Theme:  Quality Assurance in Higher Education

Quality assurance in higher education is the process of systematic and continuous review and improvement of the quality and relevance of programmes and other services provided by an institution. It covers many areas, such as programme development and evaluation, curriculum review, learner assessment, continuous professional development, evaluation of teaching and learning and evaluation of delivery methods.  

The quality of education, in general, and higher education in particular, is internationally recognised as a strong predictor of economic growth rates. Quality assurance is therefore a critical component of higher education provision that improves the quality of teaching and learning. It increases student satisfaction and enhances learning outcomes by enabling learners to acquire essential new knowledge and skills they need for their careers and professional development. Quality review and improvement ensures that learning programmes and related services offered by an institution meet the standards and needs of various stakeholders, such as employers and professional bodies. It is also important for promoting excellence and innovation in higher education and enhances institutional credibility and reputation. Further, it enables institutions to meet internationally acceptable standards.

Quality assurance is important for addressing challenges that may arise from the rapid evolution of higher education, which is characterised by internationalisation, massification, increase in the number of institutions and the adoption of new approaches to teaching and learning. The importance of quality assurance in higher education is further underscored by the global commitments to the portability of qualifications, transfer of credits and mobility of students. It is therefore important that higher education institutions adopt rigorous quality assurance processes that respond positively to these commitments.

Governments, worldwide, have committed themselves to promoting quality assurance in higher education in different ways, including the provision of relevant legal and institutional frameworks. In Zambia two legal frameworks guide and support the provision of quality higher education.  These legal frameworks are the Higher Education Act, which provides for, among others, quality assurance and quality promotion in higher education and the Zambia Qualification Authority Act, which provides measures aimed at ensuring that standards and registered qualifications are internationally comparable. The Higher Education Authority (HEA) and the Zambia Qualifications Authority (ZAQA) were established to operationalise these legislations.

Both the HEA and ZAQA have developed regulations, systems and guidelines to encourage, guide and support quality review and improvement in higher education institutions. However, there are some challenges that tend to negatively affect the quality of higher education in both public and private institutions, namely underfunding, rapid increase in enrolments, which result in unfavourable lecturer – student ratio, inadequate physical and technological infrastructure, and shortage of qualified staff.

These challenges can be addressed by, among other strategies, ensuring that key stakeholders, especially students, staff, employers and policy makers participate in quality assurance activities, directly and/or indirectly. It is therefore important to share essential information for them to get a better understanding of the importance and benefits of quality assurance in order for them to participate actively in promoting quality review and improvement in higher education institutions.

In this regard, the 2023 State of Higher Education in Zambia Report will focus on the theme: Quality Assurance in Higher Education. The topics for the Report will be as follows:

1. Trends in quality assurance in higher education
2. Quality assurance and quality promotion in higher education
3. Continuous quality review and improvement in higher education
4. Relationship between Internal Quality Assurance and External Quality Assurance systems
5. Various models and conceptual frameworks of quality assurance
6. Policy and strategic documents, quality assurance systems and networks
7. Research and Innovation in quality assurance in higher education
8. Quality assurance mechanisms in relation to:
   • Financing of higher education
   • State of physical and technological facilities
   • Use of Technological applications
   • Learning management systems
9. Innovative approaches to programme delivery for quality assurance
10. Support mechanisms for quality assurance in higher education
11. Collaborations and partnerships for quality assurance
12. Quality assurance and demand-responsiveness in higher education
13. Case studies in quality assurance in higher education

In order to address these issues, the Higher Education Authority invites submission of research, theoretical and policy papers in the area of quality assurance in higher education.  The papers should provide critical reflection and informed debates on various aspects of quality assurance in higher education. In particular, the papers should provide insight into trends and dimensions of quality assurance in higher education including experiences of diverse actors/stakeholders in varying institutional settings, as well as appropriate case studies.

Submission Instructions

Prospective authors are invited to submit abstracts of not more than 300 words by 31^st May, 2024. The abstract should include the aim of the paper, issues being addressed, the methodology and approach. The abstracts will be subjected to peer reviews. The selected abstracts will proceed to final paper submission.

Full Paper

The papers should not exceed 2,000 words and should be in font size 12, Times New Roman. Figures and Tables should be inside the text. The Harvard style of referencing should be used.

All papers should be submitted electronically to denny.nsokolo@hea.org.zm and standards@hea.org.zm. For inquiries contact +260977459475

Deadline

Abstracts should be submitted to the Higher Education Authority 31^st May, 2024.

About the State of the Higher Education Report

The State of the Higher Education Report is an annual publication of the Higher Education Authority, which is aimed at publishing information on the status of higher education in Zambia and stimulating debate on emerging issues in the sector. The report is published in accordance with the Higher Education Act No. 4 of 2013.

The report is published in the form of an edited volume with an ISSN. Papers accepted for publication will be published as chapters in the volume. The 2023 Report, under the theme “Quality Assurance in Higher Education” will be the fourth publication in the series

Papers that will not be published in the State of Higher Education Report may be considered for publication in another publication on the same subject.

In the context of Zambia, the development of curriculum should be anchored on the aspirations of national and regional development plans, as well as global commitments. It is through the development and implementation of relevant curricula, that a country’s human capital is developed to play the pivotal role of driving the National Development Agenda.

In recognition of the need to ensure the relevance of curricula at all levels of education, the Zambian government has been carrying out policy reviews, which have culminated in the adoption of curriculum frameworks for primary, secondary and technical education, vocational and entrepreneurship training (TEVET). Despite the policy provisions and reviews, there has been no comprehensive curriculum framework to guide the development of the higher education sector. Consequently, there has been concerns about the relevance and quality of the curricula developed and implemented by higher education institutions (HEIs).

In response to these concerns, the government has been promoting quality and relevance of curricula in HEIs through quality assurance and accreditation of learning programmes. Thus, the Higher Education Authority started accrediting learning programmes in higher education institutions in 2017.

While curriculum reviews and accreditation of learning programmes continue, the higher education sector is still grappling with a number of issues and questions related to the curricula in higher education. Some of these are whether the curricula is in tandem with modern trends in higher education, the centrality of quality assurance in curricula development and implementation, responsiveness of graduates to societal needs and the robustness of curriculum delivery approaches and assessment methods. These issues call for critical reflections and debates on various aspects of curriculum in order to provide a coherent picture on the state of higher education curricula.

The State of Higher Education Report – 2022, in this regard, seeks papers that reflect on the following themes and subthemes in relation to the theme, which is ‘Curricula in Higher Education’.

In order to address these issues, the Higher Education Authority invites submission of research and policy papers that link curriculum development and implementation in higher education. In particular, the papers should provide insight into the experiences of diverse actors in varying institutional settings.

Authors should select and write papers on any topic under the following sub-themes:

1. Curricula Development Process
   • Trends in curriculum development (e.g., Objective Based Vs Outcome Based Curriculum
   • Issues and challenges in curriculum development
   • Assuring Quality in Curriculum Development

2. Curricula Delivery Methods
   • Pedagogy or andragogy (e.g., learner centred vs teacher centred approach)
   • Delivery modes (e.g., blended learning, online teaching and learning)
   • Quality assurance in various delivery modes

3. Relevance of the Curricula
   • Responsiveness of curricula to learners, industry and society
   • National, regional and global development objectives (8NDP, Vision 2030, Agenda 2063, SDGs)

4. Assessment Methods in a Changing Technological Environment

5. Status of STEM in Higher Education

Submission Instructions

1. Abstract

Prospective authors are invited to submit abstracts of not more than 300 words by 6^th February, 2023. The abstract should include the aim of the paper, issues being addressed, the methodology and approach. The abstracts will be subjected to peer reviews. The selected abstracts will proceed to final paper submission.

2. Full Paper

The full papers should not exceed 2,000 words and should be in font size 12, Times New Roman. Figures and Tables should be inside the text. The Harvard style of referencing should be used.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE CALL

All papers should be submitted electronically to:

Mr. Denny Nsokolo

Email: denny.nsokolo@hea.org.zm

Phone: +260977459475

Deadline

The full papers should be submitted to Higher Education Authority no later than 31^st March, 2023.

The Authority is mandated by the Higher Education Act No. 4 of 2013 to publish, on an annual basis, the State of Higher Education Report. Thus, on the heels of the successful publication and launch of its inaugural report, The State Higher Education in Zambia 2019: 5 Decades of University Education, HEA is calling for submission of papers under the theme, “Teaching and Learning in the New Normal.”

2020 saw the world as we know it change due to the global pandemic of the Coronavirus SARS-CoV2 or COVID-19. This, therefore, brought significant challenges in the higher education sector of how how to continue teaching and learning whilst grappling with COVID-19 lockdowns and restrictions.

Thus, to address this challenge, most Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) turned to distance education and online learning as a means to achieving their education goals. For most HEIs, this signified an important shift in education, from campus based and face-to-face learning to electronic based teaching and learning.

Therefore, the theme, “Teaching and Learning in the New Normal”, of the 2020 State of Higher Education Report will seek to, amongst other reasons, learn from HEIs how the institutions deployed distance education and online learning. Further, the Report will seek to learn from the experiences of lectures, students and education administrators in the implementation of distance education and online learning.

Download the Call for Papers here

The deadline for the submission of papers is no later than 30^th April, 2021.

For more information and to submit papers electronically, contact:

Mr. Denny Nsokolo

Senior Standards and Research Officer

denny.nsokolo@hea.org.zm

(+260) 977 459 475

The State of Higher Education Report publishes information on the status of higher education in Zambia in order to stimulate debate on emerging issues in the sector. The report is published in form of an edited volume with an ISSN, with papers accepted for publication being published as chapters in the volume.

However, papers that will not be published in the Report may be considered for publication in a special publication on the same subject.

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