DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATIONAL QUALITY ASSURANCE
TEAM
DESCRIPTION
The main purpose of the department is to contribute to the improvement of the quality of education at the university. This goal is consistent with the university's mission: to develop responsible graduates who think globally and are committed to integrity in their personal and professional lives in service to society.
An effective, transparent and open to further development Quality Assurance System (QAS) contributes to improving the quality of training and the satisfaction of external and internal stakeholders: students, faculty, alumni, parents (guardians), employers, IUCA staff.
IUCA strives to become an innovative educational community, one of the best universities in Central Asia. And since one of the main criteria for a high quality university is to continually work on improving the teaching and learning process, the main tasks of the department are to continually measure the process of achieving the mission, strategic vision and educational goals of the university. It is necessary to determine to what extent the scope, level, quality and learning outcomes of a particular program meet the mission, educational goals and standards of the university.
Therefore, by measuring and analyzing student and faculty data and monitoring the processes that occur at IUCA, the department is actively involved in:
improving planning, quality assurance-related processes,
Improving the effectiveness of teaching and the students' knowledge of the world,
managing documentation of the quality of education at the university.
The main activities of the department: research on the characteristics of the personality of students and their development, psychological support for students, expert and analytical work, promotion of program accreditation, support for research and methodological work.
A survey of the individual characteristics of students and their development
One of the main criteria for the success of a university is its graduates, their progress in ethical and intellectual development. This progress needs to be measured with effective and valid tools.
The department conducts research:
in the ethical and intellectual development of university students (based on the one developed by Harvard University professor William Perry, which we apply in interview, essay, and standardized test formats);
in cognitive styles, multiple intelligences, and the personality spectrum of each MUCA student.
After processing and analyzing the results, the department informs students, faculty, program heads, and university administration about the overall and individual research results (based on the principle of confidentiality), as well as the identified problems for their subsequent solution.
Based on the research, the department staff:
Make recommendations for improving teaching methods that take into account individual cognitive abilities and aptitudes of students;
Provide advisory support to students, helping them to shape their learning paths so that teaching methods match students' abilities and learning needs;
advise faculty on new methods of teaching and assessment that align with the mission of the institution and educational standards, as well as new areas of instruction such as the Service Learning course or new student assessment tools.
Psychological support for students
In order to maintain a comfortable psychological climate and timely identification of problems and the most effective solutions, the University has a psychological service.
The objectives of the psychological service:
Conducting psychological support sessions in order to better understand problems and more effectively solve them;
Consulting the faculty on correcting the methods of teaching and evaluation according to the individual peculiarities of the students;
Informing the management about the psychological climate, based on the principle of confidentiality of information;
Helping students to adapt to the new staff at the beginning of the academic year, to build interpersonal relationships between students;
Support of students in stressful and post-traumatic situations, identification of psychosomatic conditions;
Work with students to set and achieve goals;
Guidance of students to professional activities.
Expert analytical work
Employees of the department:
participate in the analysis of organizations' satisfaction with the quality of the educational process;
develop an internal system of quality indicators based on licensing, accreditation and other requirements;
conduct analysis of the results of measurement, monitoring of the processes taking place in MUCA using such tools as the questionnaire "Teacher in the eyes of the student", "Observation of the lesson by colleagues" "Class evaluation form", etc;
provide conclusions on the results of the research.
Facilitating program accreditation
Based on Ednet's accreditation guidelines, the department assists university leadership in the work of external evaluation of programs and the institution as a whole, including its national and international accreditation. This work includes:
Assisting in planning for the development and improvement of the SOC;
Measuring the consistency of the scope, level, quality and learning outcomes of a particular program in accordance with the educational goals and standards of the university;
Organizing professional development in the field of quality management, assisting in the self-evaluation of programs, as well as in the preparation of reports on their status and dynamics of development.
Support for research and methodological work
Coordination of research activities of the university together with the research committee;
Participation in the organization and conduct of research and scientific-methodological conferences, seminars, forums of teachers and students, as well as the publication of research results.
In its work, the department is guided by the mission, charter, strategic documents of the university, as well as the regulations of the department and the plan of its work.
The Official Regulations of the OQA
Performance and Quality Management System
Regulation on Hybrid/Online Education at the International University in Central Asia
Regulations on the Office of Quality Assurance