Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport Accreditation Committee of Cambodia

New Trend of Quality Assurance in Cambodia

Presented by Dr. Rath Chhang

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Contents

1. Quality Assurance System of Higher Education in Cambodia

2. Accreditation in HE as of July 2013 3. Challenges 4. Ways forwards in 2015

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1. Quality Assurance System in Cambodia

1.1. Background • After the 1993 UN-sponsored election, privatization of

higher education was introduced; • Enrolments have dramatically increased; • a rapid expansion of the number of higher education

institutions (HEIs); • The expansion was not, however, meticulously planned;

instead it was pursued for the most part by investors seeking financial benefit (Ayres 2000);

• educational experts describe the reform as ‘vibrant and lively’, ‘a cause for concern’, ‘plagued with difficulties’, and a ‘ferment of reform’ (2006, p.10);

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13,465

216,053

-

50,000

100,000

150,000

200,000

250,000

1995-1996 2012-2013

HE Enrolment

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• The establishment of the quality assurance system has reflected the implementation of the rectangular strategies and the government’s policies in order to enhance the quality of higher education and to integrate Cambodia into the ASEAN, regional and global communities.

• ACC was founded in 2003, which was under the leadership of the Office of the Council of the Ministers.

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1.2. Agency Model Two-Independent

Authority

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Universities

Quality Assurance Agency

MOE

1.3. Data Sources and Flows

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MoEYS

Dept. of HE (undergraduate)

Dept. of Scientific Research (graduate) Scholarship

students

Fee-paying students

ACC

Employers Faculties Institute

Department

Studies office

(admission)

University

- - - - - -

Parent Ministries

1.4. Quality Assurance Structures

Inputs - student

selection - staff

recruitment

Processes - assessment - professional

learning (no)

Outputs - Graduate

rate

Outcomes (no)

- employment - Satisfaction - Salaries

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Not clear: - value-added? Or, - fitness-for-purpose? Or, - fitness-of-purpose? Or, - value-for-money?

1.5. Leadership and management • There is no regulatory requirement for

management and leadership skills in the promotion of university and college leaders;

• There is no specific term for Rectors or other

types of leadership;

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1.6. Supreme National Council of Education

Supreme National Council of Education (not

work) (The Prime Minister)

Ministries in charge of Education

Institutions responsible for

quality assurance (e.g. ACC, NTB)

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• Multiple parent Ministries (13);

• Cambodian Higher Education Association

(CHEA) (does not work well);

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• Professional bodies do not exist; • There is no official tracking system for student

employment in the majority of HEIs; • The unemployment rate among youth 15-24 in

Cambodia is 71.9 percent of the total unemployment rate (Morris, 2007)

• Teaching faculty moved from HEI to HEI; • Tenure track position is based almost completely

on length of service; • Merit-based performance in teaching, research,

and community service; • Database Management system for information

dissemination does not exist;

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1.7. Assessment results

1.7.1. Foundation Year Program

The FYP assessment results Cycle Year HEIs Full Provisional Non-accreditation

First 2006-2007 33 0 31 2

Second 2009-2010 56 50 6 0

Third 2012-2013 55 50 5 0

Total number of visits

144

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1.7.2. Institutional Accreditation

• In 2012, 5 institutions were granted accreditation: provisional status: 4 candidate status: 1

• Assessment reports were sent to the accredited HEIs and parent ministries.

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2. Accreditation in HE as of July 2013?

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Universities Quality Assurance Agency

2.1. Agency Model One-Centralized Government Authority

• The new government has integrated ACC to be under the MoEYS by the Royal Decree: No. ns/rkt/1013/1060 issued on 30/10/2013;

• Not clear transition plan; • Reviewing Standards, accreditation tools and

procedures; • Need to improve the quality and training of

qualified team leaders and assessors; • Capacity building for ACC Secretariat; • Objectives of accreditation are not clear; • ACC does not have strong “teeth”;

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• In response to the ASEAN Qualifications Reference Framework which requires each member country to have the National Qualifications Framework (NQF);

• ACC, MoLVT (NTB) and MoEYS (DHE), coordinated by COM, developed the CNQF since December 2010;

• It was finalised and singed as a sub-decree for implementation on 28 March, 2014;

• A series of trainings on CNQF for HEIs have been conducted.

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2.3. Revision on the National Standards • Consultative workshop on the National Standards for

institutional accreditation with representatives from higher education institutions, Directorate General of Higher Education (DHE), Higher Education Department, Cambodia Higher Education Association, World Bank and UNESCO representatives and other relevant stakeholders;

• Decision on the official implementation of the National Standards, January 26, 2015;

• Dissemination workshop on the implementation of the National Standards for Institutional Accreditation in March 13-14, 2015.

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2.4. Assessment Procedures

Continuous quality improvement

Focus on the output (student employability

Diagnostic assessment

2.4.1. Objectives

Evidence-Standards-Based Approach

Consultation with assessed HEIs on assessment report before submitting to ACC Committee

Assessment report is publicized

Grievance mechanism

2.4.2. Methods

Compulsory

Both private and public HEIs

Institutional

Main and Branch campuses are assessed separately

2.4.3. Scope

Full (5 years)

Provisional (3 years)

Candidacy (2 years)

2.4.4. Accreditation Status

2.5. Assessor Recruitment

• Decision on Assessor Recruitment Criteria, dated February 26, 2015;

• Public announcement of Assessor Recruitment; • Assessor training workshop led by Malaysian

Qualifications Agency (MQA) (7-9 May 2015).

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2.6. Comparison Cambodia QA system with QA Framework for Higher Education (AQAFHE)

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2.7. Comparison of Cambodian QA system with Three Approaches to Regionalisation-Interdependent Approaches (Jane Knight 2011)

zita/aqan/aqafhe 26

Structural Organizational

architecture Major actors-govt,

professional bodies, NGO, Networks, funders

Levels-global, inter-regional, regional, sub-

regional

Political (Declarations

Agreement/Convention/Treaties, Summits)

Functional -alignment of systems

(QA, credit systems, degree levels, recognition, academic

years, qualifications framework , ITC platform)and

collaborations programs (academic mobility,

institutional agreements, research collaborations, COEs,

pan-regional university

3. Challenges • Budget plan for conducting assessment and accreditation in

2015 has been canceled; • Qualitative-based and evidence-based assessment tools are

new concept for both HEIs and assessors; • There is a lack of trust on quality assurance system among

implementers and relevant stakeholders; • The assessment results have not been fully used in developing

policies by ministries, development partners and other institutions;

• The culture of quality assurance has not yet been embedded in the Cambodian higher education context;

• Lack of harmonization between ACC and DHE in terms of QA.

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4. Ways forwards in 2015 4.1. General work: • Prepare ACC internal regulations; • Continue to enhance capacity of assessors and ACC staff; • Organize field trainings for higher education institutions on

accreditation; • Embed the culture of quality in the mindset among relevant

stakeholders; • Establish the data-base system for storing accreditation results

and assessor profiles; • Develop and revise the guidelines and procedures for

institutional accreditation; • Recruit and train newly selected assessors (50 persons).

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4.2. Conducting assessment of 11 HEIs

• ACC will choose 6 public institutions and 5 private institutions for the diagnostic assessment;

• The purpose of the assessment with a view to identifying strengths and weaknesses of the assessed HEIs which can be used as internal policy development for improving the assessment and accreditation process and procedures a model for the other HEIs;

• The result of the assessment will not be rated as a pass-fail accreditation status;

• ACC technical staff and assessors will be employed in this assessment;

• The assessment has commenced in the semester 2 of 2015.

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Thank you very much for your attention!

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