ASSESSMENT OF THE IMPLEMENTATION OF HIGHER EDUCATION QUALITY ASSURANCE GUIDELINES IN PUBLIC UNIVERSITIES IN ETHIOPIA

Abstract

The objective of this study was to assess the implementation of the quality assurance guidelines of the Higher Education Relevance and Quality Agency (HERQA) in public universities in Ethiopia. The study focused on four areas of the HERQA quality assurance guidelines namely quality of academic staff; quality of teaching, learning and assessment; quality of infrastructure and learning resources; and management of the resources. Empirical studies in Ethiopia constantly showed that the number of higher institutions was increasing from time to time in the nation, while the quality of graduates, their performances in the work place and their creativity were going down. Limited studies have been carried out to assess the extent the quality assurance guidelines of HERQA were being implemented in these rapidly expanding higher institutions particularly in public universities. This research assesses the implementation of Quality Assurance guidelines to ensure quality education in public universities in Ethiopia. Both descriptive survey design and naturalistic design were used. Out of 21 public universities, 6 of them were selected using multi-stage random sampling method to carry out the study. Both probability and non-probability sampling procedures were used to select the respondents. Both quantitative and qualitative methods were employed for collection and analysis of data. The study included 81 lecturers and 367 students who responded to the questionnaires. Interview guide was also administered to 6 public university presidents, 12 Quality Auditors and 1 director general of HERQA. Moreover, documents such as past exam papers, quality audit reports, and assessment reports among others were analyzed. Quantitative analytical method was used for analyzing the data obtained through the questionnaires while those data obtained though interview, open ended questions and document analysis were analyzed by qualitative method. Subsequently, coding using SPSS (Statistical Package for Social science) Version 16 for windows, classification and grouping of data according to the research questions were done. Descriptive statistics such as percentages and frequency distributions were used to summarize data. The data from interview guide were transcribed. Responses from different participants and data which were obtained from different documents were compared and trends and patterns in the responses were established. Narratives, direct quotations, interpretive reports as well as excerpts were written down to depict the situation as it was on the ground. Finally, conclusion and recommendations were derived from the finding of the study based on the data collected. The findings of this study showed that there were no enough qualified lecturers, adequate libraries and laboratories for effective teaching and learning process in Ethiopian public universities. It also revealed that poor method of teaching and assessment of students in higher institutions were used. Moreover, the researcher found out that there was no good management system of the scarce resources. From the findings of the study, the researcher recommended that there should be clear policies to train more lecturers. HERQA should arrange more workshops and seminars for public university lecturers to help them improve their methods of teaching and assessment. In addition to this, there should be maximum utilization of the available resources.