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QAOK
Topics
Student Engagement / Academic Leadership / Institutional Governance And Management
Recognising teaching excellence and student achievements
An institution sets up awards to recognise excellence in teaching and outstanding student performance.
Purpose
The purpose of this practice is to encourage staff and students to pursue excellence. Awards can be an incentive to motivate staff and students to perform at high levels and recognise achievements of staff and students. An established awarding scheme can keep staff and students motivated to contribute to the continuous improvement of teaching and academic performance.
Outcome
The outcome of employing this practice is increased awareness of excellence in teaching and learning as well as student performance which promotes mutual learning among staff and among students.
27 Apr 2017
Academic Leadership / Institutional Governance And Management
Self-managed improvement for effective staff development
Individual teaching staff are encouraged to engage in self-managed improvement with reference to multiple sources of feedback.
Purpose
The purpose of this practice is to promote effective staff development. A multifaceted evaluation of staff performance helps individual staff to identify areas of improvement. In addition to institute-wide review of staff performance, teaching staff can devise their own self-managed plans in a more responsive manner that are most relevant to their professional development. This practice enables teaching staff to get into a habit of self-reflection and encourages them to take ownership of their self-managed improvement plans, resulting in more commitment to achieving the development goals.
OutcomeThe outcome of this practice is effective professional development. Self-managed development plans complement the institutional staff development plan. As individual teaching staff advance through different career stages, self-managed development plans can be adjusted to best address their development needs.
27 Apr 2017
Institutional Governance And Management
Good practice classified under: Institutional Governance and Management
Good practice classified under: Institutional Governance and Management
Sharing of good practices to foster a quality culture
Sharing of good practices at regular staff internal meetings or staff forums helps foster a quality culture within the institution.
Purpose
The purpose of this practice is to shape the values and attitudes of staff towards quality assurance. The good practice shared by one department may be adopted by other departments to improve their quality standards. The sharing may also inspire other departments to review and refine their own practices. Conducting regular sharing sessions promotes mutual learning among departments and motivates staff to pursue continuous improvement.
Outcome
The outcome of employing the practice is to establish an organisational norm of sharing good practices leading to the development of a quality culture within the institution over time.
07 Apr 2017
Institutional Governance And Management
Managing risk for sustainability
Risk management forms an essential and integral part of the strategic planning of an institution.
Purpose
The purpose of this practice is to mitigate potential risks to an institution. The institution assesses risks and formulates effective measures to deal with them. The governing body is responsible for maintaining a risk register that ensures appropriate steps are taken to manage and mitigate risks. Detailed scrutiny of risks could be undertaken by a sub-committee, such as an audit and risk committee. Management needs to ensure that the governing body is fully apprised of any risks to which the institution may be subject to, and will take shared ownership in managing such risks.
Outcome
The outcome of employing this practice is the strengthening of the stability and sustainability of the institution. The practice informs decision-making, avoids threats and undesirable consequences, and increases the chances of achieving strategic goals.
07 Apr 2017
Academic Leadership / Institutional Governance And Management
Establishing external relationships for improving standards
An academic leader evaluates qualifications awarded by the institution by making reference to the relevant standards adopted/promulgated by other higher education institutions, research institutes, professional bodies and government departments through initiating, developing and maintaining relationships with the aforesaid parties
Purpose
The purpose of this practice is to improve the academic standards and currency of the learning programmes. By establishing positive working relationships with other institutions and relevant parties, an institution collects inputs from them and keeps itself abreast of the latest developments and standards in the field.
Outcome
The outcome of employing this practice is having regular inputs for improving academic standards through established relationships with other institutions.
17 Mar 2017
Institutional Governance And Management
Utilising data to drive improvement
Data collected during quality assurance processes to assure standards are used for quality enhancement purposes.
Purpose
The purpose of this practice is to encourage quality enhancement. The volume and complexity of the data collected from various sources may hinder staff comprehension and utilisation for enhancement. Large data sets can be broken down and analysed to address the specific needs of particular academic units and presented in a user-friendly fashion. Such data will help staff identify and understand particular problems and formulate improvement measures.
Outcome
The outcome of the practice is enabling continuous improvement through repackaging the data collected during quality assurance processes on a regular basis for. Actions taken in response to the data collected will be conveyed to the stakeholders. Such an arrangement strengthens mutual communication that provides the basis for mutual trust and supports regular data collection from the stakeholders.
17 Mar 2017