Vision, Mission and Goals

1. Vision, Mission and Goals Quality Assurance and Accreditation DepartmentMinistry of Higher Education and Scientific Research

2. Vision, Mission and Goals • Our vision We aim for the Quality Assurance Department in the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research- Iraq- To be one of the best accredited bodies in the Arab World and the Middle East in the field of quality assurance and accreditation. • Our mission To achieve high quality of education provided by Iraqi higher education institutions with respect to the global standards for accreditation. Also for all certificates, degrees and credits awarded by these institutions to be well respected and accepted amongst advanced countries. • Our Goals • Implementation of international quality standards in higher education institutions. • Monitor the implementation of quality standards. • All Iraqi higher education institutions to achieve program & institutional accreditation from international accreditation bodies.

3. Quality in Higher Education Quality Assurance and Accreditation DepartmentMinistry of Higher Education and Scientific Research

4. Quality in Higher Education The concept of quality in higher education can be seen as a multi-dimensional levels as it relates to the education system and the organization's mission and objectives, as well as the criteria related to the institution or program. Therefore, the concept of quality can have a number of definitions based on the following:

5. Quality in Higher Education • The concept of quality service Beneficiaries (students, faculty, community, government, business ). • Quality terms (inputs, processes, outputs, objectives and mission). • The characteristics and qualities of the academic community. • The historical development of higher education.

6. Quality in Higher Education • Quality in many higher education systems in European countries can be defined as the minimum required standards for achieving accreditation. So the educational institution must determine and implement the minimum standards for each program and develop a mechanism to quality improvement. Quality can also be defined as customer satisfaction by achieving customer expectations (students, parents, society in general and business owners).

7. Structure of the Department of Quality Assurance and Accreditation Quality Assurance and Accreditation DepartmentMinistry of Higher Education and Scientific Research

8. Structure of the Department of Quality Assurance and Accreditation

9. Academic Accreditation Quality Assurance and Accreditation DepartmentMinistry of Higher Education and Scientific Research

10. Introduction to Academic Accreditation • There are some difficulties and challenges that may face our universities towards achieving high quality of education and hence achieve academic accreditation, which has become an indicator of the quality of higher education ...

11. Introduction to Academic accreditation • Therefore, it is not strange to some of our universities trying hard to achieve a well recognized academic accreditation taking into consideration: • Their previous privileged status. • They are the source of thought, knowledge and culture. • Their responsibility for the continued development of civilization of the society. • Their responsibility & ability to predict the future of education and identify its needs.

12. Introduction to Academic accreditation • And it is the responsibility of universities to put the rules and practices of performance and control the process of achieving total quality in different areas to have the right to be the center of excellence for research and learning.

13. International Accreditation When educational institutions voluntary choose to go under the process of evaluation conducted by an accreditation body, in order to assess their performance and application of quality standards, ie, to ensure that education provided by institutions of higher education meets acceptable levels of quality.

14. International Accreditation • Most of Western countries have chosen to rely on a mechanism to maintain quality by setting up special bodies some of them called Accreditation bodies and others called Evaluation bodies. • The accreditation standards may differ from one country to another or from one institution to another but all agreed on the following objectives:

15. International Accreditation Help educational institutions to raise their level of quality , improve its effectiveness and support their efforts to move towards excellence in the framework of compatibility and consistency with best international standards known. Also to achieve recognition by the academic community and international professional and raise their ability to compete with other institutions.

16. The objective of accreditation The objectives of the accreditation standards can be summarized as follows: 1. Maintain and improve the quality of education.2. Provide accountability and support responsibility for all organizational aspects in the organization.3. Provision levels and standards for evaluation includes all aspects of the educational system in the organization. 4. Development of educational thoughts linked to the culture of evaluation.5. Identify the required level to achieve accreditation.6. Consolidate the community's confidence in the accredited institutions..

17. The objective of Accreditation 7. Make sure that students and employers have access to information that show how students get their degrees under the academic standards of quality. 8. In the case of public (government) educational institutions , accreditation provides an opportunity to make sure that public funds go to targets set for them and that there is a possibility to hold accountable those government institutions.

18. Types of academic accreditation There are two types of accreditation, according to recent trends which are: A. Institutional Accreditation : the adoption of the institution as a whole and according to specific criteria and focused on the vision, mission and the adequacy of facilities and resources, including employees of the institution and to provide academic services and student support, curriculum, and levels of achievement of students and faculty and other components of the educational institution. This can be done by achieving (ISO 9001-2008) B. Program Accreditation: also known as specialized accreditation or academic accreditation. It is intended to evaluate programs and make sure that the quality of these programs can meet the requirement level of the certificate granted. Such as (* ABET) *.Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology

19. The ministry steps towards achieving Accreditation Develop a plan for the application of quality and promote a culture of quality.Adoption of global standards for each specialty.To complete a self-assessment for each department.Identify the gaps and initiate an action plan towards completing them.Request a visit from an Academic Accreditation body.The accreditation body will either recommend accreditation or advice for major work to be completed and make a request at a later date.

20. The ministry steps towards achieving Accreditation • With respect to our universities, the faculties of engineering and medical schools are now operating in the third stage and we are going to form a field teams to study the reports of colleges on the ground and to identify weaknesses (lack of laboratories , lack of academic staff or update curricula etc.) • Humanitarian colleges currently work at their second stage, except colleges of Management and Economics (Baghdad, Mustansiriya) have an integrated program with the USAID to reach accreditation.*.American Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET) standards have been adopted in the field of engineering.**. And standards of the World Health Organization (WHO) in the field of medicine***. And standards of the (AACSB) in the field of administration

21. Difficulties Quality Assurance and Accreditation DepartmentMinistry of Higher Education and Scientific Research

22. Difficulties • Politics interventions: Third round exams Cases of students who can only have the final year exam. • Curriculums have not been updated for the last two decades. • Not activating the process of training Iraqi graduates teaching staff in foreign universities. • lack of controls over student's attendance • Lack of controls over the publication of research in international journals • Non-compliance of educational buildings with international standards. • Non-compliance of laboratories and their lack to new equipments. • Using old style of practice in teaching rather than using modern teaching methods.

23. Difficulties • The absence of an independent national body for quality to assess the performance of the ministry or educational institutions in general. • There is no special budget for quality in higher education to be used for training, contract agreements, bring external evaluators, pay subscription fees for accreditation organizations, etc ......) • There are no internationally recognized Iraqi magazines for the publication of scientific research • Administrative system is one of the main reasons in delaying improvement process for the publication of research or academic promotions, etc..

24. Solutions Quality Assurance and Accreditation DepartmentMinistry of Higher Education and Scientific Research

25. Solutions • Curriculum Development • Protect the education process from outside interferences. • Improve & control student's attendance. • Development of teaching staff by involving them in international conferences and train them in foreign universities • The establishment of an independent national body for quality.