Introduction

Quality Assurance (QA)

The key business of a higher educational institution is teaching and learning, research and innovation and service to the community through outreach activities and dissemination of knowledge. The responsibility of delivering these outputs lies in functional entities shown in the organisational chart in Section 2 of Part A. 

Assuring quality in all these functions should have a holistic approach that covers all management processes, including academic, general and financial administration, to ensure quality outputs. Only such quality outputs will be able to deliver the expected impact on society and fulfil the expectation of all stakeholders at desired standards. Therefore, at HEIs, Internal Quality Assurance (IQA) is emphasised, which is facilitated and monitored through External Quality Assurance (EQA) measures.

Internal Quality Assurance (IQA)

The IQA generally covers the strategic management, process and the QA cycle, i.e., planning, implementing, monitoring the effectiveness in implementation, taking action on the findings and operationalising optimised strategies/plans in relation to all core functions (figure 01). However, the factors that drive an institution to adopt robust IQA mechanisms are the intention and the desire to enhance the quality of its core functions, the desire to make the expected impact on society, the desire for high international visibility and rankings etc. Therefore, the QA cycle should be in continuous operation to effectively achieve the goals.

Figure 1: Internal Quality Assurance Cycle operates only when the motivation is there

The most vital plan an institution develops to ensure quality is the strategic plan. For creating such long-term strategies for success, an institution should understand the current status using various analytical tools such as SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats), PEST (Political factors, Economic factors, Social factors, Technological factors) or PESTEL (Political factors, Economic factors, Social factors, Technological factors, Environmental factors, Legal factors) and the feedback of stakeholders and reflections. Following a meticulous analysis of the existing situation. The planning is guided by the institutional goals, desired standards, present status (results of SWOT etc.), and available and obtainable resources and shall be time bound with identified clear KPIs.

The strategies are identified to achieve the intended goals based on the Vision. During the intended period (for example, five years), the plan will be implemented and monitored; actions will be taken to introduce desired modifications to maximise the effect and avoid or handle difficulties/constraints experienced during implementation (IQA cycle: Plan, Implement, Monitor and Act). 

Figure 2: Implementation of the Strategic Plan with the IQA Cycle

The strategic plan gets implemented over five years at the University of Peradeniya. First, the actions to achieve the goals are prioritised, chunked, and spread across the five years. Then the activities of year 1 of the strategic plan are designed (planned) to be implemented in the first year, which becomes the Annual Action Plan of that year. Then those actions are implemented and monitored, and desired revisions are made based on the findings of the monitoring to maximise the effect and ensure the KPIs (Key Performance Indices) are achieved (IQA cycle within a year). 

Figure 3: Implementation of the Strategic Plan with the IQA Cycle yearly with Annual Action Plans 

The annual monitoring shall be done with an eye on the 5-year goals. Therefore, the findings of the monitoring in a particular year, for example, the second year, shall be addressed within the second year as much as possible or carried forward and considered in the planning stage of the subsequent year.

Figure 4: Requirements to ensure at the planning stage in the  IQA Cycle

The institution may make new policy decisions based on the goals, institutional values and principles to facilitate attaining the set objectives. Then the standards at which our commitments and expectations (expressed as policies) must be fulfilled should be specified (standards). Once these standards to be met are set and identified, appropriate standard operating procedures (SOPs) must be introduced to ensure that every entity and individual in the organisation meets the same standard consistently at high efficiency. To facilitate the operationalisation of the SOPs, specific guidelines, instructions, and checklists may be required at certain steps during the procedures. For example, if a policy decision is taken to enhance/ensure the validity of examination results, the institution will have to adopt new standards/best practices. For example, double-marking all answer scripts would be a standard that can be met so that stakeholders can have high confidence in the validity of our examination results. To execute it (the double marking), appropriate SOPs and guidelines are required. Once we are happy with attaining that level for some years, we may raise the standard by introducing compulsory external moderation for examinations in every course. Then once the bar (the standard) is raised that way, new SOPs & guidelines or modifications of existing SOPs & guidelines would be required. 

* Therefore, making the right policy decisions, setting the appropriate standards, and adopting carefully devised SOPs with necessary guidelines shall be done at the planning stage before implementation.