The Role of the Internal Quality Assurance Units in Continuous Improvement in Albanian Public Universities
Keywords:
universities, higher education institutions, quality assurance and assessment, internal quality assurance unit, service qualityAbstract
Universities during their operation undertake improvement strategies to be as competitive as possible in their sector. One of the ways that universities use to develop policies and procedures as a preliminary step for continuous quality improvement is to create Internal Quality Assurance Units. Albanian Public Higher Education Institutions have officially created these units especially during the last decade, initially as a requirement regarding periodic external accreditation, but later seen as a natural necessity for continuous improvement. The focus of this research paper is to show the role of the Internal Quality Assurance Units in continuous improvement in Albanian Public Universities and for the development of their quality culture. Data from national public bodies, as well as interviews directed to the students and academic staff from Albanian Public Higher Education Institutions have been used to analyze and discuss about this topic and to give possible suggestions regarding optimizing and maximizing the work of these units to make these universities well-known and competitive nationally and as possible regionally.
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