QAA Board • Actions undertaken by ALECSO and a special follow-up committee • Union for Arab Universities Action

  16. Actions Related to Quality • International-Cooperation Initiatives: • Tempus Program:QUALITY EVALUATION, REGION MEDA (EVQUA-MEDA) OBJECTIVES: Creating or Reinforcing National Systems and/or Regional Quality Evaluation Networks in Higher Education, Based on Pilot Evaluation of Engineering Education Methodology and inventory - Methodology for the assessment of engineering education - Description of the national HE systems - Presentation of Engineering education in the partner countries

  17. Actions Related to Quality • International-Cooperation Initiatives: • UNDP Initiative: « Enhancement of the quality of academic programs in Arab Universities and the planning efficiency of Higher Education Systems » • A Regional Network of University Database • Assessing the Quality of Programs in Computer Science and Business Administration with Reference to Internationally Established Criteria, Procedures and Benchmarks in 20 Universities

  18. Actions Related to Quality: Main Constraints to Capacity Building • Lack of Qualified Human Resources: The knowledge Gap • Lack of Assessment Culture: The Culture Gap • Reluctance to “Imported” or “Ready made” programs. It has been shown that any Quality Assessment and/or Assurance program should: • Preserve the National Culture and Identity • Be on a Bottom-up Approach Basis • Lack of Sustainability. How to preserve the capacity once built?

  19. Capacity Building for Quality Assurance: Windows of opportunities • Networking • Harnessing Technology • Leapfrogging (Islands of Excellence) • Promoting Mobility • Disseminating the Culture of Assessment • Producing knowledge (joint research programs)

  20. Integrated Quality Model in Higher Education Input Output Process Realized Mission Mission Statement Management Study Programs Graduates Achieved Goals Policy Goals & Aims Staff Research Projects Scientific Production Achieved Outcomes Students Expected Outcomes Funding Satisfaction Stakeholders Community Services Services Facilities

More Related