Quality Assurance and Relevance in Academia: A Review

Concepts of quality in higher education and the nature of the processes needed to raise standards may be debatable, but mainly for economic reasons most countries are either overtly driving or subtly encouraging their institutions to conduct one of a variety of quality-assurance (QA) assessments, preferably using independent agencies. These assessments are still being developed and do not yet cover all aspects of academic life. Search engines and artificial intelligence are beginning to be explored for inter- and intra-institutional analyses. Fundamentally, QA assessments aspire to inculcate a culture of quality in all academic activities and encourage self-improvement. Internationally recognised QA underpins transnational recognition of academic qualifications. Other forms of assessing the worth or standing of an organisation include listing in international and national ranking tables, visiting-group (visiting-team) exercises, application of bibliometrics and citation metrics, and peer evaluation. Strategies to improve the quality and impact of higher-education organisations include carrying out SWOT (strengths, weakness, opportunities, threats) analyses, in addition to horizon scanning, trend impact analyses, scenario methodology, Delphi, and Foresight exercises. Assessing relevance is more complex and there is no agreed framework, but studying the societal impacts of graduates and postgraduates as well as the research and development outputs of an organisation can offer a tangible form of assessment. Also, a close link exists between relevance and responsible science, and its equivalent in other academic disciplines. Corruption in its various forms is described and must be addressed. Universities should provide an encouraging environment for creativity, innovation, and entrepreneurship. Permission given by governments to organisations to establish and operate universities should be partly dependent on those universities functioning to high-quality standards and be shown to do so by periodic independent QA and relevance assessments. Governments also have responsibilities to provide a buoyant operating environment for universities and we recommend several changes to Arab government policies. International coordination is needed urgently to stop the issuance of fake degrees and professional diplomas. Summary tables are included of (a) the key points to be addressed in comprehensive QA and relevance assessments of universities in the Arab region and elsewhere, and (b) examples of rapidly developing, relevant technologies affecting all academic disciplines as well as student employability and institutional relevance.