Quality assurance in private higher education institutions in Namibia
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Date
2005
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Abstract
This paper sought to determine how seven Windhoek-based PHEIs [Private Higher Education Institutions] complied with two specific elements of the Accreditation Standard developed by the Namibia Qualifications Authority (NQA), through interviews. Private Higher Education Institutions (PHEIs) in Namibia have increased over the last ten years. Most PHEIs offer qualifications at Certificate, Diploma and Degree level
The most pressing concerns in Private Higher Education provision in Namibia today are the quality of these institutions and the value of the certificates issued by them. These issues of quality assurance are compounded by the lack of centrally documented information on PHEIs coupled with the rise in the institutions is a key issue in this country
The findings indicated that quality assurance in these higher education institutions is inconsistent. The older institutions have been improving the quality of their services and showed a high degree of compliance with regards to the two elements of the Standard used, but the younger institutions showed a high degree of non-compliance
Some of the main areas of non-compliance in these institutions found by the study are, (1) the lack of systems of recruitment, (2) staff development, (3) performance management, (4) the lack of relevant work experience of the staff while areas of compliance included, (i) high levels of staff qualifications, and (ii) the quality of the buildings from which institutions operate
The study concludes that though the PHEIs showed a high degree of non-compliance with the some of the aspects of the two elements, they showed a reasonably high degree of compliance with some of the quality assurance aspects. Their relatively young period of operation is regarded as one of the factors influencing their non-compliance
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Accreditation standards, Qualification standards