Concisely, what were my findings?

7.3.1 Finding 1

Of the three strategies implemented by the HEA to assure quality in universities, none seems to cover both public and private universities comprehensively and equally (see Section 4.4).

Firstly, the strategy on the registration of private higher education institutions covers only private universities. It requires private universities to fulfil the registration requirements before establishment. The criteria for registration are important in establishing the quality of inputs and the quality of the process at the very initial and crucial stage of university establishment, but these criteria are only applicable to private universities, as public universities are established by the Minister of Higher Education through a declaration and are not subject to these criteria.

Secondly, the strategy on classification is not a legal requirement for both private and public universities. The classification platform provides an assessment of quality on all the core and non-core requirements used in assessment for registration of private higher education institutions. Although an important strategy, to my understanding, as it provides an opportunity for public universities to be assessed as they are exempted at establishment, this strategy is optional. Universities are at liberty whether to seek or not to seek classification. While quality for private universities is assured at establishment through registration, this criterion is not robust enough to capture public universities, which are established by declaration.

Thirdly, the accreditation of learning programmes in all public and private universities is a requirement. The regulation for the establishment of a private university demands the submission of an operational plan from which learning programmes are scrutinised by the HEA before establishment, and the regulation explicitly states that the proprietor of the private university shall not offer a programme for which they are not accredited. By implication, programmes in private universities that are operational are accredited. However, the Statutory Instrument No. 25 of 2016 that modifies earlier provisions of Part IV, Section 20 (h) of the Higher Education Act No. 4 of 2013 neither states at what point a public university should accredit learning programmes, nor does it stipulate any implication if a public university offers a programme without accrediting it.

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Therefore, as articulated above and discussed in Section 4.5, the HEA is currently (at the time of the study) is assuring quality for private universities as opposed to public universities in Zambia.

7.3.2 Finding 2

By establishment in terms of Part II, Section 6 (2, a; b), the HEA is mandated to publish on a regular basis information regarding developments in higher education institutions, including a list of higher education institutions established or registered, and an annual report on the state of higher education in Zambia (MESVTEE, 2013:102). Publication informs the Zambian citizens and other stakeholders on the ability of universities to satisfy the minimum quality standards for the provision of university education.

How then has the HEA faired? In view of the three implemented strategies, registered private universities as well as established public universities are published on the HEA website and in the government gazette. However, information on how public and private universities are performing on the classification platform and on the accreditation of institutions and accredited learning programmes in universities is currently neither on the HEA website nor published in the government gazette.

It was found that the HEA keeps stakeholders informed on the established and registered universities but does not provide information regarding the accreditation of learning programmes, which is essential in assuring stakeholders that the education being offered in universities meets acceptable local and international standards, and crucial also in providing a standpoint to parents and students to make an informed decision regarding the choice of programme and university. Therefore, the HEA is not adequately providing information to stakeholders.

7.3.3 Finding 3

The democratic environment in which the 1996 National Policy on Education was created had an influence in the articulation of the functions of the HEA. The liberal democratic environment encouraged the participation of private providers in the provision of university education, while the obligation to formulate policies that protect the Zambian citizens in a liberalised higher education system weighed heavy on government. Therefore, the analysis of the Higher Education Act No. 4 of 2013 indicated that the focus in the formulation of policy regarding

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quality assurance was more on private providers than on the massification factors that were changing the traditional operations of public universities.

This means that quality assurance is context-bound. Contextual features of liberalisation influenced policy formulation in the 1996 National Policy on Education to establish the HEA and consequently, the articulations of the implementation act, the Higher Education Act No. 4 of 2013. It is the liberal contextual features that influenced the design of the quality assurance strategies that the HEA is using to assure quality in universities.

7.3.4 Finding 4

In Chapter 2 I analysed the conception of quality assurance, which concept is relative to quality. As quality assurance is a relative concept, defined in relation to quality, it was also difficult to define (see Section 2.5). Nevertheless, quality assurance was understood as ensuring that there are mechanisms, procedures and processes in place to ensure that the desired quality is delivered, however defined and measured. This understanding of quality assurance implies that the mechanism or procedure designed to measure quality is based on the articulated definition. In other words, the understanding of quality determines the strategy for assuring it.

In the 1996 National Policy on Education, a quality graduate results from the quality of inputs and the quality of the process. This understanding of quality is reflected in quality assurance strategies implemented by the HEA to assure university quality, which focus on assuring the quality of inputs such as academic staff, management, facilities and students, and the process, namely the accreditation of learning programmes, to produce a quality graduate. In addition, the understanding of quality outputs as resulting from quality inputs and the quality of the process was largely demonstrated by the criteria for registration of private higher education institutions and the criteria for the accreditation of learning programmes, which were set to produce a quality graduate (see Section 5.2).

Therefore, the understanding of the concept of quality determines the mechanisms by which quality is assured. This is demonstrated by the strategies implemented by HEA to assure quality for the Zambian university system.

7.3.5 Finding 5

It was noted that although the input, process and output system provide the frame in which quality is understood and assured, the HEA concentrates more on the quality of inputs and the quality of the process rather than on the quality of outputs, as illustrated in the criteria for the

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accreditation of learning programmes. The criteria for the accreditation of learning programmes do not have a component on feedback, addressing the opinion of stakeholders such as students, alumni, the labour market/employers and academic staff to make the system comprehensive and self-sustaining. Therefore, without the feedback loop, the strategies implemented by the HEA are more on control than improvement, as improvement results from the utilisation of the feedback loop.

7.4 How does this study inform stakeholders on quality assurance in higher