After the establishment of HEC, there has been a strong focus to improve the quality of higher education in Pakistan, with the objective of achieving international standards. The challenge for quality assurance and enhancement in higher education has been accepted at global level. Many nations have established organizations for the assessment and accreditation of higher education programs and institutions for the purpose of assuring and enhancing the quality of education. Such organizations, besides others, include Quality Assurance Agency (QAA) UK, Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA) USA, Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency (TEQSA) Australia, Higher Education Evaluation and Accreditation Council of Taiwan (HEEACT). For the purpose of sharing the relevant knowledge and good practices such organizations have established networks, wherein universities have also been granted memberships. These networks include International Network of Quality Assurance Agencies for Higher Education (INQAAHE), Association of Commonwealth Universities (APQN), European Association for Quality Assurance (ENQA), etc. Pakistan also responded to the challenge by establishing Quality Assurance Agency under the auspices of Higher Education Commission. In order to put a focused attention on quality assurance aspects of higher education in Pakistani Universities, QAA (Pak) has, so far, facilitated the establishment of Quality Enhancement Cells (QECs) at 69 Public and 15 Private Sector Universities in a phased manner. BU was one of the fifteen of the third phase universities, established Quality Enhancement Cell in 2009. Quality Assurance Dte was made responsible to undertake the responsibilities of BU Quality Enhancement Cell.
QECs are operated by the universities for the execution of QA policies designed by QAA (Pak) with uniformity of pace and standards. QA Dte at BU is implementing measures of quality Assurance with promise of quality enhancement to meet international standards of higher education. For effective implementation of QA plans, Local QECs have been established at all the Campuses / Institutions of BU which remain in direct contact with QA Dte for their functioning. BU is also active member of INQAAHE and APQN.
QA Dte remains actively engaged in the QA related activities, such as; organizing awareness and capacity building conferences/seminars/workshops, contributing and participating in relevant national and international events, conduct of self assessment of programs and carrying out of Internal Academic Quality Audit of BU institutions. QA Dte of BU, over the years, has also been actively involved in the HEC’s initiatives of capacity building and performance evaluation of other national universities. While I feel indebted to BU administration for their full support and drive to assure good quality of education at all its campuses, I gratefully appreciate the cooperation extended by BU Institutions in helping QA Dte to carry out its responsibilities in an effective manner.
Fazal Wahab
Director QA
HEC Nominee for
Plagiarism Standing Committee, Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad
IPES Review Panel