Development of the National Quality Assurance System for Higher Education in Malawi

: a critical policy trajectory study

Abstract

Quality assurance (QA) reforms within the current policy trajectory of constructing knowledge-based economies occupy a central place in higher education policy globally. Yet research literature shows that it is both a theoretical and practical challenge to develop and implement an effective QA system for higher education especially where QA reforms are informed by global imperatives such that globally the search for the most satisfying QA system was ongoing. This critical education policy study aimed to explore and understand how the national QA system for higher education in Malawi that emerged with the establishment of the National Council for Higher Education (NCHE) in 2011 had been developed within the globalising environment of QA reform; how it was being implemented; and the influence it was having on practices within universities.

A qualitative case study methodology was deployed where NCHE was the primary case study and principal focus of investigation. This was supported by three secondary case studies of a private university and two public university colleges to provide more insights on the influence of the QA system. Data were obtained from documentary evidence and interviews with forty (n=40) participants comprising national policymakers, senior university managers, academic unit managers and academic staff across the case universities. A modified policy trajectory framework that accounted for the multi-scalar (local, national, regional and global) dimension of QA reforms, state-centred constraints and the dynamic two-way interaction of structure and agency guided the collection, analysis and interpretation of data.

The study argues that the problems of QA and management in higher education cannot be solved by identifying the ‘right’ QA system design and methodology or adjusting the strategy as premised on technical rationality and functionality perspectives, even though important this might be in achieving strategic ends. Rather, this also requires attending to the link between the QA reform and the political context in which specific QA methodologies are constructed. The evidence supports this argument by showing that the nature of the policy development processes including who was involved and the power dynamics at play had significant implications on the ensuing QA system design and methodologies, which eventually affected the implementation and overall impact of the QA system. The study concluded that the key principle of having the national QA system and external QA agency responsible for regulating higher education in Malawi was not the problem. But policy actors had problems with how the design of the QA system was conceptualised, the standards that were developed and how the system was being implemented. The implication was that instead of denying the political nature of QA, it was better to accept claims by scholars such as Michael Skolnik that QA in higher education “is a socially constructed domain of power and design QA systems in a way that is appropriate for a political process”.

Date of Award	21 Mar 2023
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	University of Bristol
Sponsors	Commonwealth Scholarship Commission
Supervisor	Lisa Lucas (Supervisor), Bruce J Macfarlane (Supervisor) & David Sands (Supervisor)