Trends in assurance and improvement of
quality processes and outcomes in higher education in Malaysia
The important of Quality
Assurance
The enormous growth of public and private higher education institutions
in Malaysia has resulted to a greater access to higher education and increases
in the number of students. This might result in pressure on capacity and a
decline in quality. The demand for greater stakeholder engagement, and
calls for greater transparency, accountability and responsibility in the way in
which higher education institutions are managed and are expected to deliver has
lead quality assurance in higher education as a main agenda of many university in
Malaysia. Issues of quality assurance and quality enhancement
have acquired a major focus of attention. Quality assurance is an
important element to helps inform student choice, especially in the light of a
growing diversity of course offerings. It also can contribute to improved
teaching and administrative processes and help disseminate good practice,
leading to overall system improvement.
Quality assurance is particularly
important in an age of globalisation and growth of knowledge based economies. The increase in focus on quality
assurance is also closely related to the increase in funds invested in higher
education in Malaysia. Investment in higher education has been perceived as
contributing significantly towards further economic growth and development.Quality assurance involves the structure, system and approaches related
to teaching, research and administration as to enable the stated aims and
objectives of the institution to be fulfilled (Stephenson, 1996).
The Malaysian Qualifications Framework (MQF)
This
framework is a basis for quality assurance of higher education and as the
reference point for national qualifications that being accepted and used for
all qualifications awarded by a recognized HEP. The instrument classifies
qualifications based on a set of criteria that are approved nationally and
benchmarked against international best practices. The Framework clarifies the
academic levels, learning outcomes and credit systems based on student academic
load.
LAN, QAD and MQA
Private
Educational Institutions Act 1996 (Act 555) have been enacted to improve access
and equity of higher education has made private higher education institutions
in Malaysia is growing dynamically. In May 1997, the National Accreditation
Board (or called Lembaga Akreditasi Negara, LAN in Malay) was established. Its
key function is to quality assure all programmes and qualifications offered by
private higher education providers. It develops standards and criteria for the
conferment of awards and accredits courses that fulfill the set standards and
criteria.
In
order to improvement the quality among public institutions of higher learning, the
Ministry of Higher Education in Malaysia has established a division known as
the Quality Assurance Division (QAD)
for Public Universities in Malaysia. Its objective is to develop a quality
assurance system that conforms to international quality standards. The main
purpose of the Ministry of Higher Education Quality Assurance Division is to
promote public confidence and ensure that the quality of the provision and
standards of awards in higher education are enhanced.
In
December 2005, the Malaysian Cabinet decided to merge the National Accreditation
Board (Lembaga Akreditasi Negara,
LAN) and the Quality Assurance Division (QAD) of the Ministry of Higher
Education (MOHE). This merger create the single quality assurance agency in the
country, whose scope now covers both the public and private Higher Education
Providers (HEP). On 1 November 2007, the new entity, the Malaysian Qualifications Agency (MQA) was established with the
coming in force of the Malaysian Qualifications Agency Act 2007. From time to
time, the MQA will develop new programme standards and guides to good practices
to cover the whole range of disciplines and good practices. It will also review
them periodically to ensure relevance and currency. The MQA has also been given the task to engage in an academic
performance audit of all institutions of higher education in Malaysia and have responsibilities
to undertake rating of universities by using the rating instrument developed by
and implemented by appointed consultants.
The 2008 Roundtable Meeting agreed to
adopt the Kuala Lumpur Declaration on the Establishment of ASEAN Quality
Assurance Network (AQAN). The objectives of
AQAN are to share best practices of quality assurance, develop an Asean quality
assurance framework, collaborate on capacity building, and facilitate the
recognition of qualifications and cross-border mobility. Each Asean country presented its quality assurance system and
discussions were held on the benefits of collaboration and sharing, and the
crucial role of quality assurance in promoting harmonisation in higher education.
SETARA
Rating System for
Malaysian Higher Education Institutions (SETARA) is the ranking exercise
universities and university colleges in Malaysia based on the quality of
teaching and learning at level six (bachelor's degree) Malaysian Qualifications
Framework (Malaysian Qualifications Framework MQF). Malaysian Ministry of
Education (MOE) established SETARA to develop a continuous quality improvement
that completes the quality assurance Malaysian Qualifications Agency (Malaysian
Qualifications Agency, MQA). Teaching and learning are fundamental to all
universities and SETARA is a medium through the Ministry of Higher Education
Malaysia and the Malaysian Qualifications Agency (MQA) measure by an
independent committee.
The implementation
of quality management system.
In 1995, the Government decided to adopt and implement the
International Organization for Standardization Standards (ISO 9000) for the
public sector in Malaysia. A set of guidelines for the implementation of
Malaysian Standard International Organization for Standardization (MS ISO
9000:94) was issued by the Manpower and Planning Unit (MAMPU) and the Prime
Minister’s Department in 1996. In 2002 MAMPU issued guidelines for the implementation
of ISO 2000 in all public sectors. (Kiran Kaur & Pauziaah Mohamed, 2005).Consequently,
the governance and management of public universities in Malaysia is highly
regulated and, to a certain extent, influenced by governmental bureaucracy. Public
university try to obtain the ISO certification of MS ISO 9001:2000 to establish
a well-defined mission statement in terms of processes, procedures and expected
outcomes for each academic faculty and administrative unit at the university.
The Quality
Assurance Management
Most of higher education in Malaysia had established their
own unit (The Quality Assurance Management or Quality Management System) to ensuring
that there is a continual improvement in the quality management system in the
institution. It also responsible for a few critical areas including resource
management, product realization, measurement, analysis and improvement that
focus on the customers’ requirement and satisfaction.
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Issues and Limitation
in the implementation of a quality assurance programmes
There are limited resources and qualified personnel
available. The academic staff at the university has played a pivotal role in
contributing time and resources by being involved as auditors in the internal
audit process. A lack of a shared vision and a mismatch between quality
management techniques and the educational processes also can lead to a risk of
fostering managerialism at the university.
MQA have a responsibility to
harmonise private and public higher education providers under one quality
assurance system. To ensure the process and procedure of quality assurance will
be going smoothly, further study should be taken placed in order to face the
challenges that might occur.
Reference:
Thanks Mushala. I note the limitations in QA in Malaysia as you have clearly pointed out: "There are limited resources and qualified personnel available". Might there be a way out of this?
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