Research Article: 2021 Vol: 24 Issue: 6S
Rasha Qawasmeh, Business School, Al-Ahliyya Amman University
Quality assurance and accreditation in higher education aims to maintain and raise the quality of education and guarantee the improvement of its standards. It enables the institution to get the necessary input, refine the processes, and raise the standards of its output, in order to meet the previously defined goals and the needs of the stakeholders. This paper discusses issues of accreditation and Quality Assurance (QA) in Jordan’s Higher Education Institutions (HEIs), focusing primarily on the need for professionalism in accreditation and quality assurance, the historical development of accreditation and quality assurance practices, the establishment of the Higher Education Accreditation Commission (HEAC), standards and procedures of quality assurance carried out by HEAC, principles underlying Jordan’s system of accreditation and quality assurance, quality assurance and improvement plans, challenges facing the implementation of quality assurance in Jordanian HEIs. The paper concludes with some recommendations for improving quality assurance in Jordanian HEIs.
Accreditation, Quality Assurance, Higher Education Standards, Quality of Educational Programs
Accreditation and quality assurance in higher education is considered as one of the pillars in the development of education (Lim, 2018). It is closely connected to the components of the educational process (students, teaching staff, programs, teaching methods, labs computers, etc.). It is important especially in this era as our world is witnessing doors opened to various channels of knowledge in the time of globalization that affects our lives. The changing structure and delivery of higher education encompasses different types of educational institutions whether they are conventional or open (distance and open learning). These new realities and the growing demand for increased accountability and transparency to government, consumers, and the general public require new solutions related to the performance of Quality Assurance (QA) (Yingqiang & Yongjian, 2016). Quality assurance aims at guaranteeing the improvement of standards in Higher Education Institutions (HEIs). It enables HEIs to get the necessary input, refine the process, and raises the standards of output in order to meet the goals set and the needs of students, employers and financiers, higher education. Accreditation on the other hand, is considered the cornerstone to achieving quality assurance and it has become almost universal (Nguyen, Evers & Marshall, 2017). Stakeholders have a range of expectations about quality outcomes in higher education. The accreditation process, while responding to institutional and programmatic interests can play a major role by changing accreditation standards and placing a strong emphasis on performance outcomes, especially student learning outcomes.
And since quality assurance and accreditation in the domain of higher education and scientific research are a priority for the Arab academic institutions in general and for Jordan in particular, it is indispensable for an academic institution to undergo an overall evaluation which should be based on a number of quality criteria to assess the institution’s commitment to them. In order for this to be appropriately done, Jordan Higher Education Accreditation Commission (HEAC) was established in 2007, in order to raise the competency level of higher education institutions in Jordan. HEAC has set a series of criteria and requirements that all institutions (public and private) must comply with in order to obtain full or partial accreditation for their programs (Jaber & Al Batsh, 2016).
The purpose of this paper is to trace and examine the development of QA and accreditation system implemented by Jordan Higher Education Accreditation Commission (HEAC) and its important role in the era of globalization to ensure the quality of education in Jordanian HEIs. It also points out the difficulties, weaknesses, and strengths in the current quality assurance and accreditation procedures in Jordan.
Jordan is considered to be, by the Arab world, a leading nation in establishing scientific institutions. This fact is reflected in the sharp increase of public and private HEIs over the last four decades. Despite the scarcity of resources, burdens of nationalism, and its own modest abilities, Jordan’s dedication to the amelioration of HEIs began since 1961, when Al-Hussein College opened a class to rehabilitate teachers and prepare them for teaching in schools.
This progress has been serving the needs of ambitious young individuals aspiring to advance in the highly saturated job market, by gaining a competitive edge at home as well as abroad. Consequently, quality and excellence in such institutions are paramount. Accreditation is the focal point, as it lays the foundation for quality and excellence. The concern for quality assurance and accreditation in higher education in Jordan began with the establishment of the first university 50 years ago (Alakaleek, 2019).
The worry to proceed with this advancement is a continuous interaction because of the expanded number of HEIs. Up till this second, there are 10 public universities, 30 private universities, and 53 community colleges. This expansion was a reaction to an increment in understudy enrolment. The quantity of understudies in Jordanian universities has developed from 34,000 of every 1990 to roughly 244,794 out of 2009 (HEAC, 2009). The development of the higher education framework is likewise reflected in the enormous number of undergrad and graduate programs. There are right now 1,142 specializations for the undergraduate degrees, of which 791 are presented by public universities and 351 are presented by private universities. A new and extended slump in enrolments has prompted an irregularity among supply and demand for the higher education sector, and has along these lines expanded the requirement for a more compelling method for guaranteeing academic standards, just as viable institutional administration and governance (Al Attari, 2020).
Stakeholders in Jordan concur that the uncontrolled extension of HEIs, particularly those in the private sector, has influenced the quality of education and compromised the framework's credibility. In the mid-nineties, a national consensus was set up to ensure a base degree of quality for the current undergrad and graduate programs. To guarantee that this would happen, the enactment was declared in 1998, which set up the Accreditation Council (AC). This enactment zeroed in on the accreditation of private universities. However, this involved concern given that public universities kept on surpassing limit levels (Jaber & Al Batsh, 2016).
Public and private tension increased the interest on universities and on public authorities to accomplish a worldwide norm for Jordanian HEIs. This was done in order to have Jordan turned into a regional/worldwide center for higher education. In June of 2007, the AC was dissolved, and the Higher Education Accreditation Commission (HEAC) was set up before long. What's more, to guarantee that HEAC is an autonomous element both financially and authoritatively, an adjusted law was issued on August second, 2009.
HEAC's Council consists of a president, a vice-president, two full-time, and three part-time members, every one of whom is of high academic and regulatory capabilities. Furthermore, HEAC has 47 full-time staff members to complete its everyday obligations.
HEAC's vision is to bring the Jordanian HEIs up to worldwide competitiveness. Its mission is to lift the Jordanian HEIs' performance and support their cutthroat abilities to arrive at national, regional, and global levels. It additionally expects to ensure the execution of accreditation and quality measures to guarantee the accomplishment of their goals. This is finished by guaranteeing its quality, inspiring HEIs to interface with national and worldwide universities, and scientific exploration habitats just as international accreditation and quality control commissions, and creating higher education through joining universally practically identical norms (Al-Ramahi & Odeh, 2020).
HEAC assists to give the public assurance that the quality and principles of higher education are being protected and upgraded. This is accomplished by directing academic audits of higher education measures. Moreover, it urges HEIs to assemble their own labor to guarantee and control their inputs, cycles, and learning results (Mohiudddin, Islam & Shariff, 2019).
Necessity of the Study
1. To assess HEAC experience in carrying out accreditation and quality assurance norms utilized on Jordanian HEIs. This will help HEAC settle on the essential decisions and make the necessary moves and steps to change, adjust, and foster its methods and guidelines.
2. To uncover HEAC's systematized body information, a common language, a bunch of norms and rules concerning what comprises dependable and perceived accreditation and quality assurance methodology, principles, progressively, projects and materials committed to prepare and assist people chipping away at it.
3. To analyze the difficulties points of accreditation and quality assurance framework, strategies, and norms.
4. To assistance different countries advantage from Jordan's involvement with the area of accreditation and quality assurance in the HEIs.
Identifying the Problem
This review expects to follow, audit, and analyze the improvement of the professionalism of the quality assurance and accreditation framework executed by HEAC. It additionally means to suggest a future quality assurance and accreditation framework that satisfies the global guidelines for quality assurance. In explicit, it endeavors to respond to the accompanying inquiries:
1. What quality assurance and accreditation rehearses are right now being utilized in Jordanian HEIs?
2. What are the significant difficulties of the different quality assurance rehearsing?
3. What are the proposals that ought to be considered to lead the quality assurance rehearses and raise it to professionalism in Jordanian HEIs?
Approach
The subjective examination approach is carried out to gather the information required. In explicit, contextual analyses are analyzed to meet the reason for this paper. This technique is chosen as an experimental strategy for request to research the Jordanian quality assurance professionalism inside its genuine setting and takes into consideration different wellsprings of proof to be utilized.
Collection and Sources of Information
Numerous wellsprings of evidence are utilized to get the necessary information. Analysts have gathered information from accessible documents identifying with accreditation and quality assurance rehearses at HEAC, and from the Jordanian HEIs. Open interviews with individuals answerable for accreditation and quality assurance in Jordanian establishments were held, just as focus group interviews with the staff of HEAC who is carrying out the accreditation and quality assurance principles (Racko, Oborn & Barrett, 2019).
To react quickly to the country's necessities, HEAC has fostered its own guidelines of quality assurance. It has set out these procedures and methodologies in a way that permits them to be applied to Jordanian foundations. In 2009, HEAC gave a directing manual for these guidelines and methods and circulated it to all Jordanian HEIs.
HEAC screens its accreditation rules and guidelines of HEIs by carrying out the accompanying cycles:
1. Institutional (general) accreditation: a progression of reviewing and evaluative advances zeroing in on the organization all in all, including its framework, HR both the academic just as the authoritative levels. It identifies with the accomplishment of the institutional mission and destinations. It centers around employees and teaching staff, the space of the land, and structures' utilitarian space, study halls, library, admission, and registration.
2. Program (special) accreditation: a progression of reviewing and evaluative systems zeroing in on a degree—granting program inside an organization of higher education, which is discipline—related preparing professionals for uncommon occupations. It identifies with professional assumptions and prerequisites for passage and practice in a field. It centers around program destinations, teaching plan, employees and staff, course books, journals, dictionaries and encyclopedias, labs and workshops (if relevant), tools and educational materials, general necessities/administration and understudies.
Accreditation standards have been created based on the standards of constant quality improvement and spotlight on the educational interaction overall. The standards of this methodology lay on an underlying philosophy of quality.
Quality Assurance (QA)
Quality assurance is viewed as the cycle wherein the quality of performance of HEIs is perceived for their methodology. This prompts quality results and considers the academic and instructive networks responsible to the community. HEAC Law (20) of 2007 approves the Commission to set up QA Criteria for Jordanian HEIs and to apply such criteria upon an institutional solicitation ability to get the certificate.
In spite of the way that Jordanian HEAC shares regional and global accreditation commissions the passing Criteria for applying to the QA certificate, and essential strategies and anticipated levels of the accomplished quality of the establishment, it points by applying the QA systems to the Jordanian HEIs to achieve the followings:
1. Encouraging excellence in Jordanian Higher Education foundations by creating tests and confirmations advisers for assess educational viability of these establishments.
2. Encouraging institutional enhancements that take up the educational interaction through constant self-assessment rehearsed by the actual foundation.
3. Assuring the educational community just as the public and other neighborhood, regional, and global bodies that the foundation of concern has explicit and fitting educational targets, and that it has given reasonable conditions through which it can accomplish its goals and mission viably. it additionally keeps a stable degree of accomplishments relating to such destinations and mission. it has an organizational structure filled by proficient and qualified cadres. and that it gives the financial, physical, and human support which causes individuals expect the progression of its recognized and viable performance.
4. Encouraging the positive competitive spirit among Jordanian Higher Education foundations towards excellence in their inputs, strategies, and outputs with what obliges the prerequisites of the local, regional, and worldwide communities, just as with contemporary quality spirit, globalization, and the knowledge-based economy.
HEAC fostered an aide that incorporates clarifications of all strategies needed for acquiring the QA certificate. It starts with the Quality Assurance establishment's application following and meeting the preconditions, techniques, and steps of granting the certificate. The obligations and commitments of HEIs all through the QA cycle can be sorted into the accompanying:
1. The obligation of the foundations to do a self-assessment study.
2. The expert panel committee.
3. The decision of granting the certificate of Quality Assurance by the Board of the Commission ought to consent to a few focuses including (a) the form and content of the decision. (b) methods for rectification, and reviewing against Quality Assurance Criteria.
4. When HEAC has taken on Quality Assurance Criteria, it demanded the Criteria for assessment to be comprehensive and was relevant to all HEIs in a way that accompanies the worldwide Criteria.
Inputs, strategies, and outputs are considering crucial. Twelve Criteria were created to incorporate 31 sub-measurements (components) to cover all parts of services, techniques, and exercises identified with inputs, strategies, and outputs. Each thing subsumed under every Basis is determined and characterized along with a rundown of pointers which show that quality is tended to. A six-level scale has been set up to be utilized for the evaluation of the component under a microscope. What's more, rubrics have been produced for every Basis, which remember six engaging levels for request to evaluate every marker. This resolves the issue and problem of absence of harmony in the judgments made by individuals from the expert-panel. The direction of the expert-panel is looked for by HEAC and those of the Quality Assurance to pass judgment on the quality of these institutions and to add to accomplishing precision, transparency, normalization, and institutionalism in the methodology followed by the Commission. At the point when the rubrics of quality Criteria things demonstrate the degrees of performance incorporated that have been thought about honestly and procedurally to address scaled levels as per the (Guttman Scale) by which it is feasible to scale the institutions progressively and to scale the one organization as per the level of quality achieved for the thing or Basis of concern. This will give normalized and referential analytic data about shortcomings and qualities of Higher Education Institutions when they are contrasted with one and another, or when the creating methods and plans are controlled by the institutions to take on in their projects, authoritative and scholarly techniques, and services. Clear techniques have been intended to address quality assurance and their things in a manner that guarantees organization of this methodology and the transparency in the execution, results, adaptability, and caution of these systems as prompted by all review stake-holders (Steinhardt, Schneijderberg, Götze, Baumann & Krücken, 2017).
The fast advancement in the quantity of HEIs, especially in the private sector appeared to influence the quality of education and raised the requirement for building up a national quality assurance framework that depends on methodical administration and appraisal systems that are embraced to screen performance and to guarantee or to work on the accomplishment of determined quality. Quality assurance of HEIs in Jordan has been founded on HEAC's empowering laws. It is a course of perceiving educational organizations for performance, respectability, and quality that qualifies them for the certainty of the educational local area and the public.
HEAC quality assurance framework centers around three phases:
A. First Stage: Self-concentrate on assessment: require the foundations to look at their own objectives, methodology, accomplishments, and so forth It evaluates each part of the establishment, including employees, staff, understudies, organization, and the governing board. It permits establishments to efficiently investigate their frameworks for fluctuation (targets <-> result), settle on decisions dependent on fact, intentionally characterize their association's inside and outside stakeholders, and effectively look for input from both. It is a learning framework that prompts ceaseless improvement of quality.
HEAC expects that every Jordanian foundation is answerable for guaranteeing respectability in the entirety of its strategies managing its voting public, and associations with different organizations by and large, and HEAC specifically while giving it data, information and so on it likewise expects full collaboration from the establishment during all parts of the assessment cycle. HEAC views at the self-assessment study as the main piece of the quality assurance measure. Furthermore, it anticipates that the institutions should survey understudies' accomplishments with respect to the projects and administrations presented to satisfy its educational targets.
The point of the self-assessment study needed by HEAC to acquire the quality assurance certificate is to comprehend, assess, and work on not just to protect what as of now exists. The self-assessment study is seen by HEAC as a continuous cycle to:
• Analyzing and examining the foundations' assets and their adequacy in satisfying its main goal.
• Demonstrate that understudies' accomplishments are proportionate with the certificates and degree granted.
• Apprise the connection of every one of the establishment's exercises to its motivation.
• Provide a sound premise of institutional planning and improvement.
B. Second Stage: Peer-reviews: an audit that is finished by individual experts from important academic fields. It includes researching the data the organization being referred to has given to the HEAC. The quantity of analysts relies upon the attributes of the concerned organizations and the extent of its projects and services.
C. Third Stage: the decision of the Commission: It might include: allowing accreditation. Delay until remedial activity is finished. Accreditation not conceded.
• A rate score is given dependent on the discoveries.
• The score is utilized by HEAC to decide if the foundation is to get financial or acknowledgment rewards.
This is trailed by acclamation for achievements and suggestions for upgrades from HEAC's Council.
Since the status with the accreditation and quality assurance is checked on intermittently, foundations are urged to have constant assessments and carry out enhancements. The quality-assurance measure executed by HEAC is planned to:
1. Foster excellence in HEIs through the improvement of criteria and rules for surveying educational viability.
2. Encourage institutional upgrades through constant self-assessment.
3. Ensure the educational community, the general public, different agencies, and associations that the concerned foundation has clear characterized and proper educational destinations, have set up conditions under which their accomplishment can sensibly be anticipated, shows up indeed to be significantly achieving them, efficient, have a capable staff, and are relied upon to keep on doing as such.
4. Provide counsel and help to build up and foster foundations.
From the point perspective on HEAC, the adequacy of the self-regulatory of quality assurance relies upon Jordanian foundation's acknowledgment of specific obligations, remembering association for and obligation to the quality assurance measure. Jordanian foundations are relied upon to lead an insightful self-assessment learn at the span indicated by HEAC (from one to two years), and toward the finish of the self-assessment study, acknowledge peer evaluation concerning the establishments' qualities and shortcomings with respect to HEACs criteria and principles.
In doing the self-assessment study, the foundation should focus on the twelve criteria set by the HEAC. They are as per the following:
The First Criterion: Mission, Vision and Destinations and Planning
A. Mission and Destinations: The institution's vision and goals are viewed as a determiner of its personality, including its educational exercises, quantities of understudies, and its job in the structure of the Higher Education Institutions. Any evaluative interaction as a rule emerges from the institution's meaning of its central goal, vision, and destinations, and shows how far this mission had been figured it out.
B. Planning and Viability: There should be a continuous arranging cycle to guarantee that the institution accomplishes its vision, mission, and goals. Ceaseless assessment is necessitated that the assessment discoveries are utilized as a stage for arranging and assessment systems and for the ensuing assessment and to recognize the inquiries that should be responded to through the investigation of information and data got to change its arrangement, goals, and strategies and dispense assets as needs be.
The Second Criterion: Educational Programs and Viability
A. General Necessities: Offering college programs prompting graduate understudies skillful in one of the disciplines of information accessible. Keeping up with high-quality in these programs is fundamentally the obligation of the foundation and HEAC in the subsequent spot. Consequently, the assessment of educational programs and the congruity of progress and improvement are the proceeding with liability of the foundation and the accreditation commission.
B. Planning and Assessment the Educational Programs: Planning for educational programs depends on the consistent and methodical assessment in the light of the extraordinary necessities of the specialization and field-work program.
C. Bachelor Programs (First Degree): Programs are accessible to furnish understudies with the information and abilities and essential abilities, just as the expansive subject matters. It is normal that the scholastic plans in any program offered incorporate the followings:
• University requirements (general education).
• Compulsory requirements (specialization).
• Elective.
The plans join basic academic specialization related to oral and made correspondence, scholarly, quantitative examination, fundamental and genuine thinking, mechanical data, capacities related to research, and the formation of data.
D. Postgraduate Programs: The alumni programs are a bunch of cutting-edge experience that follows the main university certification (Bachelor) and lead to an understudy to acquire master as well as doctorate certificates, which can be characterized into two classes:
The first is to plan understudies for the purposes for scientific research and to prepare qualified employees and researchers and ready to give understudies the abilities essential for scientific research and information revelation, creation, establishment, and dissemination.
The second is to plan understudies professionally as it has advanced to the understanding of the particular abilities and put together data, just as the improvement of insightful abilities and execution essential for professional practice and conveyance.
E. Faculty Individuals and Resources identified with Graduate Programs: It is normal from the foundations that give graduate programs to have employees that dominate in their academic performance, and scientific research, who have a reasonable commitment to the headway and improvement of information. Achievement in such programs requires a guarantee to give different sources, regardless of whether they are human (staff) or the physical or spatial or equipment and instruments or research centers, libraries and learning materials, paper, and electronic.
The Third Criterion: Understudies and Student Services
A. Goals and Association of Understudy Services: The advancement of programs of understudies and understudy services support accomplishing the foundations' central goal and destinations, by contributing in the improvement of information and educational services to understudies. It is anticipated from every organization to offer fundamental types of assistance strong of understudies, paying little mind to the degree of programs gave.
B. Responsibilities for Programs of Understudy Advancement and Understudy Services: Foundations should give programs and understudy services based on surveying the requirements of understudies and the establishment's capacity to offer sufficient and fitting help for them in order to guarantee the accomplishment of its targets. Also, work to embrace arrangements for these programs and services, and work on refreshing and continually checking and observing the impact of their execution, and direct intermittent, deliberate, and ceaseless assessment (Nguyen, 2019).
C. Academic Assessment of Understudies and Academic Records: The assessment of the academic performance of understudies ought to be founded on clear and explicit tests, and that the academic records of understudies ought to be precise and far reaching. The organization ought to build up systems to keep up with the respectability of these records from altering, changing, and fraud.
D. Student Services: Organizations should acknowledge qualified understudies to adapt to their current circumstance and to give them proper guidance and backing to accomplish their educational objectives.
The Fourth Criterion: Members of Faculty
Choice of employees and their assessment, and expert development: The most common way of choosing qualified faculty members and their turn of events and maintenance are vital issues. The foundation should have sufficient and qualified employees to accomplish its main goal and destinations.
The Fifth Criterion: Scholarship, Scientific Research, and Innovation
These are vital for crafted by employees and understudies. It ought to be incorporated with educational exercises paying little heed to the size or nature of the foundation. Grants are the fundamental hotspot for the manageability of the employees in the organization.
The scientific research exercises are coordinated towards building the scientific and additionally adjust the hypotheses and the improvement of applied information, which is a fundamental part of higher education as it serves two essential capacities, the primary: extending and creating information. Also, the second: preparing understudies on methodological ways to deal with obtain information and set them up for professional jobs in their future as researchers, scholars, and experts. Developments and inventiveness incorporate the visual arts, scholarly, and performing arts that mirror the original thoughts and understandings and dreams, thoughts, and sentiments (Kay & Kibble, 2016).
The Sixth Criterion: Library and Data Resources
A. The Library: The fundamental goal of the library and data resources is to help the learning system, education, instructing, and research organization in a way reliable with its main goal and targets. Giving a suitable and satisfactory learning resources and quality services in accordance with the degree of programs presented in the foundation is critical in supporting the development of mental, intellectual, and professional understudies took a crack at the materials and programs paying little heed to their fields and the manner in which it conveys.
B. Resources of Data and Services: Resources of data and services should be powerful as far as quality, profundity, variety, and innovation to have the option to help the programs presented by the establishment.
C. Facilities and Availability: Organization should give fitting offices and sufficient library and other related resources of data like apparatuses, or qualified work force and offer types of assistance to help understudies, employees, staff, and clients outside of their foundation, and through the Web.
D. Administration and Human Recourses: The establishment ought to give sufficient human and qualified staff for the library and data resources as far as number and different spaces of specialization and should have the important abilities to offer types of assistance working with the most common way of utilizing the library.
E. Planning and Assessment: The appropriate planning of the library and data resources to help educating and learning capacities ought to be given to work with research by understudies and employees. The ceaseless assessment of formal quality libraries and their assortments and the chance of utilizing different resources of data and services intend to remain on their quality, adequacy, and add to help academic programs.
The Seventh Criterion: Governance and Administration System
A. An Arrangement of Governance and Administration: The governance and administration framework add to accomplishing the establishment's central goal and destinations. Individuals concerned are the people who convey great governance by college divisions and staff with institutional objectives, needs, and plans, institutional, and instructive programs, in this way supporting the educating and learning climate. Their obligation to quality and the advancement of compelling measures to guarantee quality and work to work on the various areas through the greatest utilization of the relative multitude of potential outcomes accessible there.
B. The Council of Governance (Deans): The Council of Governance (Deans) will be answerable for the quality and uprightness of the foundation and the accomplishment of its main goal, targets, and governance of financial and policy-making and execution. It is likewise answerable for follow-up of academic and managerial undertakings in the authoritative units and the different resources of the foundation.
C. Leadership and Administration: The President of the establishment is answerable for deciding and characterizing their destinations, needs, and to foster suitable plans which offer help for the learning climate and learning and eventually accomplish their objectives and mission.
The Eight Criterions: Financial Resources
A. Financial Planning: It is assumed that the financial planning and budgeting of continuous exercises to be practical and in light of the organization's central goal and targets.
B. Adequacy of Financial Resources: The financial resources should be decided on the sufficiency of the foundation's goals and mission, and variety in projects and administrations gave and number of understudies.
C. Financial Administration: The organization and the financial administration framework records and reports are the markers of the financial honesty of the foundation as it is the reason for decisions with financial experts.
D. Financial Investment and Advancement: The presence of an organized program mirrors the organization's central goal, destinations, and attempts to offer financial help from outer resources are same or equivalent in significance to planning the instructive scholastic projects.
The Ninth Criterion: Physical Resources
A. Teaching and Support Facilities: Planning viable material resources, particularly those identified with instructing and keeping up with the facilities and administration (both inside and outside the grounds) add to the most common way of accomplishing the foundation's central goal and targets.
B. Equipment and Materials: Viable and proper gadgets ought to be accessible as far as assortments and number to work with the accomplishment of educational objectives and goals of the foundation.
C. Planning of Natural Resources: There should be an extensive planning of natural resources and be founded on the Organization's central goal and destinations.
The Tenth Criterion: Integrity and Honesty of the Educational Institution
The institution should establish clear policies to interact with the local community. These policies should be based on sound, realistic planning that coincides with the objectives of the institution. This relationship should be clear and based on mutual interest and benefit through establishing definite strategy and programs to set priorities. The institution with all its councils, faculty members, and personnel should show commitment to the complete cooperation with these bodies.
The Eleventh Criterion: Interaction with the Society
The institution should establish clear policies to interact with the local community. These policies should be based on sound realistic planning that coincides with the objectives of the institution. This relationship should be clear and based on mutual interest and benefit through establishing definite strategy and programs to set priorities. The institution with all its councils, faculty members, and personnel should show commitment to a complete cooperation with these bodies.
The Twelfth Criterion: Administration of Quality Assurance
The process of quality control and its administration is the cycle that distinguishes the level of which the Institution does its obligations and regulations as per quality standards and guidelines gave by HEAC to keep up with the mission of this institution, its name, reason, academic exercises, and the quality of education gave to understudies. These issues require an exceptional office in the institution to give verification and proof which affirm that the institution does its job and accomplish its destinations adequately (Benavot, 2016).
To carry out the above QA rules, a rubric is applied. In building the rubrics three measures were thought of: (1) plan (2) execution and (3) effectiveness.
In reacting to HEAC's necessities, institutions need to set a few strategies, guidelines, and cycles to guarantee and upgrade the quality of their educational programs. Also, to foster a completely incorporated quality assurance framework dependent on a bunch of the institution recommended vision, mission, goals, and standards for a quality assurance structure pointed toward improving and guaranteeing the quality of educational programs. This framework should zero in on:
• Studying the status quo of the university environment, including resources, offices, programs, understudies, and so forth. The administration structure of the staff should be distinguished (heads, deans, associate deans, academic and innovative work, and so on) and their jobs, and obligations should be set. Furthermore, each program should be overseen by a Program Team (PT) under the leadership of a Program Leader (PL). The PT consists of the staff answerable for the everyday administration and assistance.
• Describing the assignments, jobs, and obligations of teams and people.
• Identifying the chances and difficulties that the progressions introduced according to a staff point of view.
• Describing the procedures used to accomplish the objectives and close with an investigation of the fruitful components.
• Commitment from the personnel and all workers to guaranteeing a good outcome.
A Program Quality Assurance (PQA) should be intended to guarantee the quality framework for all educational programs presented by the organization broadly and universally. It ought to be outlined by a bunch of core values, which incorporate a rundown of criteria against which program not set in stone and an interaction for program accreditation. These core values ought to incorporate a comprehensive audit of programs just as a smart and basic way to deal with the actual survey, considering the progressions in the environment that affect them. Moreover, a pledge to meeting the prerequisites of HEAC is in arrangement between starting accreditation, continuous program improvement, and reaccreditation, normal detailing against determined criteria and outside validation. Such criteria ought to be created by different gatherings working intimately with specialists and consultants on quality assurance. This ought to incorporate:
• The necessity for the program.
• Educational configurations including graduate capacities and arrangement between targets.
• Equity including admittance to programs and support.
• Management including cycles and documentation.
• Resources including staff capacities and particular facilities.
• Evaluation and maintenance including continuous review of programs.
• Stakeholder necessities including the requirements of professional accrediting bodies to help the quality assurance perspectives.
Difficulties Confronting Leading QA in Jordan
There are many difficulties confronting higher education (Cardoso, Rosa & Stensaker, 2016), in Jordan specifically, which can be named as follows:
Expanding Interest for Higher Education
There is an expansion in the interest for higher education fundamentally in the beyond five years. This drove trouble on foundations of higher education, especially at public universities, and drove then again, to welcome the government to permit building up private universities.
The Shortfall of Direction towards Vocational Education
The work market in Jordan experienced the development in the quantity of college graduates and a deficiency of skilled technicians and professionals. This issue has parts of social, financial, and educational for some (Gonczi, 2020).
Inconsistency between the Outputs of Higher Education and the Necessities of the Market
There is no amicability between national necessities and licensing prerequisites of academic programs. Likewise, it very well may be noticed that there is an absence in linkages between academic programs and educational programs abilities outputs the educational cycle. What's more, the shortfall of the precise institutional coordination between the outputs of higher education and the necessities of local and regional markets are evolving. This can be seen by the disappointment with local employers about the abilities of graduates as far as skills essential for accomplishment in the labor market, the absence of current approaches to deal with educational decisions that assistance to foster intellectual skills like logical thinking, communication, leadership, and institutional drives. Also, the absence of university support services as per the general inclination of understudies, for example, practice programs and preparing that address the issues of the labor market abilities or explicit occupations, notwithstanding non-curricular exercises. Likewise, there is a reiteration of the programs and areas of study and covering and duplication of disciplines under various names however the substance is comparable, the powerlessness of colleges to impact the essential standard techniques at the public level as to adaptable disciplines that meet the prerequisites of the changing labor market. Likewise, there are irregularities with the necessities of the local, regional, and worldwide labor markets just as with the future patterns of the new specialization needed to address the needs of the employers (Bergman, Cudney, Harding & Saraiva, 2019).
Financial Difficulties
Public universities rely vigorously upon government allocations and to the government budget support, which diminishes with time (in 2005 structures (20%) of the all income of universities). The low government support and low tuition fees (which establish (56%) of the total income of universities) have prompted:
• Low budgets for the infrastructure of the universities investment.
• Reduced subsidizing for the improvement of the higher education area, the financing of universities in conventional structure, and the shortfall of progression after.
• Lack of/low financing exercises pointed toward fostering a comprehensive strategic plan for higher education outputs, which constrained universities to depend on its own resources and restricted programmed and hence decrease the output.
Dropping in the Process of Education Quality
Albeit the private higher education is dependent upon explicit authorizing systems forced by the Ministry of Higher Education prior to being permitted to put any disciplines and needed to get accreditation of public and private prior to instructing. Nonetheless, these actions just amount, not quality. These actions plan to guarantee a base degree of quality concerning educational program, faculty, and research center facilities and resources of learning and instructing. Coming up next are the significant difficulties confronting the quality of higher education in Jordan (Noaman, Ragab, Madbouly, Khedra & Fayoumi, 2017).
Affirmation Strategies
The difficulties confronting the affirmation strategies, including the followings:
• Lack of arrangement between the performance of understudies in high school and choosing specialties, where their outcomes in the assessment are the main factor thought about for admission to university academic programs.
• Ignore the quality factor in the confirmation arrangements, particularly in private universities in the acknowledgment corresponding with programs at public universities.
• Absence of equity and consistency in the measures for acknowledgment due to allotting unique confirmation strategies for some social groups.
Faculty Members
The difficulties identified with employees in HEIs as followings:
• Imbalance in the proportion of the quantity of understudies to the faculty member, in 2009, 1:29 in the public universities and 1:24 in private universities, while the global rates were 1:9 in Canada, 1:14 in the US of America.
• The difficulty of enrolling qualified staff in certain programs.
• The absence of a reasonable policy for limit building, like preparing employees and support new individuals and the shortfall of straightforward and reasonable appraisal system.
• The phenomenon of (brain drain), where it is drawing in working in adjoining nations for higher compensations and incentives.
•Low investment, particularly in scientific research in the universities, and the absence of direction towards use on scientific research and inspiration to lead research and support in worldwide scientific conferences.
Scientific Research
The difficulties confronting the scientific research in Jordan are as per the following:
• Low budgets for scientific research. In 2005, the spending plan allotted for scientific research in every Jordanian university (0.95%) as it was.
• Limited scientific research exercises led by employees because of the burden and absence of instructing facilities.
• Poor environments and abilities patterns to scientific research.
• Lack of cooperation among industry and HEIs.
Management
The difficulties in management are as per the following:
• Lack of concordance between the university management plan and the necessities of the modern HEIs development.
• Absence of strategic planning in many HEIs.
• Low scholarships budget.
• Practices of "accomplishments in the latest possible second", and "achievements related with pressures" in the institutions.
• Increased competition because of foreign universities entries and non-traditional education frameworks at the local and regional levels.
• Lack of promotional exercises and advertising of HEIs in Jordan and abroad.
• The intricacy of administrative procedures looked by foreign understudies.
• Lack of bearing and direction to understudies about teaching programs in universities and colleges.
Perceive the Significance of Quality Assurance
This can be reflected as follows:
• Lack of vision, mission, and clear goals to direct crafted by Jordanian HEIs, which can be converted into strategic plans and academic educational programs, figuring out how to create results wanted for every specialty and every area.
• Low or non-allotment of budgets to put resources into quality assurance.
• The absence of an incorporated framework for quality assurance in universities and colleges.
• Lack of appraisal planning, and in this way the shortfall of a classification framework for universities and academic programs in it.
• Some private HEI accept the benefit benchmark as a premise to boost benefit and this goes against the guidelines of quality.
Strategies and Procedures
To accomplish a fruitful turn of events and change of the PQA, a progression of steps should be taken by the institution:
• Step 1. Building up a feeling of awareness and urgency.
• Step 2. Forming a powerful directing alliance.
• Step 3. Making a vision, and a mission.
• Step 4. Conveying the vision.
• Step 5. Engaging others to follow up on the vision.
• Step 6. Planning for and establishing short-term wins.
• Step 7. Solidifying enhancements and delivering change.
• Step 8. Institutionalizing new methodologies.
The methodology and results should be conveyed inside to all levels inside the Staff and externally, and to important focal committees and units inside the institution (Sjöström, Christensen, Nystrup & Karle, 2019).
The discoveries for question one, "what quality assurance and accreditation rehearses are presently being utilized in Jordan HEIs?" Are remembered for the background of the review. Discoveries for question two, "what are the significant difficulties confronting quality assurance rehearses?", after the analysts have finished an audit of the reports of accreditation and quality assurance rehearses at HEAC, and the open meetings with the critical people responsible for accreditation and quality assurance in Jordanian universities, and the focus group interviews with the staff of HEAC who are carrying out the accreditation and quality assurance guidelines, they went to the accompanying strengths and weaknesses of the accreditation and quality assurance rehearses:
1. The strengths of the Jordanian quality assurance and accreditation framework and practices are summed up as follows:
• The foundation of a self-assessment culture: The accreditation and quality assurance measures have added to the development of a self-assessment culture at the HEIs. Various Jordanian foundations have fostered their own internal quality assurance frameworks because of HEAC's guidelines, principles, and strategies (Cardoso, Rosa, Videira & Amaral, 2019).
• The methodological model of quality assurance and accreditation applied by HEAC is on a basic level suitable control the quality of the Jordanian HEIs, and this model is in consistence with the world principles and practices of accreditation and quality assurance.
• The Jordanian model contains most items and qualities of European, American, and Australian models. It incorporates self-assessment, external review by external specialists, and so forth.
• It is an extensive model that arrangements with all HEIs like public and private universities, and community colleges.
2. The significant hardships and weaknesses of Jordan accreditation and quality assurance framework incorporate the followings.
• The restricted staff limit at HEAC; thus, the specialized and support staff are as yet not adequate.
• Lack of quality assurance culture inside the institution prompting a little back-up of drives on this area.
• The dependence on national specialists: There is a trouble of tracking down an adequate number of specialists who are qualified and accessible to fill in as peer reviewers. The utilization of specialists’ peer reviewers makes a positive learning impact and adds to making a culture of quality.
• Lack of HR to do the course of progress (frail human limit): The absence of fitting prepared staff in institutions of higher education who are associated with the accreditation and quality assurance measures particularly in gathering information, data, and self-examination required for successful self-contemplates. Individuals don't have the foggiest idea where to begin, since they thought about that this can be settled by an instructional course.
• Lack of material resources (restricted funding): The absence of resources is seen as representing a genuine danger to the effective result of the self-appraisal in Jordan universities.
• Lack of responsibility from the institution chairmen just as employees.
• Difficulty in executing improvement activities, and the absence of staff responsibility.
• People accountable for quality assurance workplaces in institutions are not able in quality assurance issues. Or then again, they don't have the force or the position to decide.
In responding to the third inquiry, "what are the proposals that ought to be considered to foster the quality assurance rehearses in Jordan HEIs?" Foundations ought to:
Recognize improvement activities and execute such activities, to work on the quality of the service.
• Gain expanded knowledge on the quality philosophy and spread the quality assurance culture among all staff and workers.
• Encourage staff inclusion in service improvement and staff familiarity with the significance of quality assurance.
• Enhance employees', the overall population, and stakeholders' consciousness of the significance of quality.
The philosophy of complete quality administration in higher education has been differentiated to various schools. Along these lines, the Accreditation Council of Higher Education Institutions of Jordan (HEAC) took an extremely challenging decision of not embracing a specific way of thinking but instead to review all accessible models of complete quality administration and incorporate its own.
The review pinpointed the significant challenges and weaknesses that HEAC faces. These reasons that HEAC in its undertaking should spread QA attention to all HEI and stakeholders in the kingdom to guarantee its quality and set a future quality confirmation and accreditation framework that fulfill the worldwide guidelines for quality assurance. Furthermore, it urges HEIs to assemble their own labor to guarantee and control their bits of inputs, cycles, and learning results.
At long last, the review presumes that institutions need to react to HEAC's prerequisites, by setting a few approaches, guidelines, and cycles to guarantee and improve the quality of their educational programs. Also, to foster a completely incorporated quality assurance framework dependent on a bunch of the foundation recommended vision, mission, destinations, and standards for a quality assurance system pointed toward upgrading and guaranteeing the quality of educational programs.