A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF THE QUALITY ASSURANCE PRACTICES IN PUBLIC AND PRIVATE UNIVERSITIES

Abstract

This study endeavors to find quality assurance practices at public and private sector higher education institutes of Pakistan. The study was limited to only recognized universities of capital Islamabad and the Punjab province. Twelve universities from public and twelve universities from private sector were selected randomly as population of the study. In the next stage of sampling four departments from each university were selected randomly. All the teachers and head of departments of those selected departments were the respondents of this study. Self constructed instrument was validated by expert opinion and pilot testing. To find the opinions of heads of quality assurance cells of the universities, interviews of five heads of quality assurance from public and five from private sector universities were conducted. Data were analyzed by using SPSS 16.0 software. Multiple bar graphs, chi square and t test for independent sample was used to compare the quality assurance practices of public and private sector universities. The major findings of the study include that quality assurance model of Higher Education Commission is predominant model of quality assurance in the higher education sector of Pakistan. Some departments of few universities have adopted ISO 9000 model of quality assurance. There is no linkage between internal and external quality assurance practices in the higher education sector of Pakistan. Private sector universities are offering limited number of market oriented courses and programs. There is shortage of qualified personnel for quality assurance in higher education sector of Pakistan. Potential employer and alumnae are not involved in the process of Program and courses review. Some encouraging findings of the study are that most of the universities in pubic and private sector have mission statement and quality assurance policy which indicates that universities have started taking quality assurance seriously. The major recommendation of the study is that the gap between internal and external quality assurance can be bridged by including internal quality assurance practices in the ranking criteria and making periodic peer review and external academic audit compulsory for all the public and private higher education institutes. Close liaison between industry and universities is needed to bring the courses and programs at par with the market requirements and international standard. More workshops and training programs should be arranged to create awareness about quality assurance in higher education amongst the teaching fraternity.