By Lubosi Kikamba
From 26th to 28th January 2021, more than 370 participants from about 31 countries convened for the Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA) 24th Annual Conference. This conference took place virtually due to the COVID-19 pandemic. As someone participating in the Hubert H. Humphrey Fellowship Programme under Higher Education Administration, I attended the conference as part of professional development. In this article, I reflect on the major takeaways from the CHEA conference and suggest best practices institutions can adopt and institutionalise to remain relevant. The article also endeavours to show the connection between quality assurance and risk management based on the lessons learnt from the University Risk Management and Insurance Association (URMIA) 2021 Virtual Spring Conference. This URMIA virtual conference is still underway as it was designed to offer two half-day opportunities each month from February to May for participants to network with peers and add to their expertise in higher education risk management.
I will begin by giving brief background information about CHEA before highlighting my takeaways from the conference. According to CHEA’s website, CHEA is a national advocate and institutional voice for academic quality through accreditation. It is the United States association of degree granting colleges and universities and recognises institutional and programmatic accrediting bodies. CHEA is the only US organisation focused exclusively on higher education accreditation and quality assurance. The CHEA 24th Annual Conference’s theme was “Quality in a Time of Change”. The conference not only focused on the impact of COVID-19 on higher education and accreditation but on critical issues such as equity, access and social justice and how these can be addressed nationally and internationally.
Participants were challenged to rethink, refocus and seek continuous improvement either as accreditors or higher education institutions. CHEA President Cynthia Jackson-Hammond informed participants that CHEA shall continue to emphasise three questions:
- How should academic quality be defined, clarified and demonstrated?
- What should students be able to demonstrate because of institutional and/or program engagement?
- How do we make sure that the public, families and students stay informed about the quality of institutions and programs?
The CHEA President pointed out that these three questions are critical to public trust and accountability and the assurances provided through CHEA recognition of accrediting organisations. For a university or college to be accredited by an accrediting body recognised by CHEA it means it has demonstrated that it has met certain requirements.
The issue of public trust is connected to reputation. For the public to put their trust in an institution, it means that the public is satisfied with the education or service being offered and this denotes a good reputation. It has been noticed that although many institutions plan for quality in meeting their core functions which may include teaching, research and service, very few systematically plan on how uncertainties that may affect the attainment of their objectives can be managed. This is where quality assurance intersects with risk management. Therefore, it is important that institutions that offer academic programmes are aware of their compliance, reputational and other risks to remain relevant.
URMIA is a US based international non-profit educational association serving colleges and universities. Its core purpose is to promote the advancement and application of effective risk management principles and practices in higher education institutions. According to the URMIA website, URMIA’s membership includes thousands of professionals at more than 600 institutions of higher education and 100 companies that support these institutions. Through the URMIA 2021 Virtual Spring conference, I have been able to observe how US universities and colleges are integrating Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) to achieve their missions. Areas covered include among others: Catastrophic risks, risk financing, safe remote teaching or research from home, risk-based framework to manage the COVID-19 pandemic, implementing a youth protection strategy, technological approaches to ERM, mental health and cyber risks.
Maintaining quality and managing risks both border on culture. They require awareness and setting up systems and holding staff accountable to certain standards once responsibilities are assigned. Institutions that offer academic programmes should set their internal standards based on their mission but should also be informed by the external requirements and remain committed to maintaining these standards. Post-covid, most institutions will continue embracing online learning. What would quality on-line learning look like? Will the teaching staff undergo professional development to handle online education delivery effectively? Are cyber risks identified, and how will they be mitigated? Institutions need to be aware that any addition to their information technology increases their vulnerability to cyber-attacks.
It is important to connect all the dots for quality to exist in an academic environment. For example, programmes offered have learning outcomes that highlight what students should be able to do after graduating. This means that programme assessments should be conducted to check whether the programme is achieving its purpose. Tracer studies could also be done to check with organisations in industry whether graduates are demonstrating the programme learning outcomes in terms of skills, knowledge, and attitudes.
Institutions should not shy away from informing stakeholders about their institutional and programme quality. Quality like integrity is doing the right thing when no one is watching. Therefore, institutions can use its website, publications such as newsletters and other media to inform stakeholders what it is doing to maintain quality.
The higher education landscape is indeed changing globally and there is no excuse for institutions to stand on the side-line if they want to survive. COVID-19 has also been seen to be a major disruptor of higher education. Institutions that offer higher education should consider ways of being positive disruptors of innovation and remain agile to survive. Resilient quality plans that are future proof need to be formulated. Most importantly, there is need to consider student feedback by gathering information on the effectiveness and effects of all approaches taken by institutions.