View Item 
        •   OAsis Home
        • 06. Speeches & Presentations
        • 2006-2010
        • View Item
        •   OAsis Home
        • 06. Speeches & Presentations
        • 2006-2010
        • View Item
        Help
        JavaScript is disabled for your browser. Some features of this site may not work without it.

        Browse

        All of OAsis
        Communities & CollectionsBy Issue DateAuthorsTitlesSubjectsDocument TypeSeriesRegion
        This Collection
        By Issue DateAuthorsTitlesSubjectsDocument TypeSeriesRegion

        My Account

        Login

        Commonwealth of Learning COPYRIGHT © 2022 
        Contact Us | Send Feedback

        Can Invitational Institutional Audits make a Cost-Effective Contribution to Quality Enhancement?

        Thumbnail
        View/Open
        2007_ClarkeOkahDaniel_InstitutionalAudits_Transcript.pdf (182.4Kb)
        Date
        2007-09-17
        Abstract
        Second International Conference on Quality Assurance in Higher Education in Africa, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, 17-19 September 2007, Can Invitational Institutional Audits make a Cost-Effective Contribution to Quality Enhancement? Willie Clarke-Okah & John Daniel, Commonwealth of Learning // Most national quality assurance agencies conduct quality audits of higher education institutions in their jurisdictions. This paper draws lessons from institutional audits that were carried out on the initiative of universities themselves, either in anticipation of a future audit by the national QA agency (UNISA, South Africa) or as a catalyst for reform (University of Ghana). These audits provided useful guidance but their direct and indirect costs were considerable (at least $100,000 in out-of-pocket expenses and many hours of institutional staff time) because they involved large international teams of experts. Can such audits be made more cost-effective whilst retaining their credibility? The paper suggests four measures for doing this. // First, most QA agencies require self-assessments to be conducted prior to audit visits using set procedures. These should also be carried out before invitational audits under procedures agreed by the institution and its audit team and should include any student or graduate survey data. Where self-assessment is a novel experience, this process has the additional benefit of providing a basis for ongoing QA structures and processes. // Second, the institutional authorities (Vice-Chancellor/President; Governing Board Chair) must be committed to the audit and the audit team must understand the context for reform and any major national or institutional constraints. The institution should make experienced staff available as a secretariat for the audit team. // Third, an invitational audit will likely highlight significant issues of governance. Audit teams must be equipped to analyze them and institutional leadership be ready to address them. // Fourth, in inviting members to join the audit team, the institution must choose both local and international figures likely to be perceived within the institution as both credible and objective. The team should include (or be able to call on) expertise in academic programmes, governance & management, and infrastructure & resources. // If this model is followed it should be possible to provide the institution with a cost-effective audit on the basis of a visit of a week or less by a team of not more than six members.
        Author
        Clarke-Okah, Willie
        Daniel, John

        Subject
        Quality Assurance
        URI
        http://hdl.handle.net/11599/1488
        Collections
        • 2006-2010 [255]
        Metadata
        Show full item record

        Related Items

        Showing items related by title, author, creator and subject.

        • Thumbnail

          Quality Assurance and Cross Border Higher Education in the Commonwealth: The Work of the Commonwealth of Learning 

          Daniel, John; Kanwar, Asha; Clarke-Okah, Willie (Commonwealth of Learning (COL), 2006-09-21)
          We shall begin by looking at the current situation of Crossborder Higher Education (CBHE) in the Commonwealth and ask whether crossborder HE providers are latter-day pirates or contribute significantly to the educational ...
        • Thumbnail

          Higher Education in the 21st Century: The Iron Triangle’s Critical Angle of Quality Assurance 

          Clarke-Okah, Willie (Commonwealth of Learning (COL), 2008-02-11)
          I'm here today to talk about quality in higher education in keeping with the theme of Quality Assurance Week, "Promoting Quality in Tertiary Education through Leadership."// I'm going to tell you a bit about the Commonwealth ...
        • Thumbnail

          Institutional Evaluation of the University of Ghana 

          Daniel, John; Clarke-Okah, Willie; Uvalić-Trumbić, Stamenka (Commonwealth of Learning (COL), 2008-01-31)
          I am honoured to have the opportunity of presenting two brown-bag seminars at the World Bank in two days. Today the general issue that I shall address is the renewal of African universities. I shall focus on this through ...
        • Thumbnail

          Commonwealth of Learning: Review and Improvement Model 

          Clarke-Okah, Willie; Daniel, John (Commonwealth of Learning (COL), 2010-01-28)
          In countries where quality assurance systems are not well established universities can find it useful to invite external visitation panels to advise them on quality improvement and wider issues. However, these can be costly. ...
        • Thumbnail

          Quality Assurance Toolkit: Distance Higher Education Institutions and Programmes 

          Coomaraswamy, Uma; Clarke-Okah, Willie (Commonwealth of Learning (COL), 2009)
          The massification of higher education in many countries is placing tremendous pressure on higher education institutions (HEIs) to open up their doors to increasing numbers of students as demand for access to higher education ...

        Commonwealth of Learning COPYRIGHT © 2022 
        Contact Us | Send Feedback