Rokiah Mahmud
Thirty participants comprising public and private higher education institutions (HEIs) along with the Ministry of Education (MoE) received certificates after completing a four-day ASEAN University Network-Quality Assurance Training Workshop for Accomplishing Programme Assessment (AUN-QA Tier 1 Training) and the Development of Self-Assessment Report (SAR) yesterday.
The certificate presentation ceremony was held at Permai Boardroom, Aman Hills Hotel in Jalan Muara with Permanent Secretary (Higher Education) at the MoE Dr Haji Azman bin Haji Ahmad present as the guest of honour.
The workshop ran from October 31 to November 3, exposing participants to the AUN Quality Assurance (QA) model.
They were also trained to identify the important elements of quality assurance ecosystem, understand the AUN-QA framework, criteria and requirements and how to write a SAR for successful AUN-QA programme assessment.
The four QA experts facilitated the workshop were Professor Ir Dr Shahrir Abdullah as the Lead Trainer, Professor Dr Wyona C Patalinghug, Associate Professor Dr Evangaline P Bautista and Associate Professor Dr Kamolwan Lueprasert.
The workshop is one of the Higher Education Department’s initiatives in preparation for the implementation and monitoring of the Higher Education Quality Assurance Framework (HEQAF).
AUN-QA Council Deputy Chairperson and Lead Trainer Professor Ir Dr Shahrir Abdullah hoped that the training will foster the development of Brunei’s university’s QA system, creating a quality culture among administrators, academicians and university staff.
“This in turn will facilitate and nourish quality education and bring about the equality workforce that drives forward the development in Brunei and in our region as a whole in the near future,” he said.
He added that with the completion of AUN-QA Tier 1 Training course, it is hoped that trainees had an engaging and enjoyable training experience and to have better understanding of the AUN-QA systems, AUN-QA mechanisms, and how to write SAR.
With this knowledge, he said it would be useful and could help to uplift the higher education standards in Brunei and ASEAN.
Meanwhile, AUN Executive Director Dr Choltis Dhirathiti said the AUN-QA Tier 1 Training is one of the cornerstones of the AUN-QA and is responsible for enabling QA practitioners in universities.
The training covered an overview of the quality assurance ecosystem, the AUN-QA framework and its criteria and requirements, the plan-do-check-action PDCA approach to self-assessment at the programme level and the AUN-QA programme assessment process.
The training also provided trainees with the opportunity to perform a gap analysis of the study programme in fulfilling the AUN-QA framework and improve programme QA to close the identified gaps.
