Reflection on OAC Manual Quality Audit- Learning By Sharing

1. Reflection on OAC ManualQuality Audit- Learning By Sharing OQN Seminar Wednesday 11 November,2009 Dr. Salha A. Issan

2. Questions to be considered • How do institutions in Oman react towards institutional Accreditation? • Are/were HEIs ready for the self study and aware of the Self Study Method? • Why do/did employees find the Quality Audit manual difficult to Apply? • Are/ were people within these institutions competent to prepare the Quality Audit Portfolio? • Have these institution gone through any kind of accreditation before? Salha Issan - SQU

3. The Manual • The OAC 's Accreditation Manual can provide the basic framework by which an institution may engage in self-evaluation activities. • The Accreditation Manual contains the policies, procedures, and forms related to the conduct of accreditation reviews of eligible HEI and their programs. Salha Issan - SQU

4. Self-study and Accreditation • Self-study and accreditation are linked, but they also are essentially parallel and different procedures. • Self-study is, as the name implies, a self-generated evaluation of one's own institutions or programs, • whereas the accreditation process involves external peer review. • Although the accreditation application can act as a general guide to self-study, the application for accreditation is not synonymous with self-study. Salha Issan - SQU

5. Conducting Self- Study • In conducting a self-study, many institutions have established steering committees to coordinate the various tasks involved in this complex effort. • Members of these committees have to be trained how to coordinate their work, to collect data related and mainly how to use the manual. • It is not enough to train the members of the main Committee, but the Subcommittees members need to be informed and trained how to accomplish their tasks. Salha Issan - SQU

6. Continued • A prospectus should be developed before initiation of the study. • The prospectus guarantees that the self-study will be comprehensive. • The prospectus should specify the various components of the institution/ program to be assessed. • It should indicate how data will be collected, what the review procedure is, how progress will be measured, how decisions will be reached, who will have the responsibility for each task, and what the general timelines will be. Salha Issan - SQU

7. Manual Five Parts • 1- Overview of Quality Audit (including the audit scope). 2- Self Study (resulting in the Quality Audit Portfolio from the higher education providers’ HEP’s). 3- External Review (resulting in the Quality Audit Report from the OAC). 4- Methods of Analysis (particularly for the Audit Panels, but also helpful for Self Study purposes). 5- Appendices (including a number of helpful tools). Salha Issan - SQU

8. Quality Audit • The first stage in provider accreditation starting from 2008, involves each HEI undergoing a Quality Audit. • The emphasis is on evaluating the effectiveness of an institution’s quality assurance and quality enhancements processes against its stated goals and objectives. • Quality Audit involves a Quality Audit self study of HEI’s activities , resulting to a QualityAudit Portfolio and then External verification of the portfolio by external Audit panel convened by the OAC Salha Issan - SQU

9. Sections • Governance and Management • Student Learning by Coursework Programs • Student Learning by Research Programs • Staff Research and Consultancy • Industry and Community Engagement • Academic Support Services • Students and Student Support Services • Staff and Staff Support Services • General Support Services and Facilities. Salha Issan - SQU

10. Challenges • Working Groups faced the difficulties to identify the components of each section and how to avoid the overlap in data presentation. • How to differentiate between goals and objectives. Salha Issan - SQU

11. QUALITY OF THE DATA • Data will be valid only if the measuring instrument employed correctly evaluates what it is intended to measure. • Institutions are not familiar with DATA COLLECTION TECHNIQUES. (a) critical study of available documentation (document study); (b) individual and group interviews; (c) questionnaires . • Documentation is not widely practiced at all levels , that demanded more time to search for data required. Salha Issan - SQU

12. CONT. • The existence and filing of documents pertaining to the Inst./programme under scrutiny. • Some of public and private archives, published statistics, data-banks, newspapers and personal documents. • These are not seriously considered by the institution and little attention paid to their archives. Salha Issan - SQU

13. Calendar for Preparation of the Self Study Since the date for the evaluation visit is often set more than a year in advance, a realistic and detailed timetable for the organization and completion of the self study report should be developed and specifies in the manual and modified according to the institution size. Salha Issan - SQU

14. Continued • Individuals, who are currently serving on the Council on Academic Accreditation or on the Board of Directors are not eligible to serve during their term of office as consultants to institutions/programs seeking or maintaining accreditation. • Audit Visit Program is short (3 days) will not allow the team to have enough time to review documents and interview people concerned. Salha Issan - SQU

15. ADRI four dimensions • The Approach includes the trail from an organization's mission, vision and values (i.e. its overall objectives) through to more specific goals and the planned arrangements for how these will be achieved. The latter may culminate in written policies and procedures. • The Deployment dimension considers whether, and how effectively, the approach is being put into effect. • The Results dimension looks at an organization's results as a means of determining how well the deployment is achieving the planned approach. Salha Issan - SQU

16. The Improvement dimension focuses on whether the organization is actively and continuously engaged with understanding its performance in each of the A-D-R dimensions, and is using this understanding to bring about improvements. • Sometimes there is a kind of confusion between deployment • and results. • There is an overlap between approach and deployment. • Approach – deployment- Results – ImprovementADRI Analysis can be used to analyze anything ( P. 74). This is not true because we need to consider some national and local conditions and features. Salha Issan - SQU

17. Manuals for each Process • Manuals for each Process mentioned in The Quality Audit Manual Institutional Accreditation : Stage 1 were not prepared when many institutions started Quality Audit Overview. • Oman Qualification Framework (OQF). • Oman Standard Classification of Education Framework( OSCED). • Oman HEI Classification Framework, and others ( P. 12-13). Salha Issan - SQU

18. Suggestions • More Training should be offered for all members working in HEIs. • Training should cover all categories. • More attention should be given to data documentation. • ADRI dimensions need to be elaborated. • A local training group is required to ensure the continuity and stability of Accreditation processes. Salha Issan - SQU