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This chapter provides an in-depth examination of the quality assurance process in the higher education system of Iraq and the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI) in terms of standards, processes, and procedures. More specifically, the chapter aims to examine the impact of the quality assurance process on the quality development of education in Iraq and Kurdistan Region, as well as identify the challenges that staff (top management and faculty members) face at various higher education institutions therein. For this purpose, a qualitative/quantitative analysis was conducted, which involved reviewing existing official policies, reports, and forms; interviewing top officials (presidents, vice-presidents, quality assurance directors) at a few higher education institutions (public and private); and developing a survey questionnaire that detected the perspective of top officials and faculty members regarding the level of impact quality assurance has had on the development of higher education. A total of 284 university staff members were surveyed from different universities in Iraq and Kurdistan. A total of 29 universities from Iraq and Kurdistan were represented in the survey. The respondents came from a variety of colleges and departments at public and private universities, with 79% of respondents coming from public universities. Study results demonstrate that quality assurance has contributed significantly to the improvement of university staff performance. There are a number of recommendations made within this chapter for educational leaders, which could lead to the further development of quality practices and the upgrading of the higher education system.

Globally, higher education institutions have become reliant on a quality assurance (QA) system over the past four decades. QA is considered to be one of the most important drivers of continuous improvement and an essential tool for promoting excellence in teaching, learning, and research. It provides a framework for establishing and maintaining standards, and for assuring stakeholders that programs and services meet or exceed these standards. Despite the wide range of quality assurance models available to higher education institutions, there remains considerable debate over which model is the most effective, as well as what criteria should be used for evaluating the effectiveness of these models. Universities in the Middle East have tried to adopt different models of QA that can meet their needs and expectations and provide a framework for continuous improvement. A major objective of this book is to provide an overview account of the QA process as implemented in the higher education systems of a number of Middle East countries, including Egypt, Iraq, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates. This book lays out essential theoretical and practical insights into the role of QA policies and practices in higher education in the Middle East countries and builds upon this idea to provide a blueprint for future academic leaders in these countries and other Middle Eastern countries to enhance their QA policies and practices and drive higher education in those countries forward.

Faced with the existential threat of COVID-19, the College of Business Administration (CBA) at Princess Nourah Bint Abdulrahman University (PNU) decided to work toward the dual goals to achieve accreditation and an effective social and educational response to the pandemic. CBA’s quality improvement process was implemented synergistically with Seligman’s (2011) PERMA well-being model, namely positive emotions, engagement, relationship, meaning, and accomplishment/achievement. The case study methodology, which was based on direct observations, faculty and students’ interviews, surveys, feedback, documents, and archival data records, allowed to capture the context and lived reality of all the participants in QAA processes. Results showed that quality improvement was facilitated through three domains: (1) governance and academic leadership, (2) teaching and learning, and (3) digitalization and technology. Within each domain, specific programs, activities, human resources, and networks were enabled through a framework based on the PERMA well-being model. As a result of this hybrid QAA well-being implementation process, CBA achieved NCAAA accreditation for its offered programs, while experiencing high levels of well-being and commitment to teaching and learning by the staff members and students. The description of CBA’s accreditation journey might be insightful for other higher education institutions (HEIs).

In light of Egypt’s expanding flow of online learning (OL), quality assurance (QA) has undoubtedly become a strategic priority. In the near future, QA strategy is anticipated to be a major topic of discussion in educational policy talks. Critical policy concerns must be addressed, like sustaining globally acceptable QA standards and responding to the government’s and other stakeholders’ goals and objectives for OL. Our chapter aspires to offer a contribution to current literature in this regard. This chapter aims to investigate the aspects of QA in maintaining OL, particularly in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. Particularly, we analyze internal QA of OL in the Egyptian higher education (HE) sector through quality assurance and accreditation project (QAAP) and program of continuous improvement and qualifying for accreditation (PCIQA). We discuss the external quality assurance and accreditation of Egyptian HE institutions with a special focus on the national authority for quality assurance and accreditation of education (NAQAAE). We investigate the policies, practices, and quality standards that are employed by HE institutions to ensure the quality of online courses and programs through document analysis.

The involvement of stakeholders such as employers, alumni, and students has always been considered a key element in improving the higher education (HE) system. While considering stakeholders as key players in serving the market and in improving HE instruction, a two-sided collaborative involvement should aim at satisfying the mutual interests and overcoming existing barriers. Quality assurance systems have always supported crossing these barriers to link with the external stakeholders. However, many of the external quality assurance agencies (EQA) in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region specify a group of external holders, limiting the various types of key stakeholders needed to enhance the academic programs. On the other hand, there are encountered risks in involving stakeholders if left with no objective guidance, especially that quality agencies are formidably urging the universities to consider the external stakeholders’ inputs to satisfy the quality assurance standards. The main objective of this chapter is to investigate the types of stakeholders’ and their levels of involvement within the local higher education institutions (HEIs). The chapter aims to provide an insight to invest in this involvement and utilize it to further improve the programs and their graduate attributes and suggests actions that would proficiently and truly enhance the involvement of external stakeholders. The outcomes of this chapter are expected to guide the EQAs and the HEIs to develop new practices in involving stakeholders, such as curriculum input, collegiate internships, aligning graduate attributes to market needs, financial support through endowments, professional development, and partnerships in service-level agreements.

The global spread of the COVID-19 pandemic has largely transformed the higher education ecosystem and shifted the modes of delivery around the world. The rapid shift from traditional face-to-face teaching to online delivery was accompanied by a set of significant challenges. In Lebanon, the situation was exacerbated by a plethora of political, economic, and humanitarian crises. Even the most well-prepared Lebanese higher education institutions were facing an insurmountable challenge to maintain education quality under extremely strenuous circumstances and limited resources. The challenges included the absence of clear quality assurance mechanisms, problems associated with limited internet connectivity due to frequent electric power outages, the lack of teacher and student preparedness for online delivery, and the absence of online-ready curricula. Nevertheless, Lebanese universities were able to make the necessary adjustments for their students to complete their education using available resources and minimal training. The current chapter explores the challenges faced by private and public universities in Lebanon and the approaches utilized to overcome tremendous limitations. We discuss the lessons learned during the process of adopting online and hybrid classroom learning, and the opportunities for growth that were brought about by unforeseen circumstances. We also introduce the changes needed on the institutional, national, and regional levels to prepare for the post-pandemic era in higher education.

Education to an international standard that can provide successful careers has arguably been the main drive of many parents to allocate scarce financial resources to the education of their progenies. Competition for high-calibre degrees has seen an explosion of opportunity in the private education sector. As many Global South countries do not have the equivalent control of standards provided in the United Kingdom (UK) by the Quality Assurance Agency, this can lead to dissatisfaction with the qualifications received in the Global South. This chapter aims to explore the factors influencing participation in higher education in the Global North versus the Global South, particularly where these relate to or vary by locality, and the relative influence these have on the propensity of the learners living in these areas to progress into higher education in local universities. The conceptual framework and methodology provided in this chapter show the differences between transnational education (TNE) as primarily a standalone or independent activity supported by a UK higher education institution (HEI)/provider versus being a collaborative effort between a UK host university and a South/Southeast Asian HEI university partner. The methodology provides a strategy for UK host institutions to best provide carefully aligned independent or collaborative partnerships with the partner country regulatory bodies. The chapter concludes with the author’s personal reflections and recommendations based on decades of collaborative and independent university provision of TNE. These reflections are focused on design-based courses in selected South/Southeast Asian HEI partnerships with the College of Architecture and Design at Birmingham City University.

Although universities have been decentralized for academic freedom and autonomy, resources are being increasingly centralized, and the role of central administration is growing for efficiency and excellence reasons. At the same time, a division of labor is progressing by assigning specific tasks to professionals. The professionals are also centrally managed. Educational development was introduced by central administration to cope with the massification and quality assurance of higher education. Although it played a great part in promoting educational reform, it also suffered from the rejection of academics and the lack of methodology. Unlike ITC service and student service, educational development touches the autonomy of academics and is always torn between the central administration and academics. This chapter analyzes the structural and cultural difficulty of educational development in Japan by tracing its historical development and by comparing to other countries.