CAPACITY BUILDING IN QUALITY ASSURANCE AND ACCREDITATION: SHARING BEST PRACTICES THE GHANA EXPERIENCE Richard Adjei

1. CAPACITY BUILDING IN QUALITY ASSURANCE AND ACCREDITATION: SHARING BEST PRACTICES � THE GHANA EXPERIENCE Richard Adjei National Accreditation Board

2. Presentation Outline History and Legal Status of the Board Operations of the Board Accreditation � Institutional & Programme Quality Assurance Assessment Instruments Academic Audits Monitoring Visits Capacity Building Conclusion

3. History and Legal Status of the Board The early 1990s saw the beginnings of the Reforms to the Tertiary Education System in Ghana. Government White Paper published in 1991 made several proposals for the restructuring and re-organisation of tertiary education and tertiary educational institutions. The establishment of a Board of Accreditation in �furtherance of better management of tertiary education�.

4. The National Accreditation Board (NAB) was therefore established in 1993 with the enactment of PNDC Law 317, 1993. Replaced by the National Accreditation Board Act, 2007, Act 744. The Act has been operationalised by Legislative Instrument, L. I. 1984.

5. Composition of the Board A15-member Board, with representatives from various constituencies such as public universities, private universities, the National Council for Tertiary Education, the Public Services Commission, the West African Examinations Council and the Attorney General�s Department. The Board is currently chaired by Prof. D. A. Akyeampong, a retired Professor of Mathematics from the University of Ghana.

6. Mandate �To be responsible for the accreditation of both public and private institutions as regards the contents and standards of their programmes�. This is to ensure that the country�s tertiary education system continues to be responsive, in terms of quality and breadth, to a fast changing global education landscape.

7. Operations of the Board - Accreditation Institutional Accreditation On-site visits undertaken by the Institutional Visits Committee of the Board to check on the institution as a whole � assessing material, financial, physical and above all, human resources available for the operation of the institution. This visit is based on a self-evaluation report by the institution.

8. Critical indicators reported on include: Organisation and governance Academic and administrative leadership Student matters Affiliation Quality assurance mechanisms Code of ethics Library Physical facilities

9.  Programme Accreditation For programme accreditation, institutions submit self-evaluation reports as well. Panels of experts in the specific disciplines are constituted to visit and assess the capacity of the institution to deliver the programmes.

10. Critical indicators reported on include: Aims and objectives of the programme Components of programme � required courses, elective courses, research component, practical training, etc Short description of courses Requirements for graduation � assessments, subject requirements, credit requirements, other requirements Staffing � academic, technical and support Technical assistance required and funding plan Physical facilities � specific to the programme Financial requirements for each programme and sources of funding Compliance with previous NAB directives (if any)

11. Quality Assurance (QA) Academic Audits This is a post-accreditation exercise for quality assurance. The objective is to: Provide guidance to NAB for making evidence-based QA recommendations to tertiary institutions Provide advisory services to NAB on QA issues

12. QA Critical indicators reported on by the audit team include: Adherence to entry requirements Audit of examination results at all levels Teacher and student workloads Staffing and qualifications of lecturers External examiners and their involvement in the conduct of examinations � sampling of marked scripts Progress of implementation of last assessment report recommendations Compliance with terms of affiliation � both mentoring and mentored institution

13. Examples of Audit Outcomes: Some students do not meet entry requirements Some students do not meet graduation requirements in terms of total number of credits for graduation Sub-standard examination questions and poor marking of scripts � no marking schemes Poor theses/long essays Inappropriate placement of IQA units Poor staffing � both in qualification and numbers

14. QA Monitoring visits These visits are follow-ups from academic audits where specific recommendations or directives have been issued by the Board. They are meant to verify the extent to which institutions have implemented these recommendations or directives. Such visits could also be on external reports received on operations of institutions.

15. QA Development of Assessment Instruments The Quality Assurance Committee is responsible for developing instruments and other material for Institutional self-assessment Use by assessors Guiding institutions in their operations

16. QA The main instruments so far developed and/revised and in use are: Questionnaire for Institutional Accreditation (New/Existing) Questionnaire for Institutional Registration Questionnaire for Institutional Authorisation Questionnaire for Programme Accreditation (New/Existing) Programme Evaluation Form (New/Existing ) Assessment Panel Report Form (New/Existing) Guidelines for Academic Auditing Guidelines for Affiliation Guidelines for setting up Internal Quality Assurance units

17. Capacity Building NPT project � Capacity Building for Supervisory Bodies of Tertiary Education in Ghana (2006 - 2010) Teaching and Learning Innovation Fund (TALIF) The Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETFund) African Quality Assurance Network (AFRIQAN) INQAAHE/NAB External Assessors Retreat for the Board What have been the benefits?

18. Making Internal quality assurance the primary responsibility of HEIs and making it mandatory and a requisite for accreditation for both public and private HEIs Developing guidelines for IQA systems in the institutions Accrediting transnational institutions and programmes � NAB has now got a provision in its law for Foreign Registration (as a beginning) Instituting a mandatory cyclical review of the Board�s activities every five years Assessing the assessor - attributes of good assessors, challenges and benefits of assessors � these have been useful in assembling teams of assessors Sharing of expertise and experience of assessors from other countries through their observations during the exit sessions Developing and maintaining a conflict of interest policy for assessors to assure fairness and avoid bias in accreditation exercises

19. Challenges The main challenge, with respect to capacity in quality assurance, has to do with assessing and assuring quality in the delivery of distance education and virtual university programmes.

20. Conclusion Capacity building has been a continuous engagement of NAB � both for the Board and staff - and this has impacted on the operations of NAB. Capacity building may be dependent on availability of funding. However, it is suggested that pooling resources on regional and sub-regional basis should serve as a tonic for capacity building in QA across our borders in Africa.

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