Student involvement in the Egyptian quality assurance system
| Published date | 07 April 2015 |
| Date | 07 April 2015 |
| Pages | 123-148 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/QAE-05-2013-0021 |
| Author | Noha Elassy |
| Subject Matter | Education,Curriculum, instruction & assessment,Educational evaluation/assessment |
Student involvement in the
Egyptian quality assurance
system
Noha Elassy
Suez Canal University, Ismailia, Egypt
Abstract
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to study the extent and the quality of student involvement in
the quality assurance process (QAP) in Egyptian higher education institutions (HEIs).
Design/methodology/approach – In this study, two qualitative methods were used to explore the
extent and the quality of student involvement; these were focus groups and interviews. The aim of the
study was achieved by collecting data from samples of students and staff members belonging to 14
public and private universities and institutes in Egypt.
Findings – The results indicated that students were not efciently involved in the QAP at the
Egyptian HEIs. They were involved in responding to QA-related questionnaires to a large extent in the
case when the HEI was on its way to be accredited or if it was accredited already. It revealed that
students were not widely involved in committees regarding QAP. They were invited to meet the
external review panel members that were sent by the national accreditation body, but they did not
participate in writing the self-evaluation report or even reviewing it. Three factors inuencing the
extent of student involvement are highlighted.
Originality/value – The paper provides an empirical insight of the extent and the quality of student
involvement in Egyptian HEIs. The importance of this study comes from the fact that after the Egypt’s
uprising in January 25, 2011; community pressures appeared to precede positive changes, specically in
the educational sector. From that point of time, higher education (HE) students wanted to be seen as
partners in developing their HEIs. Therefore, this study introduces a set of recommendations to increase
student involvement to three main Egyptian institutions; these are the ministry of HE, the national
quality assurance body and the HEIs.
Keywords Egypt, Quality assurance, Higher education, Student involvement
Paper type Research paper
Introduction
Egypt is the largest country in the Middle East, with a population exceeding 94 million
(SIS, 2014), and 24.3 per cent of the population consists of young people (CAPMAS,
2011). In the Egyptian context, young people are not only the country’s most important
capital but they are also the largest segment of the Egyptian population. This youthful
population was one of the reasons for January 25, 2011 revolution. Following the
revolution, people, especially the young, are looking forward to feeling freedom and
democracy, as those were the two main demands of the revolution. Therefore, sharing in
the decision-making process is seen as a need for Egyptian society in general and for
higher education institutions (HEIs) in particular. It could be said that, in the past,
effective student engagement in the decision-making processes in HEIs was conducted
in a supercial way; however, in reality, this aspect was neglected. In post-revolutionary
Egypt, this should not be allowed, not least because of the attitudes of young people.
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
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Egyptian
quality
assurance
system
123
Received 16 May 2013
Revised 12 July 2014
Accepted 16 October 2014
QualityAssurance in Education
Vol.23 No. 2, 2015
pp.123-148
©Emerald Group Publishing Limited
0968-4883
DOI 10.1108/QAE-05-2013-0021
When young Egyptians rallied to overcome the old regime that had oppressed them for
decades (Pogyay, 2012, p. 1), many of them were desperately looking for their basic
rights to be considered in the decision-making processes and to have a say regarding the
quality of the education they receive. After Egypt’s uprising of January 2011, people
became more aware of their rights and want to express their demands and perceptions.
Community pressures appeared to provoke positive changes, specically in the
education sector, and higher education (HE) students wanted to be seen as partners in
developing their HEIs. They believed that their opinion should be heard, valued and
respected by the staff, as they thought that these were some of the rights that had been
ignored in the past. The researcher believed that the transformation of Egypt into a
democratic country shed light on a real desire of younger generations to participate in
decision-making processes. Consequently, this paper aimed to study the extent and the
quality of student involvement in the quality assurance process (QAP) at Egyptian
HEIs.
The HE system in Egypt had the highest enrolment of HE students in Africa (Teferra
and Altbach, 2004, p. 25), as the total number of students registered in HE was 2.1
million, according to government statistics (2011/2012) (IDSC, 2013, p. 3). There were
many types of organizations responsible for providing post-secondary education. These
vary from public to private HEIs: universities and institutes. There were 23 public
universities (SCU, 2014, p. 1) and 19 private universities (MOHE, 2013). There were also
an increasing number of intermediate and higher institutes, and international
universities. These types of HEIs are controlled by the Ministry of Higher Education and
Scientic Research (MOHE), which has jurisdiction over all HE. In addition to the
MOHE, the Supreme Council for Universities is the central coordinating and regulatory
body for public HEIs, whereas the coordination of the private HEIs is made through the
Supreme Council for Private Universities. Two HEIs are outside the jurisdiction of the
MOHE; these are Al-Azhar University and the American University in Cairo (AUC).
Al-Azhar University is the oldest surviving university that has an Islamic education
base (Teferra and Altbach, 2004, p. 23), and it runs Al-Azhar Institutes through a body
called the Supreme Council of Al-Azhar. Also, the AUC has a unique legal status as a
private institution outside the jurisdiction of Act No. 101, the private universities act of
1992 (OECD, 2010, p. 96).
This research aimed to study the extent and the quality of student involvement in the
Egyptian HEIs by applying one of the student involvement models suggested in the
literature (Elassy, 2012,2013a,2013b). Few studies have focused on student involvement
in QAP at the institutional level. Those that do so include Palomares (2012) regarding
the European Union countries and the Bologna process context; Narang (2012)
regarding India; Little et al. (2009),Lizzio and Wilson (2009),York Consulting (2006) and
SPARQS (2004) regarding the UK and specically Scotland. There has been
international good practice followed in some countries of involving student in the QAP
of their HEIs. In many countries, it was found that students were involved in QAP in
their HEIs by giving their feedback through responding to different kinds of internal
and/or external surveys. These focused on evaluating the quality of some aspects in
their institutions, or on their satisfaction with the institution as a whole. For example, in
the UK, the National Student Survey was implemented (NUS, 2009, p. 26); in Australia,
the course experience questionnaires (CEQ) has been used (Rush and Hart, 2005); and
in the USA, students give their opinions through questionnaires about the quality of
QAE
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