Developing Higher Educational Institutions

Quotes for reflection

"Education is not something which can be learned,
 it is something you can acquire."   -Swedish Proverb

Quality Enhancement in Autonomous Colleges

Concept of quality

·         Quality is often considered to be a standard or norm with which to compare two similar things in order to assess the worth of the thing compared.

·         Quality is ‘the degree of excellence of a thing or superiority in kind’(webster’s dictionary)

·         Quality is ‘a grade of goodness’ or excellence (how good) (oxford dictionary)

Meaning of quality

·         Quality means ‘Conformance to specifications’ or ‘Fitness for use’ or Consumer satisfaction

·         Quality= fitness-for purpose (FFP)

3- dimensions  of quality

•         Product quality ----Process quality ------Organization quality----àTotal quality

   Total quality control, TQC –

·         Quality is no accident

·         Quality is not an act, it is a habit

·         Quality must be planned

·         Quality generally signifies the degree of excellence.

Quality management practice in Higher education (Becket and Brookes,2008; Green 1994)

      :·        Quality as exceptional (highest) standards.

       ·         Quality as conformance to standards.

       ·         Quality as fitness for purpose.

       ·         Quality as effectiveness in achieving institutional goals.

       ·         Quality as meeting customer’s stated or implied needs.

 5-developmental stages of quality management in HEIs (Expert group  HBO 2006)

              1.    Activity – oriented-individual responsibility for quality.

              2.    Process- oriented.

              3.    System – oriented

              4.    Chain – oriented.

              5.    Total quality management – oriented.

Why worry about Quality in higher educational institutions ?

·         Competition-for students, funds, survival.
Customer satisfaction (students, parents, sponsoring agencies)
Getting value for their money &time spent.
Employable skill- sets.
Satisfy needs of the labor market.
Maintaining standards-improvement in the quality of the educational transactions, educational provisions and facilities.
Accountability of funds utilized.
Improve employee morale and motivation-
High morale and motivation of staff in performing their duties and responsibilities.
Credibility, prestige and status-(brand value)-credibility of individuals & institution.
Image and visibility- capacity to attract better stakeholder support.

Characteristics of a quality curriculum (National research council,1999)

·         Curriculum is attached to the lives and cultures of learners.

·         It attracts students.

·         It guides students in making sense of their worlds.

·         It helps students organize and retain the important ideas & skills in a discipline.

·         It moves beyond information to thought  and to thinking.

·         It actively involves students as doers and problem solvers.

·         It helps students to demonstrate the efficacy of the ideas and skills.

·         Students like to learn those things recognized  by experts ,community adults and the society.

5-Quality prerequisites of HEIs

1.    Quality  syllabus

2.    Quality  faculty

3.    Quality teaching and evaluation

4.    Quality research

5.    Quality of character and outlook of faculty / students.

Quality syllabus

·         Regular up-gradation,

·         advanced theoretical /expt. thrust,

·         credibility of content,

·         inter disciplinary orientation,

·         sensitive to change,

·         relevance to self/society

Quality faculty

·         Computer-literate.

·         Literacy in teaching tools and techniques.

·         Sound  knowledge in the subject.

·         Personality characteristics

·         Academic / research eminence.

Quality teaching

·         Teacher-student ratio,

·         Various  modes of teaching

·         Learner  centered approach

·         Interactive and participatory character of  teaching

·         Innovative teaching methods

·         Regularity of classes

·         Student attendance

Quality  evaluation

·         Evaluation with objectivity, impartiality, transparency

·         Continuous internal assessment, CIA-formative

·         Semester-end-examination, SEE – summative; CIA: Semester exam weightage= 50;50 or 40;60

·         External valuation-central, double, moderation /adjustment of pass/fail ratio, re-valuation, re-totaling

·         Question paper pattern-3 components-short answer, medium answer, long answer type questions

Quality research

·          Quality of     Infrastructure

·         Quality of research publications-citations

·         Quality of research guidance and projects

Quality of character and outlook of faculty / students

·      Imparting value education
    Cultural connectivity of educational process.

TQM ensures  5-core values

1.    Institutional development

2.    Educational system development

3.    Student development

4.    Community development

5.    Locality development

Curriculum planning in autonomous colleges

What is curriculum ?
Curriculum is defined as all the experiences provided by the institution which are designed to foster student learning. The short  definition of curriculum is"What you teach to students".Curriculum is a plan or blue print which includes a set of goals, objectives and topics with developed content. The word curriculum is derived from Latin word currere meaning 'to run'.In United States of America, curriculum means the course of study or programme of study or plan for learning. A syllabus describes the content of a study programme. A syllabus is uni-dimensional because it merely presents the content or subject matter to be studied by a learner. But a curriculum is three dimensional because it takes into account the needs of the learner,the content and the instructional methodology.

Concept of curriculum :
Curriculum is a body of subjects or subject matter prepared by the teachers for the students to learn. It refers to the total learning experiences of the learner.The concept of curriculum is as dynamic as the changes that occur in a society.

3 - basic orientations to curriculum :

1. Transmissive - information to be  transmitted from teacher to students.
2. Tansactive - what should be learned?
3. Transformative - the content and methods that are truly empowering for the students. 

7 - common concepts of curriculum :

1. Scope and sequence
2. Syllabus
3. Content outline - discipline based knowledge and skills.
4. Achievement standards
5. Text books
6. Course of study
7. Planned experiences.

4 - phases of curriculum process

Design phase --->Development phase--->Implementation phase--->Evaluation phase

          <--------Feedback Loops------------------------------------------------------->

Dualistic Model

Curriculum  -------------> What is taught?

Instruction --------------->How it's taught?

Curriculum and instruction are mutually interdependent.

2 - approaches to curriculum planning : 

1. Academic approach
2. Competency based approach

7 - steps of Curriculum development

1. Diagnosis of learner needs
2. Formulation of learning objectives
3. Selection of leaning content
4. Organization of learning content
5. Selection of learning experiences
6. Organization of learning experiences
7. Determination of what to evaluate and means of doing it  (Taba,1962). 

Suggestions of Gorden Cawett (1990) of Association of supervision and curricular development (ASCD) in 'principles to guide course planning'

1. offer balanced core of learning in each course.
2. include in-depth study of a limited number of important topics.
3. Design course outcomes to focus on results.
4. Design inbuilt possibilities for assessment of originality, insightfulness and problem solving.
5. Design courses to encourage active involvement.