The National Quality Assurance and Accreditation Committee

1. The National Quality Assurance and Accreditation Committee LEADERSHIP IN THE CONTEXT OF QUALITY ASSURANCE WORKSHOP NOVEMBER 2007

2. INTRODUCTION • Dr Salwa EL-Magoli • Chair-Person “National Quality Assurance and Accreditation Committee” • Director of the Quality Assurance and Accreditation Project (QAAP)

3. Why Leadership in the context of quality assurance? • The need for reform • Quality assurance is the chosen vehicle for that reform, together with training and capacity building • Self-evaluation has thrown up evidence-based reports of the challenges and obstacles to making improvements • Leadership at all levels in institutions is needed to implement quality assurance and make the improvements

4. Leadership in quality assurance • The characteristics, styles, attributes and roles in leadership are many. • The future for higher education lies in taking a competitive advantage, not in compliance or copying. • Here is an opportunity for leaders at all levels to make their distinctive contributions as part of the national effort.

5. Why is this workshop a new starting point? • Leadership gives sustainability to quality assurance when the project fund has ended • The National Committee is giving a new emphasis to capacity building • All institutions display a range of leadership styles, some more effective than others

6. Why is this workshop a new starting point? • Adopting more assertive leadership needs self-awareness, understanding of systems and challenges, selecting and implementing appropriate strategies for leadership, and carrying people with you. • Each of us in our institutions must take a personal responsibility for developing and adopting appropriate leadership roles and styles

7. First transitional phase: 2004- 07 • 177 funded projects • 60 Developmental engagements with self-evaluation reports and generating review reports • “Quality Assurance and Accreditation Handbook for Higher Education in Egypt” • 500 peer reviewers trained and active • QAAP monitoring • 12 follow up site-visits and reports • Evidence-based reports of achievements and of challenges, obstacles and tasks for leaders • Internal Audit Report by QAAP

8. Effective leadership has already delivered Achievements include: • A new approach to mission-related strategic planning • Quality Assurance Centres • Development of NARS • Establishment of ILOs • Assessment design • Excellent examples of research and community involvement. • Student satisfaction surveys.

9. The Challenges that need leadership Examples given during this workshop include: • Contracts and conditions of employment of faculty members • The failure of a large majority of faculty members, and in particular, those from other faculties teaching on the programmes to complete specifications and reports • Governance and structures need reform to sustain quality assurance.

10. Therefore Leadership is • Personal • Being competitive • Being assertive • Making a difference • - but it is also about • collaborating to address these shared issues.