Quality Enhancement Policy of Higher Education and Its Impact on Universities
CHAPTER – 1
INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND
1.1 - Introduction and Background
The Government of Pakistan established Higher Education Commission (HEC) in 2002 to facilitate growth of indigenous universities of Pakistan to become centers of quality of education and research and development. Though this process, HEC aims to play its role in building of knowledge-based economy in Pakistan. In order to achieve this goal, HEC has undertaken a systematic plan of implementation that is 5year Medium Term Development Framework (MTDF). The main aim of HEC was to focus on quality and relevance (HEC, 2010). The core strategic areas of MTDF are:
1- Faculty development
2- Improving enrollment
3- Quality in learning and research
4- Importance to national plan
These plans are supported by well-integrated crosscutting themes for developing leadership, governance and management, enhancing quality assessment and accreditation, and physical and technological infrastructure development, (Batool, 2010).
HEC introduces quality enhancement cell in universities for maintaining and improving the academic quality in the country by establishing that criteria are being met and educational activities are also in an agreement with the plans of the commission. According to international practices and development, HEC improves plans in order to more improve the standards. HEC intends to achieve excellence in the higher education and by taking major initiatives to develop the performance of universities and started up with the primary step of outlining the performance evaluation standards for the universities. For this, numbers of documents are defined, every document of these articulates a detailed element of the institutional quality. Therefor these documents are equally important for achieving the desired certifications to quality enhancement in higher education (Batool, 2010).
Self-Assessment is an essential element in completing the HEC recognition. The
INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND
1.1 - Introduction and Background
The Government of Pakistan established Higher Education Commission (HEC) in 2002 to facilitate growth of indigenous universities of Pakistan to become centers of quality of education and research and development. Though this process, HEC aims to play its role in building of knowledge-based economy in Pakistan. In order to achieve this goal, HEC has undertaken a systematic plan of implementation that is 5year Medium Term Development Framework (MTDF). The main aim of HEC was to focus on quality and relevance (HEC, 2010). The core strategic areas of MTDF are:
1- Faculty development
2- Improving enrollment
3- Quality in learning and research
4- Importance to national plan
These plans are supported by well-integrated crosscutting themes for developing leadership, governance and management, enhancing quality assessment and accreditation, and physical and technological infrastructure development, (Batool, 2010).
HEC introduces quality enhancement cell in universities for maintaining and improving the academic quality in the country by establishing that criteria are being met and educational activities are also in an agreement with the plans of the commission. According to international practices and development, HEC improves plans in order to more improve the standards. HEC intends to achieve excellence in the higher education and by taking major initiatives to develop the performance of universities and started up with the primary step of outlining the performance evaluation standards for the universities. For this, numbers of documents are defined, every document of these articulates a detailed element of the institutional quality. Therefor these documents are equally important for achieving the desired certifications to quality enhancement in higher education (Batool, 2010).
Self-Assessment is an essential element in completing the HEC recognition. The