LINQ Conference: European and International Conference Learning

Innovations and Quality May 16- 17, 2013

Quality assurance of higher education:

National trends of development and

accreditation in Kazakhstan

Gulnara Sarsenbayeva (Kazakhstan)

Rome, 2013

Higher education in Kazakhstan:

Global dimension

Internationalisation/globalisation:

increased competition, growing global higher

education market, entering into global

educational market\space

Bologna process: Priorities: 3 cycle system,

Quality assurance, Recognition of qualifications

and periods of study

Higher education in Kazakhstan:

National dimension

National priorities: great variety of national

policies and corresponding requirements on

HEIs

National strategy: Kazakhstan with

ambitious economic and social goals – focus

on research and wider societal transformation

process

External factors impacting Higher Education

Rapid pace of technology innovation and deployment

IT and a knowledge-based society are the catalysts

Globalization

Changing demographics and diversity

Who will be tomorrow’s customers, inventors, and leaders? What will be modern Profile of engineers, teachers, lawyers, etc.

Non-technical forces will be key drivers of technological innovation

International standards and agreements

Quality assurance: an essential tool for Kazakhstan

HEIs on the way to knowledge society

Institutional level: Enhancing internal quality

Building Quality: New Evaluation Methodology

Institutional Evaluation system: national &

international

Quality Culture

Kazakhstani Forum for Quality Assurance:

conferences, symposiums, round tables

Enhancing internal quality: Mechanisms

for internal quality

Selection of priority areas for internal quality on the basis of

institutional self-evaluation

Linking university data collection and analysis with internal

quality processes

Ensuring effective feedback loops on outcomes of internal

quality processes (follow-up) and communication to the

university community

Avoiding overly bureaucratic or complicated processes

Critical analysis & discussions of QA issues

Enhancing internal quality: processes

Range of involvement:

Broad involvement of the university community (students, academic and administrative staff) in the development of internal quality measure (bottom-up)

University leadership to fully endorse and backup the implementation (top-down)

Cooperation

Information updates at internal, national and international debates & discussions

Exchange of experiences and good practices with other HEIs, nationally and internationally

Using opportunities for benchmarking

Active participation in national negotiations about the scope of quality measures

Lessons learned from QA activities

• There are no “one-fits-all” solutions, but it is possible to define common principles for internal quality

• There is no single definition of quality or excellence -> relative concepts

• Quality is not a neutral concept (can be measured, there are instruments to measure, criteria)

• Quality is closely related to ideology and power (who defines quality in which way, who is accountable to whom etc.)

• Direct correlation between autonomy and quality culture

(Autonomy linked with accountability)

QA: Cybernetics postulate

Everything that functions has to develop

Two types of management: operation management & development management

Concept of QA

Transformation of quality control system into system of development

New system of monitoring of quality in order to build recommendations for further enhancement

New system of management (autonomy, research university, modern strategic management, etc.)

New technologies of quality (Program committees, Industry Advisory Boards, System of Data Collection, etc)

New model of training: modern strategies of teaching, methods of teaching, introduction of integrated fields, etc.)

Quality assurance system: main components

Evaluation of programs (Students’ survey, employers survey, market survey)

Contemporary role of a teacher (enhancement of teaching, defining innovative cost and real value of knowledge)

System of self control, self evaluation

QA: accreditation

Evaluation of professional communities

Logics and effectiveness of educational process

Internal evaluation

Accreditation is not ranking, not rating!It is an effective tool for measuring quality!

Outcomes fit to demands of professional requirements & criteria

Recommendations

University- Industry cooperation: University chairs at industry, industry representative offices at universities

Curriculum development: discussions with professionals Quality assurance: system-based vs. process-based Effective management = QA (new methods of strategic

management, management of changes & reforms) QA - Operation management, Development Management Educational standards vs. quality standards Building Quality assurance, support and

development systems

Thank you for your attention!

Questions/Answers

Gulnara M. Sarsenbayeva (PhD, Ed)

Kazakh National Technical University after K.I.Satpaev

(Almaty, Republic of Kazakhstan)

guliesars@gmail.com