Accra, March 29, GNA – Dr Violet Makuku, the Director of the Global Quality Assurance Association (GQAA), says the efficient use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) can help improve the delivery of quality assurance in tertiary institutions.
She said this at the opening day of a four-day symposium organised by GQAA, with practitioners from six countries, including Zambia, Tanzania, Kenya, Nigeria, Togo, and Ghana, taking part.
According to Dr. Makuku, the aim of the symposium was to bring together practitioners from tertiary
institutions within the six African countries to interact and share knowledge amongst themselves while learning new skills to better their institutions.
“At this symposium, we would be addressing the real issues that institutions are grappling with, with a focus on higher education.
“Practitioners from various tertiary institutions in Africa would learn how ICT can affect the efficiency of quality assurance.
“So, ICT is the focal point of this symposium, and remember, we are in the fourth industrial evolution with everything moving fast. So, it is pertinent to make use of technology-driven techniques that would make our operations efficient and effective,” she said.
Dr. Mireku Dickson, Directorate of Academic Planning and Quality Assurance at the University of
Cape Coast, stated in an interview that the robustness of quality assurance systems must permeate every aspect of education, including examinations, supervision, mentorship, and internship programmes.
He stated that the symposium would help broaden the scope of attendants’ concerns, regarding issues of quality indicators and quality measurement systems.
“The robustness of quality assurance is permeating into examination systems, supervision, mentorship, and reaching out to international students, which of late some institutions have defined as internalisation that should be robust.
“Systems in the university must be strong in terms of making sure that courses have gone through quality assurance by higher bodies,” he added.
Professor Augustine Omoike, Director of Quality
Assurance for Bells University of Technology in Ogun State, Nigeria, however, advised that every aspect of life needed quality assurance, hence the need for the implementation of knowledge earned through the symposium.
“All aspects of life need quality assurance, and we want to ensure that whatever we learn here, we take it back to our various homes and institutions and implement it,” he said.
GNA