Promoting Quality Culture in
Higher Education Institutions
Outline
• Background
• Defining the quality
• Quality culture in universities
• Developing the culture of quality
Prologue
• “Quality is not an act; it is a habit” – Aristotle
• "Quality is never an accident; it is always the
result of high intention, sincere effort, intelligent direction and skillful execution; it represents the wise choice of many alternatives" - William A. Foster
Changes in Marketplaces
• 65% of children entering primary school today will ultimately end up working in completely new job types that don’t yet exist. (WEF-FOJ-16)
•
A typical factory
(in Shenzhen, China)– 1980
– 2010
• People changes job more frequently
– US (10 jobs/life); UK (13 jobs/life) ; AU (15 jobs/life)
Production
Design
Marketing/
Yet another trend
• By 2020, social skills—such as persuasion,
emotional intelligence and teaching others— will be in higher demand across industries
than narrow technical skills, such as
programming or equipment operation and
control. In essence, technical skills will need to be supplemented with strong social and
The future of learning
Defining quality
• Quality means: “ability to meet the stated and unstated needs of stakeholders”
• Who are the stakeholders?
– Internal: students, staff, faculties
– External: government, employers, society at large
• Need a robust and effective quality assurance system
Quality Culture
• Quality is a dynamic, multidimensional and perspective-bound concept
• Culture is a complex, interaction-based and continuously changing construct
Principles of Quality Culture
• Empowering the stakeholders to develop their own quality goals, initiatives and measures
• Guaranteeing transparency and common
standard without sucombing to a purely formal approach
• Sharing trust without disregarding the risk involved
• Strengthening reciprocal communication process
Quality Culture in Universities
• Rooted in the universal academic norms and values
– Honesty, fairness, meritocracy, etc.
• Passed down to students and younger faculties through academic interactions
– Creating vibrant academic atmosphere
• Senior faculties play as role models
Application of Quality Culture
7 principles of GuG
1. Not everything is improved by making it democratic.
2. There are basic differences between the rights of citizenship in a nation and the rights that are attained by joining a voluntary organization.
3. Rights and responsibilities in university should reflect the length of commitment to the institution.
4. Those with knowledge are entitled to a greater say.
5. The quality of decisions is improved by continuously preventing conflict of interest.
6. University governance should improve the capacity for teaching and research.
7. To function well, a hierarchical system of governance requires explicit mechanism of consultation and accountability.
Building up quality culture in HEIs
• Initiated from the top
– Policy, programs, resources
• Committed by all
– To be instilled at all levels
• Systematically developed
– Effective programs; preventive and corrective
• Consistently implemented
Measuring effectiveness
• Quality is in the eye of the beholder
• Evaluations: feedback system, SET, peers evaluation
– Objects: academic & non-academic; focused on level of satisfaction;
– Results should be analyzed and fed back to lecturers and management;
• Monitoring and early detection for irregularities
• Tracer studies
Continuous Quality Improvement
• Internal quality assurance system (SPMI)
– Rigorously monitor quality of learning processes
• Feedback system to management
– Prevention as well as corrective actions
– Link to incentive and appraisal systems
• Instill quality culture
Closing Remarks
• Quality culture cannot be built overnight
– Need long term planning
• The internal QA should be functioning not
only to attest the quality internally but also to develop the culture of quality systematically
• The external QA (accreditation) should
