Quality Assurance Center at Al – Baath University in Focus

Homs, (ST)-“In line with the national strategy for the development of education and scientific research, focusing on quality rather than quantity, and to contribute to the development of the university education system, the Quality Assurance Center at Al-Baath University in Homs was established to ensure the quality of the academic and administrative process in the university according to the requirements of the  local and international quality systems, Director of the Center for Quality Assurance and Reliability at Al-Baath University”, Dr. Waleed Sahyouni, said in an interview with the Syria Times e-newspaper.

Quality Assurance Concept

Dr. Sahyouni explained : ” The concept of quality in higher education as adopted by UNESCO at its 1998 conference is: Quality in higher education is a multi-dimensional concept that should cover all functions and activities of education such as; curricula, educational programs, scientific research, students , Buildings, facilities, tools and services to the local community in addition to internal self-education and internationally recognized quality standards.

Principles of Quality Assurance

Talking about the principles of Quality, Dr. Sahyouni made it clear that   in terms of quality there are general principles called the philosophy of the quality principles; the most important of which are:

– Quality is a cumulative process of continuous collective work involving all employees in the concerned institution.

– Quality is improving as employees are given greater powers to identify and solve problems in this organization, and

– Management at all levels is the real driver to achieve total quality.

He went on to say: ” There are quality-related terms, such as:    Quality planning which is the part of quality management that focuses on setting quality goals and describes the necessary operational processes and related resources to meet those goals.

– Quality control which focuses on meeting the quality standards.

– Quality assurance which focuses on providing confidence that the quality standards for the intended product will be realized. This is exactly what our center is doing. Our products are students, the university outputs, who are practically the product that meet the needs of the local community and the labor market.

– Quality improvement is the part that focuses on increasing the ability to achieve quality standards.

For the university, the quality elements are embodied in the quality of    the educational process members, which consists of the students and members of the various university bodies. The quality of the educational material in the university, including educational programs, reference books, teaching methods and techniques is also another important element.

There is also quality of the place of education including the classes, halls, laboratories, libraries, workshops and educational hospitals. In addition to the quality of management in terms of the aspects, regulations and legislation it depends on as well as the means and resources for management to achieve this quality.

The last element, is the quality of the product, i.e. the graduates and the research activities carried out by the university, such as holding conferences related to various disciplines in addition to the research centers in the university, which provide services to the community and serve the research field as well.

The vision and mission

Dr. Sahyouni stressed: “the Center draws its vision and mission from the vision and mission of the university to improve the educational process and disseminate the culture of practical research and community service.

the five-year strategic plan formulated by Al-Baath University stressed on basic strategic goals related to reconstruction, providing service to the community in all fields and developing university outputs. The Quality Assurance Center helps the university administration to achieve the strategic goals of the university through continuous follow-up to all aspects of strength and weakness in performance, noting difficulties that hinder work, and also developing appropriate proposals to overcome these difficulties.

We work hard and with all our abilities to obtain the academic accreditation of the faculties of the university and its departments and programs

Our long-term goal is institutional dependence, and this is what we hope to reach sooner. In addition to interact with local, regional and foreign centers and bodies in order to achieve the mission of the university and its strategic objectives.

Tasks and activities

Some of the basic functions of the Center as mentioned by Dr. Sahyouni: 1- To contribute to the implementation of national plans and programs related to the development of the quality of education.

2- To participate in preparing and proposing the strategic plan of the university and update and develop these plans periodically Developing mechanisms to evaluate the university departments and follow up the process of implementation and development

Developing and building human capacities in the university and in the local community to achieve quality assurance system and ensure its sustainability.”

“Our main goal is to spread the quality culture within the university and to improve the university’s classification by improving the aspects that are considered in the classification process”, Dr. Sahyouni concluded.

Interviewed by: Amal Farhat- Homs