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Since last April, when KHDA was given charge of the entire education system and human development continuum in the Emirate, ensuring quality has been the mainstay of all its programs. Last December, when KHDA began the critical responsibility of licensing educational institutes in the Emirate, KHDA's fundamental approach to its licensing responsibility was to introduce improved quality, access, reliability, and transparency. Keeping in line with this approach, KHDA resolved to form UQAIB in order to implement this quality assurance in the HE sector.
Besides ensuring a buy-in from the stakeholders, the session focused on the quality assurance process itself and what it meant to the students who sought an education with these providers.
Dr Abdulla Al Karam, Chairman of the Board and Director General of KHDA, commented:
"If UQAIB works like we think it will, not only will it make the quality of education better but it would be a model that others in the region would want to share."
Dr Warren Fox, the Executive Director of Higher Education in KHDA discussed with the stakeholders a number of issues including the difference between the validation model and accreditation, how validation is different from accreditation and the procedures surrounding the validation process.
These and many more queries are answered in the FAQ section of the Quality Assurance Manual that will be ratified by the Board during their visit early next week.
The Board will also review and deliberate upon the first 15 applications that KHDA's Higher Education Dept has received for the academic license. The Board's final recommendations will be passed on the KHDA's Licensing Department who will issue the Higher Education licenses based on these recommendations.
The UQAIB will be in Dubai from November 22-24, 2008 and will be free to meet with the press for both brief discussions and in-depth interviews on November 23 between 4 and 5pm. KHDA's Higher Education team will also be available for queries and comments.
It is worth mentioning that all Higher education institutions in Dubai's free zones must apply for an academic license from KHDA. An academic license is provided by KHDA if an institution is accredited by the Commission for Academic Accreditation (CAA) or has been through the UQAIB quality assurance process.
A UQAIB qualification from KHDA means that all academic programs offered by a branch campus have been found by an independent panel of experts to be equivalent to the program as offered in the home campus at its place-of-origin.
Dubai has around 12,000 students in branch campuses in the free zones and around 16,000 students in all the free zone higher education institutes.
All of these students will be ready for the work force with credible qualifications from UQAIB-approved institutions.
KHDA's Higher Education Department has received 15 applications from the free zone institutes for a review by UQAIB.
Posted by Siba Sami Ammari
