The role of students in internal quality assurance: a case study of Namibian institutions of higher education
- Authors: Nghikembua, Anneli Ndapanda
- Date: 2024-10-11
- Subjects: Quality assurance , Education, Higher Evaluation , Universities and colleges Accreditation Namibia , Universities and colleges Auditing , Student participation in administration
- Language: English
- Type: Academic theses , Doctoral theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/466395 , vital:76724 , DOI htps://doi.org/10.21504/10962/466395
- Description: The interplay of the mechanisms such as globalisation, massification and internationalisation led to higher education systems across the world introducing quality assurance. As systems have massified, student bodies have diversified with the result that the quality of teaching and learning has become increasingly important and has drawn the attention of policy makers and researchers. The Namibian higher education system was no different in heeding the call to develop quality assurance systems. As this happened, calls to involve students in quality assurance because of their roles as “stakeholders” in higher education were also heeded, and in common with institutions in systems across the world, those in Namibia began to include students in governance and quality assurance. Research on student involvement in internal quality assurance with a focus on higher education institutions in Namibia is scarce. This study aims to fill this gap by examining the role of students as stakeholders in the quality of teaching and learning in higher education institutions in three Namibian institutions. Roy Bhaskar’s (1978; 1989) critical realism and Margaret Archer’s (1995; 1996; 2000) social realism were used to build a theoretical framework which allowed for the exploration of students’ involvement in the quality assurance of teaching and learning. Critical and social realism both draw on the idea of a “depth ontology” and acknowledge that what is available to researchers empirically is only part of reality. As a result, critical and social realist researchers aim to move from empirical data to explore a level of reality not directly accessible via the senses. In the study underpinning this thesis, this involved using inference to move from interview data and documents to explore a level of reality from which events and experiences of events (both accessible empirically) emerge. A case study approach was used involving a “cross case” analysis of the three institutions. Questions guiding the study aimed not only to explore ways in which students were, or were not involved, in assuring quality of their education, but also what constrained and enabled involvement. Ultimately the study focused on whether or not their engagement contributed to the enhancement of quality. As all the institutions in the study did allow students to be involved in quality assurance, the question was the extent to which this involvement was “meaningful” in the sense that it could lead to change. Insights derived from the study showed that although students were represented on various governance structures, their experiences were that their contributions to debates and the issues they raised were not heeded. Another significant way in which students were involved in quality assurance was through the provision of feedback on teaching and course design. The investigation showed that, although teaching and learning centres at the three institutions studied did use feedback from students to develop training programmes for academic teachers, feedback was mainly used for instrumental purposes such as personal promotion, an observation which raises questions about the extent to which its elicitation could lead to enhancement. The use of Archer’s social realism allowed for the identification of a number of constraints on the potential of student involvement to contribute to the enhancement of teaching and learning. One such constraint was the hierarchical nature of institutional organisations which led to student comments not always being treated seriously, sometimes because of perceptions of their “immaturity”. Another constraint was related to confused understandings of what constitutes “quality” in policy documents. The study recommends that policies and manuals on student involvement should be designed to provide guidance to staff and students on how they should be involved. There is also a need to train students on their involvement as well as interrogate the student involvement beliefs and practices. , Thesis (PhD) -- Faculty of Education, Centre for Higher Education Research, Teaching and Learning, 2024
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- Authors: Nghikembua, Anneli Ndapanda
- Date: 2024-10-11
- Subjects: Quality assurance , Education, Higher Evaluation , Universities and colleges Accreditation Namibia , Universities and colleges Auditing , Student participation in administration
- Language: English
- Type: Academic theses , Doctoral theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/466395 , vital:76724 , DOI htps://doi.org/10.21504/10962/466395
- Description: The interplay of the mechanisms such as globalisation, massification and internationalisation led to higher education systems across the world introducing quality assurance. As systems have massified, student bodies have diversified with the result that the quality of teaching and learning has become increasingly important and has drawn the attention of policy makers and researchers. The Namibian higher education system was no different in heeding the call to develop quality assurance systems. As this happened, calls to involve students in quality assurance because of their roles as “stakeholders” in higher education were also heeded, and in common with institutions in systems across the world, those in Namibia began to include students in governance and quality assurance. Research on student involvement in internal quality assurance with a focus on higher education institutions in Namibia is scarce. This study aims to fill this gap by examining the role of students as stakeholders in the quality of teaching and learning in higher education institutions in three Namibian institutions. Roy Bhaskar’s (1978; 1989) critical realism and Margaret Archer’s (1995; 1996; 2000) social realism were used to build a theoretical framework which allowed for the exploration of students’ involvement in the quality assurance of teaching and learning. Critical and social realism both draw on the idea of a “depth ontology” and acknowledge that what is available to researchers empirically is only part of reality. As a result, critical and social realist researchers aim to move from empirical data to explore a level of reality not directly accessible via the senses. In the study underpinning this thesis, this involved using inference to move from interview data and documents to explore a level of reality from which events and experiences of events (both accessible empirically) emerge. A case study approach was used involving a “cross case” analysis of the three institutions. Questions guiding the study aimed not only to explore ways in which students were, or were not involved, in assuring quality of their education, but also what constrained and enabled involvement. Ultimately the study focused on whether or not their engagement contributed to the enhancement of quality. As all the institutions in the study did allow students to be involved in quality assurance, the question was the extent to which this involvement was “meaningful” in the sense that it could lead to change. Insights derived from the study showed that although students were represented on various governance structures, their experiences were that their contributions to debates and the issues they raised were not heeded. Another significant way in which students were involved in quality assurance was through the provision of feedback on teaching and course design. The investigation showed that, although teaching and learning centres at the three institutions studied did use feedback from students to develop training programmes for academic teachers, feedback was mainly used for instrumental purposes such as personal promotion, an observation which raises questions about the extent to which its elicitation could lead to enhancement. The use of Archer’s social realism allowed for the identification of a number of constraints on the potential of student involvement to contribute to the enhancement of teaching and learning. One such constraint was the hierarchical nature of institutional organisations which led to student comments not always being treated seriously, sometimes because of perceptions of their “immaturity”. Another constraint was related to confused understandings of what constitutes “quality” in policy documents. The study recommends that policies and manuals on student involvement should be designed to provide guidance to staff and students on how they should be involved. There is also a need to train students on their involvement as well as interrogate the student involvement beliefs and practices. , Thesis (PhD) -- Faculty of Education, Centre for Higher Education Research, Teaching and Learning, 2024
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Mechanisms conditioning the implementation of an integrated quality assurance and enhancement approach at a South African University of Technology
- Authors: Mabote, Ntele Emily
- Date: 2023-10-13
- Subjects: Quality assurance , Tshwane University of Technology , Transformative learning , Critical realism , Social realism , Quality (Philosophy)
- Language: English
- Type: Academic theses , Doctoral theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/431576 , vital:72787 , DOI 10.21504/10962/431576
- Description: Literature related to quality in higher education argues that achieving an integrated approach which balances improvement and accountability in a single quality assurance (QA) system, is not easy. In response to the literature, I decided to conduct a realist study to identify mechanisms that can enable or constrain the implementation of an integrated approach in a single quality assurance system at the Tshwane University of Technology (TUT). The scope of my study was limited to teaching and learning as one of the University’s core functions. An integrated approach encouraged a deliberate focus and attention on transformative learning and teaching. The main research question, “what mechanisms enable or constrain the implementation of an integrated approach to quality assurance and enhancement at the Tshwane University of Technology,” underpinned this study. I used Bhaskar’s critical realist philosophy as an underlabourer for the study and Archer’s social realism as an analytical framework to enable me to seek answers to the research questions. The study took the form of a case study at TUT. Data was generated through document analysis and thirty-five semi-structured interviews with agents from across the various levels and campuses of TUT. In keeping with a social realist study, I used Archer’s concept of analytical dualism to analyse structure, culture, and agency separately, and their interplay. My findings indicated that compliance and accountability are related cultural mechanisms and were dominant in the University’s cultural system. This signalled a strong emphasis on quality assurance (QA) rather than quality enhancement (QE). In addition, the findings showed that the University has established sufficient structural and agential enablements to assure the quality of learning and teaching. However, there is a need to integrate transformative cultural mechanisms into the University’s QA system. Furthermore, there were limited structural, cultural, and agential enablements to encourage enhancement. In this regard, I recommended mechanisms that should be in place for an integrated QA and QE approach to be successful at TUT. My main argument is that an institutional context that encourages structural, cultural, and agential QA and QE mechanisms to work in tandem can enable an integrated QA and QE approach. , Thesis (PhD) -- Faculty of Education, Centre for Higher Education Research, Teaching and Learning, 2023
- Full Text:
- Authors: Mabote, Ntele Emily
- Date: 2023-10-13
- Subjects: Quality assurance , Tshwane University of Technology , Transformative learning , Critical realism , Social realism , Quality (Philosophy)
- Language: English
- Type: Academic theses , Doctoral theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/431576 , vital:72787 , DOI 10.21504/10962/431576
- Description: Literature related to quality in higher education argues that achieving an integrated approach which balances improvement and accountability in a single quality assurance (QA) system, is not easy. In response to the literature, I decided to conduct a realist study to identify mechanisms that can enable or constrain the implementation of an integrated approach in a single quality assurance system at the Tshwane University of Technology (TUT). The scope of my study was limited to teaching and learning as one of the University’s core functions. An integrated approach encouraged a deliberate focus and attention on transformative learning and teaching. The main research question, “what mechanisms enable or constrain the implementation of an integrated approach to quality assurance and enhancement at the Tshwane University of Technology,” underpinned this study. I used Bhaskar’s critical realist philosophy as an underlabourer for the study and Archer’s social realism as an analytical framework to enable me to seek answers to the research questions. The study took the form of a case study at TUT. Data was generated through document analysis and thirty-five semi-structured interviews with agents from across the various levels and campuses of TUT. In keeping with a social realist study, I used Archer’s concept of analytical dualism to analyse structure, culture, and agency separately, and their interplay. My findings indicated that compliance and accountability are related cultural mechanisms and were dominant in the University’s cultural system. This signalled a strong emphasis on quality assurance (QA) rather than quality enhancement (QE). In addition, the findings showed that the University has established sufficient structural and agential enablements to assure the quality of learning and teaching. However, there is a need to integrate transformative cultural mechanisms into the University’s QA system. Furthermore, there were limited structural, cultural, and agential enablements to encourage enhancement. In this regard, I recommended mechanisms that should be in place for an integrated QA and QE approach to be successful at TUT. My main argument is that an institutional context that encourages structural, cultural, and agential QA and QE mechanisms to work in tandem can enable an integrated QA and QE approach. , Thesis (PhD) -- Faculty of Education, Centre for Higher Education Research, Teaching and Learning, 2023
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