Quality in Education

Quality Assurance in education, until now, has been a matter of complying with a set of externally imposed conditions set and assessed by State Registration and Accreditation processes. In order to comply institutions have established Quality Assurance systems in key areas, although the focus has been mainly on ensuring the requisite infrastructure through policy and governance frameworks.

Globally, the demand for portability of qualifications, and the consequent need for transparency of standards, has meant the shift towards a focus on educational outputs rather than initial infrastructural arrangements. Much of the impetus for this comes from the introduction of the Bologna process in Europe, but there have also been moves closer to Australia, in the form of the Asia Pacific Quality Network. More importantly, the establishment of AUQA's authority to conduct audits on HEPs has led to shifts in the Australian regulatory regime, such as:

·  Shift of emphasis away from Quality Assurance towards Continuous Improvement

·  Shift from quality mechanisms that monitor compliance to establishing and monitoring “fitness for purpose.”

In practical terms at the institutional level this move leaves many Institutions unprepared, although Quality Assurance for compliance purposes means that institutions necessarily have quality mechanisms in most areas of operation.

However, by and large, these mechanisms are focused on ensuring that operations and frameworks meet acceptable standards and maintain those standards; now, the emphasis on Continuous Improvement demands that institutions strive to exceed those standards, while the shift to ‘fitness for purpose’ indicates that institutions set their own standards to exceed.

This requires institutions to reorganize from a rather limited set of Quality Assurance mechanisms that are systemically applied, to the development of a coherent systematic Quality Framework within which to plan continuous improvement of all outcomes.

It has indeed become more necessary than ever to develop a functioning QMS, with the attendant strategies to implement and operate it. While ‘fitness for purpose’ demands that institutions own and develop this QMS themselves, mediagogy recognizes that few private institutions and providers have the requisite resources to implement a fully functioning QMS without external assistance. For this reason we offer a range of services to assist institutions review and develop existing QA mechanisms and configure an effective QMS based on the institutions needs and practices.

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mediagogy offers a range of assistance to institutions preparing for a quality audit, or that wish to review their quality systems. These include:

· Review & analysis of existing quality systems

· Design & development of new Quality Management Systems

· Advice on quality operations

· Assistance with self audit activities

· Assistance with the preparation and review of the Performance Portfolio