FIMA Year Book 2009 - Federation of Islamic Medical Associations

Quality AssuranceIntroduction:Quality is the means through whichan institution can guarantee, withconfidence and certainty that thestandards of its educational objectivesmaintained and enhanced. Quality inhigher education is a dynamic processwhich is the outcome of interactionof multiple factors that determinethe state of equilibrium reached atvarious levels. These include, inter alia,leadership, quality of faculty, qualityof students, infrastructure, facilities,research and learning environment,governance, strategic planning,assessment procedures, market forcesand several other factors dependingupon the type, nature and level ofeducational processes. (1)How quality and standards are different?Several keywords, often confused,require to be defined. Firstly, it isimportant to be clear that whereas‘quality’ relates to process (for example,the quality of the educational processexperienced by students), ‘standards’refers to outcomes, or achievement.The link between them can beexpressed in terms of the contributionof the educational process (or ‘quality’),to the attainment of a defined standardof higher education. Secondly, ineducation, standards relate to threeareas of activity: academic standardsmeasure ability to meet a specifiedlevel of academic attainment; servicestandards assess service provided; whilequality standards can be describedas norms or expectations expressedin formal statements about desiredpractice, for example the ENQAStandards and Guidelines. (2)Quality control in medical educationand training comprises activities atdifferent levels of the curriculum ofmedical schools, residency programsand postgraduate education. In Islamictheology quality arises from innermotivation and emanates from ihsan(excellence) which is the greatestachievement in Islamic work afterIslam and iman. Quality culture isan indigenous product of Islamiccivilization. Islam sets quality work andexcellent performance in all spheresof life including education. Qualityand its controlling mechanisms mustpermeate all activities. The Islamicconcept of performance of a job is toachieve excellence. The Prophet saidthat Allah loves ihsan in everything andadvised Muslims to perfect every workthat they undertake.In Western societies the concept ofquality and Total Quality Management(TQM) was introduced in highereducational institutions not verylong ago. However, it has rapidlypermeated the thinking of manyhigher education managers duringthe past several years. It was basicallyintroduced, developed and applied inthe industrial environment where itnot only gained high acceptance, butalso has become a symbol of quality.Institutions have always held academicexcellence and high quality as theFIMA YearBook 2009156