Implementation of quality assurance in public higher education institutions:University of Malaya experience

• Main Authors: Mustaffa, Kamal Shuib, Sharifah Norul Akmar, Syed Zamri, Rosman, Abdullah, Fatimah, Said
• Format: Conference or Workshop Item
• Language: English
• Published: 2007
• Subjects: Information resources (General)
• Online Access: http://eprints.um.edu.my/2233/1/IMPLEMENTATION_OF_QUALITY_ASSURANCE.pdf; http://eprints.um.edu.my/2233/

Quality Assurance (QA) in University of Malaya is not new. University of Malaya (UM) has traditionally used several mechanisms to ensure the quality of its academic programmes. Its constitution regulates and governs the universities management and functions. Use of external examiners, movement of academics around institutions locally and abroad, involvement of professional associations, allocation of research grants by competitive assessment have had continuous effect on the exchange of information and the maintenance of high academic standards. With the directive from the Quality Assurance Division, Ministry of Higher Education to implement Quality Assurance, formal steps have been taken to ensure its effective implementation. This paper will share UM’s experience in (i) instilling the culture of quality (ii) increasing awareness and education on QA matters to the campus community (iii) assisting faculties with preparation of databases and (iv) coordinating internal and external review processes. The introduction of QA in UM is made easier with the existence and implementation of the Quality Management System MS ISO 9001:2000 and strong commitment from the top management. From our experience, implementing QA in UM has its challenges. Among them, more effort is needed to convince the university community to accept the importance of QA in academic programmes, ensuring a more consistent, knowledgeable and committed team of document writers, better comprehension of the criteria in the Quality Assurance Code of Practice in Public Universities of Malaysia (3rd. Edition, 2005) and instilling good time management by meeting deadlines.