Published on
March 30, 2010

 
   
   
Back to DU Home page

Arabic
 

Congratulations to Dhofar University for being the First University in the Sultanate to Complete the Quality Audit Process Required by the Oman Accreditation Council

 

HE Sheikh Mustaheel Bin Ahmad Al Mashani

Oman Accreditation Council Publishes the Quality Audit Report for Dhofar University:

Commendations for its successful affiliation with AUB, positive implementation of a new Center for Teaching and Learning, research support, community relations, peer-assisted learning system and staff induction process

The Oman Accreditation Council (OAC) publishes today the Quality Audit Report for Dhofar University (DU). Quality Audit is the first stage in Oman’s two-stage institutional accreditation process, which provides a level of assurance to the public about the quality of DU’s activities and systems. It offers constructive feedback to DU to assist with its ongoing improvement efforts.  The Report represents the end of the quality audit process which started in 2007 with DU’s self study.

Self-Study

The self study was spearheaded by DU’s Quality Assurance Board which was chaired by the Vice Chancellor. Eight committees from faculty and staff were formed to carry out the study. The total number of faculty and staff members who participated was 85 and 30, respectively.  This represented a majority of the faculty and a substantial percentage of the staff holding college degrees. The committees examined in detail the following eight broad areas of activity at DU: governance and management, general support services & facilities, student course work, student learning by research, staff research and consultancy, academic support services, staff and staff support services, industry and community engagement, and students and student support services.  The study used a variety of methods to collect data including surveys of over 1000 respondents belonging to five groups: students, alumni, faculty, non-academic staff, members of the local community and industry, and employers from different companies. The results of the self-study were summarized in the Quality Audit Portfolio of Dhofar University, which was submitted to the OAC in December 2008.

Audit Visit and Report

In mid April 2009, an OAC panel of external reviewers visited DU for three days.  The panel spoke with some 125 people, including DU administration, members of the Board of Trustees and the Board of Directors, representatives of the American University of Beirut (AUB) which offers technical support to DU, faculty, staff, students and external stakeholders. The panel also visited selected campus facilities and examined a large number of documents such as bylaws and course files. On March 30, 2010, the OAC published the Quality Audit Report (the Report) for DU.

The Report is a critical review of DU’s Quality Audit Portfolio and a verification of its accuracy in describing and evaluating DU’s mission, vision and systems. “The Report contains a summary of the Panel’s findings, together with formal commendations where good practices have been confirmed, affirmations where DU’s ongoing quality improvement efforts merit support, and recommendations where there are significant opportunities or improvement not yet being adequately addressed. The Report provides a balanced set of observations, but does not comment on every system in place at DU” (p. 4).  In addition, the text of the Report includes complimentary remarks.

According to the OAC, “Quality Audit does not result in a pass or fail; nor does it provide any sort of grade or score. It should also be noted that the precise number of Commendations, Affirmations and Recommendations that an institution receives in its Audit Report is not as important as the substance of those conclusions. For example, some Recommendations may focus on critical issues such as assessment of student learning, whereas others may focus on issues such as the maintenance of teaching equipment in classrooms which, while important, is clearly less critical. Therefore, it is neither significant nor appropriate to compare the Audit Reports of different Higher Education Institutions solely on the numbers of Commendations, Affirmations and Recommendations.” (p. 5)

Compliments:

The text of the Report included the following complimentary remarks:

1. The Panel noted that considerable time and effort on the part of faculty and staff had gone into understanding and applying the principles of the ADRI approach in each of the areas in the scope of the audit and was impressed with the overall quality of the Portfolio (p.6).

2. The Panel noted how updated course descriptions are presented in the annually produced DU Catalogue which in the Panel’s view is a high quality, comprehensive document (p. 18).

Furthermore, the Panel noted that the new campus, which is currently under construction, will have a potentially significant impact on DU’s achievement of strategic objectives and activities in the future (p. 7).

Commendations

Commendations affirm good practices observed at DU.

The Oman Accreditation Council commended Dhofar University for:

1. Setting up a successful affiliation with the American University of Beirut which has provided a solid foundation for its quality assurance activities (p.13)

2. The establishment of the Centre for Teaching and Learning and its positive implementation (p. 20)

3. Supporting faculty to achieve research outcomes in line with its Strategic Plan through the provision of a variety of funding mechanisms (p. 26)

4. Its initial efforts and success in building a strong foundation of community relations through multiple projects at different levels, and with a good range of targeted audiences aimed at serving the community at large (p. 29)

5. Establishing a well regarded peer assisted learning system to support students and improve their academic performance (p. 32)

6. Its comprehensive and well-received staff induction process.

Affirmations

A formal affirmation recognizes an instance in which DU accurately identified a significant opportunity for improvement and has demonstrated appropriate commitment to addressing the matter.

The Oman Accreditation Council supported Dhofar University’s efforts to:

1. Run campaigns to heighten awareness of its mission, mission statements and core values across the University community

2. Develop operational plans linked to its Strategic Plan with key performance indicators and communicate these effectively to all faculty and staff

3. Create an Advisory Board in order to involve external stakeholders in the curriculum development and review processes  

4. Develop an appropriate standard template for course syllabi to be used university-wide

5. Ensure that entry standards to the academic programs at both undergraduate and graduate level are appropriate and rigorously applied, particularly with regard to English language levels 

6. Align its Foundation program with Oman’s National General Foundation Program Standards

7. Implement a consistent approach to effectively deal with plagiarism and to support students in developing academic integrity   

8. Maximize the extent and benefits of the student placement system   

9. Strengthen the monitoring of student progression and completion rates and to use this information to identify and support ‘at risk’ students

10. Efforts to strengthen its association with its alumni through improved data collection and the establishment of an alumni organization

11. To improve and upgrade its information and learning technology services to support its strategic goals  

12. Build a new campus to support its mission and vision   

13. Establish a preventative maintenance system throughout the campus

Several of those affirmations have already been responded to notably: entry standards particularly with regard to English, alignment of FP curriculum with OAC academic standards for foundation programs, relations with alumni, and building the new campus.

Recommendations

Recommendations refer to significant opportunities or improvement not yet being adequately addressed by DU.

A couple of recommendations relate to the affiliation agreement with the American University of Beirut which expires in June 2010. The Panel was concerned about the risks involved when this agreement expires and recommended that Dhofar University urgently develop a comprehensive management plan which considers all strategic and operational risks associated with this transition.

At the time of the visit, the agreement with AUB was being revised and in August 2009, a new 5-year agreement was signed about a year before the expiration of the current agreement. Other recommendations that relate to deficiencies in the current rented facilities will be implemented once the university moves to the new campus.

More generally, the Quality Assurance Board has been recomposed in February 2010 as an entity independent from the University Council, manned with more human and physical resources to carry out its mission. Among its members are the quality assurance manager in charge of quality assurance in non-academic departments, a risk management officer, and the director for the Center of Teaching and Learning. The Board is currently focusing on implementing the recommendations and affirmations of the quality audit report.

 
 

Disclaimer: The Computing staff claims no responsibility for the content of this story. Please contact the Office of Information and Public Relations for any questions or comments.