Internal quality assurance – Key to maintaining quality

The establishment of an internal quality assurance system in a higher education institution is often regarded as the most critical element in creating a sustainable framework for maintaining quality.

Whereas external evaluations and publishable outcomes mainly respond to accountability issues, the need for internal quality enhancement demands the establishment of a continuous and sustainable quality improvement scheme at the institutional level and at the level of academic disciplines.

On top of encouraging institutional changes, the creation of an institution-wide quality management system could be regarded as a precursor to what are nationally constructed as external quality assurance mechanisms like accreditation and quality audits.

Internal quality assurance in Ethiopia

The introduction of a formal institutional quality audit system is a relatively new phenomenon in Ethiopia. However, this does not necessarily mean that higher education institutions never had mechanisms of assuring the quality of their own provisions before.

In fact, prior to the move towards a more formalised system, most institutions were known for using mechanisms such as elitist student selection, rigorous evaluation and assessment, and periodical curriculum review for the purpose of assuring institutional quality. Such systems, however, had their own limitations including their restricted use for the purposes of self-reflection and institutional improvement.

The move towards a more formalised system of quality assurance was thus justified more by the deficiencies of the traditional quality assurance mechanisms, whose validity in the face of a ‘massified’ system was found questionable, both from the perspective of the government and the increasing complexities of the system itself.

In this regard the Ethiopian government has taken important steps not only in creating a formal framework of external quality assurance but also in broadly dictating the features of an internal quality assurance system at the level of institutions.

Legislative framework

In terms of legislation, Ethiopia’s second Higher Education Proclamation (2009) stands as the first legal framework that laid down specific provisions on internal quality systems of higher education institutions.

The proclamation underscores the need for establishing an internal quality assurance framework, the elements that constitute the system, the responsibilities of individual higher education institutions, and the role of external bodies like the Higher Education Relevance and Quality Agency (HERQA) and the Ministry of Education (now Ministry of Science and Higher Education) in enhancing changes towards a strengthened internal quality management system.

Such an institutional system of quality assurance was stipulated to pervade “all processes of importance to the quality of study programmes” (Article 22.3) and “provide for clear and comprehensive measures of quality covering professional development of academic staff, course content, teaching-learning processes, student evaluation, assessment and grading systems” (Article 22.2).

In responding to these requirements, higher education institutions have been expected to undertake internal quality audits periodically, follow up and rectify internal deficiencies, document all interventions undertaken and report the same to HERQA, besides developing their own quality standards.

In addition, higher education institutions should comply with recommendations made by HERQA regarding quality enhancement tasks they need to undertake after passing through the external quality assurance process. Such recommendations may include, for instance, mandatory on-job and tailor-made training that academic staff require to address deficiencies related to lack of pedagogical knowledge on teaching and assessment.

Internal quality assurance systems

Having been mandated by the 2009 higher education law, HERQA’s quality audit practices involve the dual purpose of gauging the existing level of institutional capacities and the internal quality assurance systems of both public and private higher education institutions.

These needs have been addressed from two major angles. The first relates to establishing formal quality management systems and units within institutions. HERQA requires that this should be ascertained through such elements as the availability of a quality audit structure at institutional level, a written policy on quality audit, a comprehensive data collection system, and a feedback and monitoring system aimed at continuous improvement.

The second aspect pertains to ensuring the availability of an institutional quality care mechanism. This is more about promoting quality – supporting the provision of quality and the means to enhance quality – including features such as the availability of a quality care policy, and units dedicated to staff development and resource mobilisation.

In order to enhance this process, HERQA has developed guidelines on how institutions can conduct internal evaluation, prepare their own self-evaluation document (SED), training on how the SED is prepared and-or gives any relevant technical assistance institutions may require. This has most often been done on a request basis.

The status quo

Notwithstanding their nascent stage of development, there are encouraging signs, both at public and private institutions, in terms of the strides they are making towards the establishment of internal quality assurance systems.

These initial efforts include the establishment of internal quality assurance units, the development of policies and guidelines, the designation of pertinent committees at various levels of institutions, and some practical tasks undertaken towards ensuring institutional quality.

Efforts related to the latter have been especially manifested in the form of undertaking internal quality assessments, programme and course audits, curriculum review and pedagogic training for academic staff.

However, it is not yet clear how these efforts are systematically contributing to the improvement of internal capacities in the realms of teaching-learning, planning and decision-making processes and the overall student learning experience as contrasted with the seemingly cosmetic changes occurring at the level of structure and policy design.

The way forward

While the development of internal quality assurance systems is gathering momentum across the Ethiopian higher education sector, the current state of affairs – both in public and private institutions – leaves much to be desired, as evidenced from the scores of quality audit reports produced by HERQA and some local research conducted in the area.

Some of the deficiencies of the internal quality assurance system in Ethiopian institutions of higher learning may be acceptable given its overall recent history, but the ambivalence of institutions in terms of promoting and strengthening the quality agenda is what requires urgent attention.

Local studies suggest that the lack of visionary leadership, poorly-articulated procedures to monitor internal operations, limited resource support, and resistance are some of the major factors that account for the gaps.

The general observation appears to indicate that the internal quality assurance efforts undertaken by higher education institutions are not currently having far reaching effects due to a raft of structural and practical deficiencies that continue to hamper their efficiency and success.

A handful of local research on the subject again suggests that deficiencies such as lack of leadership support, lack of resources, exclusive focus on the academic wing as contrasted with research and administrative functions of universities, challenges of overburdened and limited quality audit staff and a high staff turnover rate continue to impose their negative effects on the success of the evolving internal quality assurance system.

It is incumbent upon institutional leaders and all relevant stakeholders to give the needed attention and deploy appropriate resources towards strengthening the internal quality assurance mechanisms of public and private higher education institutions, with a view to enhancing institutional changes and meeting emerging challenges in a sustainable manner.

Wondwosen Tamrat is an associate professor and founding president of St Mary’s University, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, an affiliate scholar of the Program for Research on Private Higher Education at the State University of New York at Albany, United States, and coordinator of the private higher education sub-cluster of the Continental Education Strategy for Africa. He may be reached at preswond@smuc.edu.et or wondwosentamrat@gmail.com.