STANDARD 2. QUALITY ASSURANCE

Institutional Effectiveness and Quality Assurance Manual (IEQA)

The IEQA manual elaborates all the Institutional Effectiveness and quality assurance policies, procedures, and activities that reflect their integration as a continuous monitoring system, assessment, and improvements. The manual specifies the IEQA activities at the Institutional and Unit level and the Procedures and instruments used. The IEQA manual also outlines the timetable and schedule of IEQA activities that shall be conducted during the academic year under the Institutional Effective Unit’s supervision.

Institutional Effectiveness Control System

The Institutional Effectiveness Unit (IEU) identifies, designs, and implements processes to assess the Vision and Mission statement’s accomplishment. The IEU is responsible for the systematic process of collecting, analyzing, and disseminating data and information related to Institutional goals. Thus, the IEU is oriented towards measuring results and using those results to determine improvements and decision-making.

The Strategic Planning at ADUC (ALDAR University College) is based on a fulfilling Vision statement and Mission statement.

Planning is a key process in which the IEU leads ADUC from where it is now to where and how it would like to be in the future, as reflected in the Vision and Mission statements.

The planning process takes place at the Management, Schools, and administrative units’ levels.

The planning involves:

1. Identifying goals and objectives to be achieved at the institutional and unit levels, based on information and data collected at various departments.
2. Making decisions on resource allocation and budgeting to achieve the identified goals and objectives
3. Implementing and monitoring action plans to meet these goals and objectives
4. The annual planning is based on yearly reports generated from the annual assessment results of all units. It is used to update action plans and performance for the coming year. Key performance indicators are utilized to monitor progress with the Institutional Plan and unit-level plans.
5. A five-year strategic plan is formulated based on analyzing gathered data and information through a comprehensive scanning of the ADUC environment, its strengths, and weaknesses. This process may involve changes to the Vision, Mission, Goals, and Objectives of ADUC.
6. The Units and Departments conduct the operational planning in coordination with the IE Unit.

IE role in Strategic Planning

The IEU Assessment Cycle

The IEU works through a loop process for continuous improvement. The process includes planning, implementing, evaluating, documenting, and integrating assessment activities to improve student learning and achieve institutional targets.

The process is designed to help faculty, staff, and administrators make sound decisions about their programs and activities. By gathering and disseminating relevant data, the IEU provides evidence to update the curricula, programs, and action plans towards improvements in the achievement of ADUC’s mission.

The assessment is based on the data collected through evaluation instruments and tools administered by the concerned units during designated duration and timelines. IE thoroughly analyzes the data and discusses the results in the IE Committee. The suggested recommendations will be raised to the College Council for discussion and the possibility of corrective actions.

Involvement of Stakeholders and Professional advisers in Evaluation Process

ADUC demonstrates its use of planning, assessment, and budgeting in its daily Short-Term Operational Plans and Long-Term Strategic Plan as documented in the ADUC Strategic Plan.

Key Performance Indicators are tools utilized to measure the achievement of the targets against defined Performance Targets.

Faculty, Staff, and students are involved throughout the planning process. The faculty and staff members directly contribute to the planning through different committees at the School, Unit, and Institutional levels. The indirect contribution is in the form of feedback surveys for various activities and unit performance. Students’ contribution also comes through their participation in different committees at the school level and their committees at the student level. Students also contribute indirectly through the feedback surveys. Stakeholders comprising the Board of Trustees, Advisory Board, Advisory Committees, Employers, and Alumni; are also consulted for planning and assessment purposes.

Compilation of Institutional Research Data

The IE unit annually compiles and analyses all the audit reports. It publishes the Quality Assurance report by August and presents it to the IEC for discussions and recommendations for each respective unit’s next academic year’s planning. Along with the QA report, the IE Unit also compiles a Factbook that consists of important data from all ADUC units. It contains the data and analysis of feedback surveys that reveal trends at ADUC, and the analysis of these surveys is presented in the Quality assurance report.

Use of Internal evaluation results for producing Self Studies and Reports.

The IEU conducts the evaluation exercises and assists the units in preparing the self-studies. These self-studies are for internal and external purposes in Program review, Audit Reports, Quality Assurance Reports, Factbook, New Program Proposals, Substantive changes, Accreditation applications to specialized agencies, and other similar documents.

Academic Reviews and Self-Studies

Academic Program Review

The major academic review activity is in the form of a Program Review. The Program Review Process enables the schools to assess the educational quality of programs and address basic questions regarding Program Learning Outcomes and Goals achievement to ensure program Planning, delivery, and evaluation strategies. It helps the schools in decision-making regarding the resource allocation and changes that should be made based on the results.

CLO (Course Learning Outcomes) & PLO (Program Learning Outcomes) Semester Reports

The Departments prepare a semester report for each program at the end of each regular semester. The report consists of the CLO and PLO achievement analysis based on the course’s instructor reviews. The report is used in updating the Planning, Delivery, and Evaluation of the course for the next semester offering (Fall to Fall and Spring to Spring)

The measurement of PLO achievement is part of the Program review cycle. It is one of the main components of Program assessment and applies to all the courses offered in a degree program.

The calculation of PLO achievement is based on the following guidelines:

1. The calculation of CLO and PLO achievement will be in terms of Achieved/Under-Achieved.
2. The PLO achievement calculation will be based on the Course Learning Outcomes (CLO) achievement of the course mapped with the respective PLO.
3. The average performance of a section or a batch in terms of CLO achievement will be considered the base to calculate the PLO achievement.
4. The benchmark for deciding the Achievement of CLO and PLOs will be decided at the school level based on the course’s category or level.

IEQA Unit Evaluation

The Institutional Effectiveness Committee evaluates the Institutional Effectiveness Unit. The evaluation is made through the IE Unit feedback survey administered by the IT Department and conducted Annually in the first week from the completion of the spring semester for one week. The results are shared with the IE Committee through the President office for identifying the gaps and corrective actions.

(Refer to IEQA Manual Section E- Processes and timetables to evaluate all programs, courses, processes, and services)

Benchmarking

The IEU conducts benchmarking exercises to develop ADUC student learning experience with the Local and International best practices. The benchmarking provides feedback to the units about the scope of improvement in the existing practices. The Benchmarking is conducted at the two levels:

1. Institutional Level
2. Program Level

Institutional Level

At the institutional level policies and practices, the benchmarking criteria are the relevant licensing and accrediting bodies as follows:

1. Quality Assurance policies and practices as per CAA and MOE Framework for Higher Education Institutions.
2. Admission & Registration policies as per CAA and MOE Framework for Higher Education Institutions.
3. Human Resource policies as per Ministry of Human Resource and Emiratization.
4. Health & Safety policies and practices as per Abu Dhabi Occupational Safety and Health System Framework (OSHAD-SF).

Program Level

Each school selects two local accredited and one International Higher Educational Institution (HEI) from the respective accrediting agency. In case of non-availability at any level, the school council decides the HEI for benchmarking.

1. Business School Programs as per Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) Data Direct database.
2. Engineering Programs as per Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (ABET)
3. Bachelor of Mass Communication program as per Association of Arab Universities (AAU)

The components to be benchmarked shall be as follows:

1. Program area of specialization
2. Specializations/Concentrations
3. Total Credit Hours
4. Program Structure
5. Program Learning Outcomes
6. Program Fee
7. Admission criteria
8. Completion requirements
9. National Qualification Framework (NQF) level

Monitoring and Evaluation of Programs

At the institutional level, the evaluation and quality assurance are the IE Unit’s responsibility, and the units’ respective heads are responsible for the units’ performance. The IE Unit conducts an audit for each unit, and the audit is presented in the Institutional Effectiveness committee (IEC) for discussions and corrective actions.

Institutional Effectiveness Committee

The Institutional Effectiveness Committee (IEC) is responsible for monitoring, reviewing, assessing, and improving the Institutional Effectiveness processes and procedures with the support of the IEU. (Refer to the Standing Committees for IEC details)

Audit reports

The IE Unit conducts the audit of each unit. It furnishes an audit report with the identified gaps for corrective measures to the respective units. The schedule of audit reports is as follows:

All audit reports were used as tools for program effectiveness, i.e., next cycle for Actions.