Quality assurance without quality enhancement: The irony of university QA
By Ramya Kumar According to the Quality Assurance Council (QAC) of the University Grants Commission (UGC), quality assurance (QA) refers to “the means (i.e. the policies, attitudes, actions, procedures, etc.), by which an institution can guarantee with confidence and certainty, that the standards and quality of its educational provision are being maintained and enhanced”. An […]
Quality assurance (QA) is a systematic framework used by educational institutions to ensure the standard and quality of their educational provision. However, the Quality Assurance Council (QAC) of the University Grants Commission (UGC) has implemented an extensive structure that has raised concerns about its effectiveness in enhancing the quality of education.
The QAC conducts external reviews of universities and degree programs, while each university has its own Centre for Quality Assurance (CQA) responsible for internal QA. Faculty members also have Internal Quality Assurance Cells (IQAC) to perform QA in line with QAC directives. Despite the presence of several worthy QA initiatives, such as improving facilities for students with disabilities and addressing sexual- and gender-based violence, most activities focus on monitoring websites, digital transformation, and staff appraisal.
These activities consume valuable time and resources, often amounting to check-box activities completed to generate evidence for the next review. This top-down QA system may be undermining the internal dynamics of university governance, as crucial aspects of university administration and the integrity of procedures governing the promotion of academic staff are not reviewed.
Written by urgent.news from The Island Sri Lanka's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
