INED Accreditation and Audit Workshop

The National Institute for Distance Education (INED) in Mozambique recently asked Saide to run a quality assurance workshop for them. Ephraim Mhlanga co-ordinated the process and provides the following account.

Introduction
The National Institute for Distance Education (INED) is a public regulatory and coordinating institution of distance education in Mozambique.  Amongst other roles, INED’s mandate is to create and develop a System of Accreditation and Quality Assurance for Distance Education under the National Education System (NES) in the country. The role of INED is unique in that it is the regulator of all distance education provision in the country.

Capacity development in QA
In order to execute its quality assurance function effectively, INED has been undertaking capacity development initiatives for both its staff and representatives from distance education providing institutions in the country.  Saide has played a significant role in supporting the agency’s capacity development efforts. In 2010 and 2011, we facilitated workshops on distance education provision and developing credible quality assurance systems for distance education and e-learning respectively. Subsequent to these workshops, INED developed a set of comprehensive quality standards for the accreditation of distance education programmes and auditing of distance education institutions. The agency also developed relevant guidelines for accreditation and audits as a way of preparing for these critical quality assurance processes. Since this was the first time the regulatory agency and distance education providers in the country were going to go through accreditation processes, Saide was asked to facilitate a workshop to familiarize participants with audit and accreditation processes.

The specific objectives of the workshop were to:

• Familiarise INED and selected providers with how to conduct site visits and programme accreditation (self-evaluation, collecting evidence and compiling reports)
• Help participants analyze the programme review instrument to be used for evaluating programmes with a view to enhancing further improvement of the instrument and understanding of the quality standards.
• Induct INED staff to use the instrument in a way that promotes quality in distance education in Mozambique.
• Help INED identify sustainable methodologies for accrediting distance education institutions and programmes.

In order to make the workshop more effective, Saide identified two evaluators from the Council on Higher Education (CHE) South Africa with wide experience on how audits and accreditation processes are conducted at national level, and how the processes are managed. These two evaluators, together with Saide's quality assurance education specialist facilitated the four-day workshop in Maputo. Sharing the South African experience, from a practical point of view with colleagues in Mozambique was well-received by workshop participants.

• Purpose of institutional audits,
• The scope of institutional audits and possible outcomes;
• How to prepare for an audit;
• What constitutes evidence?
• Identifying lines of enquiry from the quality criteria;
• The role of the panel chair; and
• How to formulate an improvement plan.

More detail on the purpose, scope and how to prepare for audits is available here.

• System is based on dimensions (areas for evaluation) against which standards (criteria) have been set.
• Dimension indicators are the elements that should be present to demonstrate that the standard has been met.
• Evidence refers to the sort of measurables or tangibles that an institution would need to have in place in order to demonstrate meeting the standard.
• The INED quality standard system is a weighted one where a rating scale of 0 – 20 is used and each standard in each dimension (indicator) has a weighting relative to the total.

An important principle she mentioned in relation to defining quality standards, indicators and evidence is that these aspects of the instrument occur in a hierarchy, as illustrated in Fig.1 below:

By way of elaboration, Dr Coughlan explained that:

• A dimension is a broad area such as student support or programme design or student assessment;
• A standard describes the broad area “good student support” – it sets the minimum of what needs to be in place for student support to be of good quality;
• A performance indicator gives an indication of how you will know good student support is in place; and
• Evidence is where you will find what you are looking for – what shows the existence of something.

It is this hierarchy that should provide guidance in defining appropriate quality standards and indicators. This analytical approach of the INED instrument was very useful in giving the agency a tool for reviewing their instrument with a view to improving it.

Accreditation Process
Dr Coughlan also explained the INED processes involved in programme accreditation:

• Institution submits an assessment of themselves and the programme against the criteria. It is important that a programme should be understood within the context of an institution;
• The report is screened for completeness at INED and a preliminary analysis is done by the Accreditation Committee at INED;
• Peer evaluation is undertaken;
• Recommendations are made to the Accreditation Committee;
• The Accreditation Commitee holds a meeting where the evaluator’s report is presented;
• The Directorate gives its recommendation based on the report;
• The Committee makes a decision;
• The decison is communicated to the institution.

She also informed participants of the possible outcomes of the accreditation process, namely that accreditation can be granted with no conditions, provisional accreditation can be granted with conditions, or accreditation can be completely denied.

Benefits of the workshop
Analysis of the partcipants’ responses showed that all the participants who completed the questionnaire indicated that they found the workshop highly beneficial. Other issues they would have liked to have seen covered during the workshop include elaboration of how examinations and student support should be handled at institutional level where centres are dispersed, and what criteria should be used to evaluate potential partnerships with other providers.

Conclusion
There was much to cover in the four days and as a result the participants were not involved in hands-on practical activities for undertaking audit and accreditation processes. Therefore, ongoing targeted induction workshops were recommended, which could be facilitated by INED staff alone or working in cooperation with an outside expert. It is important for the processes to be done objectively and professionally right from the beginning in order to gain the support and confidence of institutions.