Global Context of Influence

The literature review and the secondary case studies have indicated that several factors, which operate at a macro or global level, tend to influence QA policies in many countries. In the case of the Maldives, four themes relating to the global context could be identified as having influenced QA policy. These themes, derived from interview data and documentary evidence, are: international marketing; learning from others; international affiliations; and international organisations and external advisors.

6.3. 1. 1 International marketing

In the context of reduced government funding over the last two to three decades, pressures have been created for higher education institutions (HEls) to actively seek other sources of income. This has resulted in the bringing of HEIs, particularly Western universities, strongly into the 'business' of higher education. Consequently, many of them became engaged in international marketing, in order to attract students from overseas countries.

One K1 noted that developments in Western countries, such as the United Kingdom, to

advance a commercial aspect of higher education indirectly affected the need to raise quality in the Maldives. This created a desire to set standards from overseas

institutions within our locally offered programmes. According to this participant:

There is big competition to attract Maldivian students to their colleges in the UK, for example, Middlesex University, Oxford Brooks, Westminster College. These were polytechnics that, during [Prime Minister] Margaret Thatcher' s time, evolved into universities. So they are trying to in fact internationalise their colleges and they see the Maldives as a potential market. I think this influences our quality at a time when the Maldives College of Higher Education is trying to promote itself to being a university. (QPc06-MCHE)

This K1 argued that a QA system in the country was justified, in order to offset the negative consequences of vigorous international marketing and thereby the draining of local students to overseas destinations. Evidence for such a justification was noted in the following quotation:

This is exactly the reason why we want to set our standards the same as theirs. We don't want to see our students, our future leaders, trained in the West. We want to see our people trained in Maldivian universities, top­ notch people at their level. . . . These external forces or elements are driving the whole expectation towards maintaining or reaching that quality. That is definitely driving quality. (QPc06-MCHE)

Although no specific developments in the South Asian region, where the Maldives is geographically placed, influenced the country's adoption of accreditation as QA policy, some recent regional developments are likely to have had an influence. One KI revealed this to the researcher as follows:

Recently, there has been a move by the open and distance learning institutions ' association of SAARC29 to mutually recognise each other's awards. I think it will not be long before we establish peer review systems for accreditation agencies, and even national and ultimately SAARC-wide QA frameworks. (QPc1 1 -MCHE)

Arising from globalisation, there is a greater movement of students and labour across national borders. This factor, according to one KI, will become a problem for the Maldives as "we are signing regional agreements, be they trade agreements or otherwise" (QPc09-MCHE). The implications of this, explained this participant, are that "a person recognised as a specialist in one country may have to be recognised as a specialist in another country, although our accreditation is different" (QPc09-MCHE). This participant envisages that in future "those countries within these blocks, such as SAARC, or whichever blocks we are in, will have to come to an agreed standard of higher education, and an agreed standard of recognising each others qualifications" (QPc09-MCHE). Thus, a regional QA framework was seen as inevitable.

Data from the academic staff questionnaire also confirmed the mixed set of views on

the influence of global factors on QA in the Maldives. In response to statement 25 in

the questionnaire, little more than a third (37%) agreed that global factors had little influence on QA policies in the Maldives (Table 6.5). At the same time, nearly a third

(34%) of the p articipants disagreed, suggesting that global factors do influence QA.

Just under a third of the respondents (28%) were neutral on this matter.

29 SAARC refers to the eight-member South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation of which the

Table 6.5

Chapter Six: Presentation of Results - The Primary Case Study 1 83

Global / International Factors and Influences on Quality Assurance Policies in the Maldives

Responses Frequency Percent

Strongly Disagree 3 5.1 Disagree 17 28.8 Neutral 17 28.8 Agree 20 33.9 Strongly Agree 2 3.4 Total 59 100.0

Note. Based on Questionnaire Item 25 (see Appendix K2)

Data from the questionnaire indicate that many staff members (65%) were not aware of the global influences that impact on QA. However, this does not mean that they do not exist. In the experiences of the academic staff members, global influences did not exist. This suggests that awareness of these influences is more likely to have been experienced at a higher level in the system - i.e. amongst the policy makers.

6. 3. 1.2 Learning from others

A small developing nation (SDN) faces special challenges in QA. Firstly, the Maldives faces the challenge of a shortage of qualified and competent people to be involved in QA work. The pool of academic staff is limited and the number of people conversant with QA issues and the management of these issues are also limited. All these factors limit the capability to undertake the type of tasks required in QA.

Another challenge is the dearth of funds that can be allocated to QA. This limits the hiring of consultants for external audits, the undertaking of accreditation processes and the carrying out of follow-up actions, which are often built into the QA systems in vogue at any one time.

As a SDN, the higher education system is also less diverse. The number of institutions is also comparatively fewer. The low numbers of institutions, according to one KI, "does not generate a diversity of quality assurance and/or issues that a larger higher education sector could generate" (QPc l l -MCHE).

The Maldives appears to have little choice in its path towards QA in higher education. As one KI stated;

. . . we cannot swim against the current. I think our quality assurance aim will in the end be, not that it is desirable, but that we will become similar

to most countries: a fully auditable system with the full documentation

required by a quality management system. This would by definition, be high quality education. (QPcl l -MCHE)

Chapter Six: Presentation of Results - The Primary Case Study 1 84

In light of the special challenges faced by the Maldives, as a SDN, it has taken the most viable route of learning from those systems with more robust QA policies and systems. As one KI explained:

MAB, for what it's worth, became what it is today because of the strategies it adopted. Firstly, it studied what the larger countries were doing in this area. Then, with a small number of interested and competent people, discussions were held to formulate national guidelines and processes for this work. Key personnel were sent overseas to study various systems. Relevant and best practices were then adopted by MAB. (QPc1 1 - MeRE)

6.3. 1.3 International affiliations

International affiliations here refer to both formal and less formal links with overseas institutions, be they universities and colleges or professional organisations engaged in educational standards setting or examinations. Such affiliations have come about through both bilateral aid projects as well as through individual associations with institutions. Although no participants specifically mentioned that any overseas affiliation was responsible for QA policy, the majority hailed the usefulness of such affiliations, for the purposes of maintaining and improving quality.

Data from the questionnaire results, regarding staff perspectives on overseas links for the QA (Table 6.6), clearly showed that a majority of the participants favoured overseas links, compared to local accreditation.

Table 6.6

Importance of Local Accreditation Versus Overseas Link Institutional Accreditation for MCHE

Responses Frequency Percent

Strongly Disagree 8 13.6 Disagree 28 47.5 Neutral 17 28.8 Agree 3 5.1 Strongly Agree 3 5. 1 Total 59 100.0

Note. Based on Questionnaire Item 22. (Refer to Appendix K2)

Over 60 percent of the participants either disagreed or strongly disagreed with the statement that local accreditation was more important than overseas links. This result corroborates the views stated by staff members in support of overseas links for QA

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It can be reasonably concluded that this factor may have contributed to the exposure of Maldivian academics to overseas QA policies and their specific model of accreditation. As argued by a senior policy official,

The overseas links have actually forced various institutions to actually step up their standards and not only conform to their minimal [MAB] requirements but also to international standards. (QPc0 1 -MCHE)

In addition to stepping up the standards, overseas linkages also seem to have played a role in building up the confidence of those who seek education. According to one KI,

The role of overseas linkages is very important. On the one hand it is establishing an external quality assurance and on the other it creates confidence and assurance for our customers of the existence of such an external quality assurance mechanism. (QPc05-MCHE)

Related to the confidence aspect, in forming external linkages, is the issue of credibility. As stated by one KI, the credibility of the local institution, in terms of having overseas quality standards, is built into the system. Furthermore, particularly as the Maldives was in the early stages of its development of quality processes, international affiliations provided an opportunity to learn from more established institutional quality systems and practices. Staff from link institutions, according to some participants, provided training sessions and they have also been able to provide standards from their respective institutions (AC05-MCHE). An example from the MCHE, the upgrading of the Diploma of Nursing course30, was quoted by some as a successful example of such an international linkage and one that has proven that quality can be raised through such affiliations. After a review of this programme, by an invited member of the link institution, the faculty was informed that there was nothing that the external reviewer could suggest to further improve the programme in respect of its standard and quality. This was encouraging feedback, although it should be noted that this came from a staff member who cannot be considered independent of the same institution which helped in upgrading the programme. Nevertheless, as

expressed by one senior policy official, "expressions of approval of our courses by academics from such [well-established] institutions are very important" (QPc03- MCHE) for QA.

However, not all participants were convinced that international linkages were a necessity for quality. This was seen as "fictitious additions" which were "not a

30 This was an example of a three-year degree programme, through an institutional collaborative effort

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substitute for true quality", according to one participant (QPc1 1 -MCHE). Skeptical about affiliations with overseas institutions, this KI recalls how some universities, in countries such as China, seek affiliated status from New Zealand universities, a fact which was relayed to this KI by a senior executive of a New Zealand university who visited the Maldives:

[Senior] visitors [from Chinese universities] are very eager for MOUs to be signed between the universities on co-operation. For this purpose they [the New Zealand university] have a proforma MOU of affiliation, which is non-committal about everything and leads to nowhere, except that they could say that an MOU of cooperation has been signed between the parties. Some of the universities are keen to display the logo of such ' affiliated' universities in their course brochures, as badges of honour. For me, they are more badges of servility. It is little more than 'stamp collecting' . (QPcl l -MCHE)

This practice akin to ' stamp collection', in an area of human resource development, it is implied, is immoral as the "unsuspecting public are duped into believing that the greater the number of ' stamps' of affiliations the better is the institution" (QPcl 1 - MCRE). It is perhaps for this reason that this KI considered the "obsession to seek affiliations is nothing more than a form of self-imposed neo-colonialism" (QPc1 1 - MCRE). The benefit arising from such affiliations was also questioned by this KI. Comparing this practice with well-known and reputable universities, this participant noted that invariably the 'name lender' benefits most.

The desire among some institutions to seek linkages with overseas reputable institutions also presupposes that there are ideal HEIs (QPc l 1 -MCHE). Such a desire would require the institution, for example MCHE, to measure its quality against some 'gold' standard, for example, Oxford. According to this theory, "the quality of MCHE is then the degree of match between the indicators and processes of the two institutions" (QPcl l -MCHE). The KI further expressed distaste for this type of misguided simulation as follows:

I find this idea of imitation abhorrent. The underlying assumption in this misconception is that the clientele of the two institutions are the same: the national context is the same, etc. This is not to say that there aren't things we can learn from such institutions; we can and we must. But, if we are going to determine the quality of MCHE by the number of affiliations or by how well we imitate the practices and performance of the 'exemplar' institution, then there is something wrong with our notion of quality. (QPcl l -MCHE)

6. 3. 1.4 International organisations and external advisers

As a SDN, the Maldives receives substantial foreign assistance, both as bilateral grant aid and through loan projects. It is customary to engage 'foreign' consultants and advisers to review policy and make recommendations for change and further development. This is not to say that there is no local input into the process. Nevertheless, in the case of QA, the policy initiative can be traced back to the recommendations of a team of two external advisers to the Government of Maldives (GOM). In 1 997, the Maldivian government, through an Asian Development Bank (ADB) grant, engaged two Australian consultants to develop a project, through which the MCRE was to be established. (See Chapter Four, pp. 1 3 1 - 1 32). The project objective was to merge the existing post-secondary education and training institutions to form the first ever higher education college in the country. Based on the conSUlting team's final report, the loan project stipulated, through one of the two loan covenants built into the project, that an accreditation board be formed. The stated objective of the proposed National Post-secondary Accreditation Board (PSAB) was to "establish national standards of post-secondary accreditation for the public and private sectors and develop coordination and complementarity between the public and private sectors" (ADB, 1 998, p. 4 1 )

The consultants had recommended that the new College be delegated the powers to form the PSAB, with the authority to accredit post-secondary education programmes and awards of the College and those of the private institutions offering post-secondary

programmes and qualifications (ADB, 1 998, Appendix 1 2, p. 1 ). The

recommendation further stated that the proposed board "would be responsible for ensuring appropriate high standards in the post-secondary education programmes and awards offered in the Maldives" (ADB, 1 998, Appendix 1 2, p. 1 ) . It was intended that the move would encourage the various divisions of the College to license short courses to the private sector, thus enabling the College to concentrate on the higher level awards courses. It was also envisaged that this would have the effect of bringing the private education sector into the national post-secondary system, on an approved and complementary basis.

Clearly this was a 'tall order' for a newly formed national College to perform. The MCRE later considered it inappropriate to have accrediting powers vested with just one organisation, albeit the major provider of post-secondary education and training in the country. At that time, the MCRE functioned directly under the Office of the