Shaping internal quality assurance from a triple heritage: Daystar University, Kenya

Abstract

Quality improvement has become one of the most important issues in higher education policy. Although public funding for higher education is in decline, universities are still expected to satisfy the learning needs of students and enrich their overall learning experience (Kanyangi, 2006), while also meeting the demands of external stakeholders through the provision of high-quality, labour market-relevant academic offerings. Kenya’s education ‘master plan’ (MoEST, 2007) states that quality education should demonstrate a shift in focus away from simply passing exams towards an approach that encompasses the discovery of talents and the development of analytical, cognitive, and creative potential, enhanced by the prudent utilization of resources. As Ludeman et al. (2009) argue, HEIs in Kenya now need to focus on students and put their needs at the centre of all they do. Quality in higher education should be viewed as the attempt to support students across a range of dimensions, including: teaching and academic programmes, research and scholarship, staffing, student support, buildings, facilities, equipment, services to the community, and the academic environment (Venkatraman, 2007; Sirvanci, 2004; Sakthivel and Raju, 2006). In a globalized world, quality in higher education should also have an international dimension, expressed through the exchange of knowledge, interactive networking, mobility of teachers/students, and international research projects within the context of national cultural values and circumstances.