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CHE Quality Assurance Forum Workshop, Public Providers

CHE Quality Assurance Forum Workshop, Public Providers The Role of the QA Office in Higher Education 28 August 2012 Christa North. A (very!) brief history. Pre-historic practices  Accreditation by professional bodies (then and now) SAQA HEQC

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CHE Quality Assurance Forum Workshop, Public Providers

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  1. CHE Quality Assurance Forum Workshop, Public Providers The Role of the QA Office in Higher Education 28 August 2012 Christa North

  2. A (very!) brief history • Pre-historic practices  • Accreditation by professional bodies (then and now) • SAQA • HEQC • Increasing sophistication of local and international accreditation bodies (converging?) • An understanding that a robust quality management system lies at the heart of excellent practices (and also of accreditation) • “Evidence based” requires real and real-time INFORMATION (not only data, and with serious implications in a multilingual environment) • All shaped by the various incarnations of the Unit and changes in reporting lines (to some extent a function of changes in leadership)

  3. What we (thought we) needed… The objective of the UP Quality Management System is to establish online – • history of performance against agreed standards • reporting to internal and external stakeholders in the agreed format • recording of actions towards • institutionalising excellence and • corrective action where needed with a view to … • ensuring strategic alignment • reducing risk to the University • eliminating waste • continuously improving service delivery and, in the process, -- • conform to national and international requirements for HE quality management systems

  4. The UP QMS A Quality Management System which – • forms part of the management information system that supports strategic planning and operational activities • provides a 24/7 readiness for Audit, accreditation visits and external evaluation, thereby minimising the institutional effort associated with external scrutiny of the University and its programmes • (where feasible) conforms to the internationally recognised requirements for a QMS for a higher education institution Keywords: systemic, alignment • Planning and reporting • Resource allocation • Performance management • Management of risk and reputation knowledge (input, process, output)

  5. Progress to date • Institutional understanding (and fairly wide acceptance) of quality management and its role in UP – not only QA of T&L • Leadership led: EQOC and others • Largely positive view of QU and the value that it can add (?) • Policy in third phase of refinement • Process for reviews developed, tested in practice and refined • System in place (for dashboard reports to SenEx members) • Information management for our area improved dramatically (but not yet where we need to be – will it ever be?? Now for the rest of the institution!) • Quality loop closed by implementing and monitoring improvement plans (including the information management capabilities to report to internal and external stakeholders on progress in this regard) • Trends analysis & reporting at institutional level • linkage with institutional performance indicators in self-evaluation through improved guidelines for self-evaluation

  6. What we are really doing … See Map (sample) Multiple tasks (both QA and QP/improvement) Policy Flowchart (institutional process, QA) The intranet as quality manual… (massive infmgmt project) Interact with stakeholders (systemic approach) • create an understanding that QU does not own quality • provide tools • help manage knowledge (input, process, output)

  7. Issues to be considered • The need to understandquality management as more than QA of T&L (in an environment where one of the main actors seems to be moving “back” in that direction) • Creating an institutional appetite for developing systems to support strategic alignment/improved knowledge management (closer co-op between support services) • Understanding AND CONTAINING the role of the office in a sensible manner (as well as appropriate “shape & size”) • Recruiting and developing staff that will fit the new paradigm • Managing expectations

  8. Some questions… • WHAT did we not think of…? • Where is the thinking flawed? • What other issues need to be considered? • How should we engage? How can we … • manage expectations • create real value • create an understanding that QU does not own quality, but that we help to provide safety (management of risk and reputation) through a robust system ?

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