Message from Chairman PEC Engr. Dr. Muhammad Akram Sheikh

ENGINEER PEC September 2007Quality Assurance and Accreditationof Higher LearningDr. Nawar KhanABSTRACTQuality and management of processes and functions ineducational institutions of higher learning in the developingcountries are facing a lot of challenges in terms ofestablishment and improvement. The challenges haveroot causes embedded in their societies that have becomeimpediments for social, industrial and financialdevelopment. Assurance and accreditation of qualitymanagement system of education are the means availablefor improvement, recognition and stakeholderssatisfaction. Institutional, national as well as internationalquality criteria set, management system and assessmentmechanism are available for quality improvements whichcan be adopted by educational institutions to becomeworld class.Key words:Higher Learning, Quality Management System,Developing Countries, Quality Challenges, QualityAssurance and Accreditation, Institutional, National andInternational Criteria.assessment mechanism to judge the level of qualityachieved. Recognized national and international bodieshave standardized and published such criteria sets ofquality concepts and principles for assurance andaccreditation. A few quality criteria and systems forassurance and accreditations discussed here are;Institutional Quality Assurance System.National and International Quality AssuranceSystems.National and International Quality AccreditationSystems.An educational program of higher learning is usuallyaccredited nationally for its quality management andassurance system. For example, Pakistan EngineeringCouncil (PEC) is performing such role of accreditation forengineering education in the country. I order to berecognized internationally for quality, management and itsassurance, national education systems can be accreditedfrom reputed international accreditation bodies, forexample, Accreditation Board of Engineering andTechnology (ABET) accredittion system for engineeringeducation.All these quality improvement, management, assuranceand accreditation activities are complementary to eachother in progression. None of them can be claimed betteror superior to others in terms of scope and objectives.1. INTRODUCTION 2. MAJOR QUALITY ATTRIBUTES OF HIGHERLEARNINGQuality and management of processes and functions inservice industry, particularly in educational institutions of This section only lists down the major quality attributes ofhigher learning, in the developing countries of the world higher learning which require assurance and accreditationare facing a lot of challenges for quality improvement, Bloom’s Taxonomy 1956).assurance and accreditation. These include; poorbusiness management, unguided research and 2.1 Fundamentals of Teaching, Learning anddevelopment, poor quality management system, limitedQuality in Education and Management offinancial resources, low education and training, poorProcessesquality awareness, lack of corporate quality culture and old The ‘Education Processes’ include the following qualityvintage technology and equipment etc (Nawar and Sheikh, attributes:1997;) Sandholm, 2000; Eicher and Mikil, 1993; Hewitt andWield, 1995 and Prokopenko, 1995). These challenges Quality of Teacherhave root causes embedded in their societies that have Quality of Curriculumbecome impediments for social, industrial and financial Quality of Examination and Assessmentdevelopment. Assurance and accreditation of quality Quality of Research and Developmentmanagement system of education are the ways forward for Quality of Communicationits improvement, recognition and stakeholders Quality of Student Support Servicessatisfaction. There are a few major quality attributes ofhigher learning which require assurance and The ‘Management System’ which support all theseaccreditation. Institutional, national as well as international education processes include the followings factors:-criteria and systems are available for quality enhancementand assessment which can be easily adopted to become Leadershipworld class.AdministrationQuality Assurance ProgramA quality assurance system usually provides a criteria set Academic Cultureof quality principles and concept for implementation and54