post event report · about malaysian qualifications agency (mqa) mqa is malaysia’s independent...

Ministry of Higher Education

Higher Education Development Project (HEDP)

POST EVENT REPORT

Internship Programme

Malaysian Qualifications Agency (MQA)

September 26 – 30, 2016

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Table of Contents 1. INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................................................................... 3

About the Programme .............................................................................................................................. 3

About Malaysian Qualifications Agency (MQA) ........................................................................................ 4

2. INTERNSHIP PROGRAMME OBJECTIVE ................................................................................................. 4

3. VENUE, DATES AND PARTICIPANTS .......................................................................................................... 4

4. INTERNSHIP PROGRAMME ....................................................................................................................... 5

4.1 Session I: Malaysian Higher Education and Malaysian Qualifications Framework ............................. 5

4.2 Session II: Quality Framework – Processes and Procedures and Standard Documents ..................... 5

4.3 Session III: Quality Framework – Programme and Institutional Accreditation................................... 6

4.4 Session IV: QA Support Services and Current Development of QA in Malaysia ................................. 6

4.5 Session V: Audit Visit and Meeting with Quality Assurance Units of Universities .............................. 7

Group A – University of Technology Mara (UiTM) ................................................................................ 8

Group B – International Islamic College ............................................................................................... 8

Group C – Linton University College ..................................................................................................... 8

4.6 Session VI: Closing Session .................................................................................................................. 8

5. ANNEX ....................................................................................................................................................... 9

5.1. Event Agenda ..................................................................................................................................... 9

5.2. Conference Participants List from Afghanistan ............................................................................... 11

Email ................................................................................................................................................... 11

5.3. Session V: Photo Gallery .................................................................................................................. 12

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1. INTRODUCTION Quality assurance and accreditation (QAA) is a recent development in the Afghan academic landscape. The future development of the quality assurance and accreditation system needs to reflect international developments to help raise Afghan universities to international levels. Quality assurance can help improve many areas of the higher education sector, including the qualifications and training of faculty members, upgrading of curricula, and assisting institutions to prioritize their needs, and prepare strategic development plans to meet these needs. Accreditation constitutes an important system-wide component of the accountability framework needed as public universities become more autonomous, and also serves to regulate quality as the private higher education sector expands. The Higher Education Development Project (HEDP) supported by the World Bank has supported the Quality Assurance and Accreditation Directorate (QAAD) in the Ministry of Higher Education to obtain membership of an international accreditation network such as the Asia Pacific Quality Assurance Network (APQN). At the institutional level, several universities are in the process of developing Internal Quality Assurance Units (IQAUs) to establish a process of continuous quality improvement of teaching, learning and research in universities. The effort to improve the quality of teaching and learning at universities will furthermore benefit from the support of international and national peer reviewers through HEDP financing. External peer reviews of good quality is an important benchmark and feedback to improve the quality of teaching and learning. It has therefore been decided that External Quality Assurance (QA) reviews will be conducted in four public universities (Kabul, Kabul Polytechnic, Balkh and Kandahar) and four private higher education institutes (PHEIs) (Kateb, Kardan, Khatam-ul Nabeein, and American University of Afghanistan) during 2016. The key next actions are for the 4 public universities and 4 PHEIs to conclude their self-assessments by June 30th, 2016, and their full external reviews by September 30th, 2016. HEDP intends to recruit an external peer reviewer from outside of Afghanistan to participate with national peer reviewers and assist them in the external peer review of the universities. Ministry of Higher Education aims to strengthen as part of the capacity building and exposure process

About the Programme The internship is a programme where officials from related agencies undergo on-the-job training at the

Malaysian Qualifications Agency (MQA) over a certain duration. The internship facilitates the sharing of

best practices and experiences amongst peer quality assurance (QA) agencies and other higher education

organizations around the world. Generally the programme takes the following structure:

Day One:

Overview of Higher Education Quality Assurance System in Malaysia

Malaysian Qualifications Framework and evaluation for equivalency / Malaysian Qualifications

Register

Processes and Procedures Quality Framework (Accreditation Process and Institutional Audit)

Management Process

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Day Two:

Observation of Accreditation (Institutional and Programme Audit Exercise)

Day Three and Day Four:

Interaction session with experts, visit to higher education institutions and visit to related agencies

Networking Dinner

Day Five:

Closing Session

About Malaysian Qualifications Agency (MQA) MQA is Malaysia’s independent accreditation body established in November 2007. The main role of the

MQA is to implement the Malaysian Qualifications Framework (MQF) as a basis for quality assurance of

higher education and as the reference point for the criteria and standards for national qualifications.

The MQA is responsible for monitoring and overseeing the quality assurance practices and accreditation

of national higher education.

MQA is established with the vision to be a global authority on quality assurance of higher education and

the mission to put in place a system of quality assurance that is recognized internationally, the MQA is

set to chart new boundaries in higher education quality assurance.

For additional information, refer to MQA official website.

2. INTERNSHIP PROGRAMME OBJECTIVE The overall objective of the internship programme was to experience and explore quality assurance

procedures and processes through a mix of briefings on accreditation and audit visits to relevant higher

education institutions and related agencies. Specific objectives of this event are as follow:

a. Enhance interns understanding of the Quality Assurance (QA) concepts and system

b. Enhance interns understanding on standards setting processes and procedures (Standard

Documents) and how all key stakeholders are engaged and consulted during the process to ensure

quality of higher education providers

c. Enhance interns understanding on how the support services are designed and utilized to

complement the core QA processes

d. Enhance interns skills and knowledge in institutional and programme audit by observing the audit

sessions and interacting with higher education institutions quality assurance division experts

3. VENUE, DATES AND PARTICIPANTS The event took place in the training facility of Malaysian Qualifications Agency (MQA) located in Petaling

Jaya, a district of Selangor state, Malaysia.

The internship programme was a 5-day event and was held on 26th September to 30th September 2016.

13 Delegates from Afghanistan, 3 delegates from the Higher Education ministry of Thailand and 1 delegate

from Higher Education ministry of Japan participated in this event. External peer reviewers and internal

quality assurance unit directors from eight major Afghan public universities participated in this event.

http://mqa.gov.my/

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4. INTERNSHIP PROGRAMME The agenda for the five-day internship programme is given in Annex 5.1 (Event Agenda). During the first

x sessions of the programme, participants gained a high-level understanding of the overall quality

framework and Malaysian higher education. This understanding later contributed to better understand

the programme audit and institutional audit exercise.

This section of the report covers the flow of the event and described in sessions as follow:

4.1 Session I: Malaysian Higher Education and Malaysian Qualifications Framework During this session, the participants met with top officials of Malaysian Qualifications Agency (MQA) and

10-minute brief session was conducted related the programme and what are participants expected to

achieve after the successful completion of the programme.

A presentation was delivered on the

Malaysian Higher Education and

Quality Assurance System in Malaysian

Higher Education system. Mohammad

Dzafir Mustafa from Accreditation

division delivered the presentation and

covered the overall education and

training landscape. The presentation

briefly covered how the delivery of

higher education is maintained by

different government ministries such

as ministry of higher education,

ministry of education and ministry of

human resources and the prominent

role of MQA to accredit and assure

quality of these programmes. The overall governing system was highlighted during this session on laws,

regulations, policies, quality assurance system and recognition impact the process. Mr. Mustafa also

briefly talked on Malaysian Qualifications Agency, Malaysian Qualifications Framework and their

prominent role on accreditation and quality assurance process.

Following the first presentation, the former Chief Executive Officer of MQA, Professor Zita Mohammad

Fahmi presented the Malaysian Qualifications Framework (MQF). How the framework was developed

and how it assists in managing and maintain the quality of higher education in Malaysia. An interactive

session started following her presentation and the participants asked a series of questions.

4.2 Session II: Quality Framework – Processes and Procedures and Standard Documents The presentation was delivered by MQA’s Standards Division and briefly covered the standard quality

assurance documents (MQF, Code of Practice, Programme Standards and Guidelines to Good Practices),

processes and procedures of standards settings, partnerships with other relevant organizations and

accreditation of prior and experiential learning. During the presentation, the general process of quality

framework and the role of the standard documents was covered and how the nine areas (criterions) of

Malaysian quality assurance are measured when it comes to institutional accreditation. Following the

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first presentation, another presentation was delivered by Mazlinawati Mohamed from MQA Standards

Division on Accreditation of Prior and Experiential Learning (APEL).

4.3 Session III: Quality Framework – Programme and Institutional Accreditation During this session, two presentations were conducted by Ainil Nilam Mohamed Mokhtar from MQA

Accreditation division on programme accreditation and institutional accreditation. During the first

presentation, she briefly covered the accreditation cycle, documents processing, core stages of

programme accreditation (provisional accreditation, full accreditation and maintenance), role of

assessors (external peer reviewers) and complete scheme of accreditation.

During the second session, the overall process of institutional audit and accreditation was covered. Mrs.

Mokhtar briefly presented the standard documents (Code of Practice for Institutional Audio – COPIA),

the current audit exercise in Malaysian Higher Education, nine areas of evaluation and overall flow of

institutional audit exercise. The knowledge shared in this session was helpful during audit visits to

different higher education institutions during the event.

4.4 Session IV: QA Support Services and Current Development of QA in Malaysia This session had two parts, a series of presentations by MQA officials regarding the document

registration and record management, management of assessors (external peer reviewers), processes

and procedures of qualifications evaluation for equivalency and Malaysian Qualifications Register

(MQR). In the second part of the session, the participants attended a launching and briefing event on

implementation of Accreditation Prior Experiential Learning Award For The Purpose of Credit (APEL[C])

and Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs).

As part of the Quality Assurance Support Services, MQA Coordination and Quality Assurance Reference

Division provides the required support in the area of documentation and information management. The

first presentation was on Registration and Record Management by Ms. Asnita Isam. During presentation

she briefly covered the overall process of MQA’s record management and registration system to receive

and screen applications for accreditation from higher education institutions and track the overall

progress of the application.

The second presentation was conducted by Ms. Siti Nurafiza on the management of assessors. During

the presentation she briefly covered on how the pool of assessors are managed and how MQA registers

and recruits new assessors. MQA utilizes an electronic portal to manage and track their assessors and

activities. A short demonstration of their online portal was given during the workshop.

The third presentation by Ms. Siti Mariam Daud, covered the overall process and procedures of

qualification’s evaluation for equivalency. Individuals may apply to MQA for an evaluation of a

qualification of a higher education institution or programme conducted inside or outside Malaysia.

During the presentation, Ms. Daud outlined the overall process and how the evaluation is conducted to

evaluate the qualifications.

The last presentation briefly covered Malaysian Qualifications Register (MQR). MQR is MQA’s online

registry where all MQA-accredited institutions and programmes are registered and it is publically

accessible. Basically MQR serves as a reference point for accredited programmes awarded by higher

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education providers and during the presentation most of MQR features were covered and how the

system works. MQR has 10,892 registered and accredited programmes/qualifications.

On 27 September 2016, the Minister of Higher Education of Malaysia – Dato’ Seri Idris Jusoh launched

Implementation of Accreditation of Prior Experiential Learning Award For the Purpose of Credit

[APEL(C)] and Credit Transfer of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs). More than 500 people

participated in the even including the internship programme delegates. The event was organized in

Hilton hotel located in Petaling Jaya. The minister briefly explained the new framework and highlighted

its importance to enhancing the quality of higher education in Malaysia. Following the minister’s

inauguration of the programme, two different presentations were delivered by the officials from

Ministry of Higher Education and UKM (University). During the event, the minister met with delegates

from Afghanistan, Thailand and Japan.

4.5 Session V: Audit Visit and Meeting with Quality Assurance Units of Universities On the third day of the internship programme, the participants were divided into three groups to visit

three different higher education institutions to observe the accreditation process conducted by MQA

and assessors. Each group visited a different university and the university were International Islamic

College, University of Technology Mara (UiTM) and Linton University College. The following table

outlines the groups and participants in each group.

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Group A – University of Technology Mara (UiTM) # Participant Name Country

1 Mohammad Fazel Wasit Afghanistan

2 Dr. Mahbob Shah Sultani Afghanistan

3 Mujtaba Manavi Afghanistan

4 Dr. Abdul Manan Paigham Afghanistan

5 Sininard Wangdee Thailand

Group B – International Islamic College # Participant Name Country

1 Bahadur Hellali Afghanistan

2 Mohammad Zaher Fahmi Afghanistan

3 Dr. Abdul Wahed Wasiq Afghanistan

4 Khal Mohammad Ahmadzai Afghanistan

5 Shamsurahman Adel Afghanistan

6 Supparang Intoon Thailand

Group C – Linton University College # Participant Name Country

1 Abdul Jalil Kahdistani Afghanistan

2 Habibullah Slimanzi Afghanistan

3 Ikuko Watanabe Japan

4 Dr. Ahmad Khalid Aalemi Afghanistan

5 Said Mujtaba Sadat Afghanistan

6 Phshima Pinyosinwat Thailand

The process was an actual audit conduct by the assessors and MQA staff and it was an interesting

experience and exposure for the participants. The participants attended the day-long visit and observed

each activity led by the assessment team.

On the fourth day of the internship programme, the participants visited two universities and met with

internal quality assurance department of each university. The participants visited Taylor’s University and

University of Technology Mara (UiTM). Taylor’s University is ranked as the number one private

university of Malaysia and UiTM is Malaysia’s largest public university with more than 165,500 student

body. Each university’s quality assurance department delivered a presentation outlining their process

and how do they maintain and conduct internal quality assurance and advancement activities.

Activity photos are shared in Annex 5.3 of this report.

4.6 Session VI: Closing Session On the last day of the internship programme, a representative from each country’s delegation was

asked to deliver a presentation. The presentation shall cover that respective country’s quality assurance

system and what have they learned from the programme. Dr. Abdul Wahed Wasiq delivered the

presentation on behalf of Afghanistan team. The programme was concluded by distributing the

completion certificates to each participant.

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5. ANNEX

5.1. Event Agenda

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5.2. Conference Participants List from Afghanistan External Peer Reviewers List (Introduced by the Universities)

# Name University Phone Email

1 Dr. Mahbob Shah Sultani

Herat University

0728596511 [email protected]

2 Shamsurahman Adel

Nangarhar University


3 Said Mujtaba Sadat

Balkh University


4 Mohammad Zahir Fahimi

Education University Kabul


5 Khal Muhamad Ahmadzai

Kabul University


6 Mujtaba Manawy Kandahar University


7 Dr. Abdul Manan Paigham

Kabul Medical University


8 Habibullah Slimanzi

Shaikh Zahid University


IQEU Lead

# Name University Email

1 Abdul Jalil Kadastani Kabul Education [email protected]

2 Dr. Ahmad Khalid Aalemi Kabul Medical University [email protected]

3 Abdul Wahed Wasiq Kandahar University [email protected]

4 Mohammad Fazel Wasit Kabul University [email protected]

HEDP Representative

# Name University Email

1 Bahadur Hellali Education and Technology

Manager

[email protected]

mailto:[email protected]










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5.3. Session V Photo Gallery

Audit in Linton University College

Audit and Observation in UiTM

Audit visit in International Islamic College

Class observation in International Islamic College

Audit visit in UiTM

Meeting with UiTM Quality Assurance Department Manager