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European Journal of Applied Sciences – Vol. 10, No. 4

Publication Date: August 25, 2022

DOI:10.14738/aivp.104.12695. Koomson, G. A., Danso, M. K., & Dortey, E. A. (2022). The Effect of Monitoring and Evaluation on Quality Assurance in Higher

Education (A Case Study of Accra Technical University (Atu), Accra-Ghana). European Journal of Applied Sciences, 10(4). 184-218.

Services for Science and Education – United Kingdom

The Effect of Monitoring and Evaluation on Quality Assurance in

Higher Education (A Case Study of Accra Technical University

(Atu), Accra-Ghana)

Gifty Ahwireng Koomson

ACCRA Technical University, Ghana

Mabel Korankye Danso

ACCRA Technical University, Ghana

Esther Ansah Dortey

ACCRA Technical University, Ghana

ABSTRACT

The study aimed to examine the effect of monitoring and evaluation on quality

assurance in higher education using Accra Technical University, Accra- Ghana. The

study was guided by three research questions grounded in the literature of

monitoring and evaluation and quality assurance in higher education. The mixed

method research approach which involves both qualitative and quantitative

approach was employed for the study. A convenience sampling technique was used

to select 60 respondents. Questionnaire and interview were the main data

collection instrument. Statistical Product for Service Solution (SPSS) was used in the

analysis of the data. Pearson correlation coefficient tool (t-test), chi – square,

frequencies, percentages and tables were used to present the data. The study

revealed that distractions by colleagues, conflict of interests by superior officers,

insufficient financial resources, lack of support from management and difficulties

in accessing information are some of the challenges to effective monitoring and

evaluation in higher education. It was also discovered that monitoring and

evaluation helps to deliver good quality assurance results in terms of – content,

professional development, leadership, academic results. It was recommended that

there should be continued managerial support through resource allocation to

address non-conformities in the quality assurance policies in the university. It was

also recommended that there should be extensive examination of the nature of

relationship that exists between the vice chancellor registrar, examination

department and the quality assurance directorate in the university by focusing on

the exact landscape of the relationship as this will help to understand the strengths

and drawbacks of the existing relationship.

Keywords: Monitoring; Evaluation; Quality Assurance; Higher Education; Data.

INTRODUCTION

In a society full of diversity, ideologies and opinions, Higher Education (HE) means different

things to different people. There is more to Higher Education than the higher level of

educational structure in a country. In terms of the level, HE includes college and university

teaching-learning towards which students’ progress is assessed to attain higher educational

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Koomson, G. A., Danso, M. K., & Dortey, E. A. (2022). The Effect of Monitoring and Evaluation on Quality Assurance in Higher Education (A Case

Study of Accra Technical University (Atu), Accra-Ghana). European Journal of Applied Sciences, 10(4). 184-218.

URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.14738/aivp.104.12695

qualification [8]. HE imparts indebt knowledge and understanding so as to advance the

students to new frontiers of knowledge in different walks of life (subject domain). It is about

knowing more and more about less and less. It develops the students’ ability to question and

seek truth and makes him/her competent to critique on contemporary issues. It broadens the

intellectual powers of the individual within a narrow specialization but also gives him or her,

wider perspective of the world around [24]. A recent trend in international development

assistance has been the increased importance of monitoring and evaluation (M & E) to both

donor and recipient-country governments. And for international aid, M & E has become all but

a single-word synonym for indicators, which weakens its meaning as a two-step process of

monitoring and evaluating [44].

In the 1980s, higher education in developed Western countries was transformed from being an

elite system into a mass education one. In a similar fashion, higher education (HE) in Ghana

followed a similar trend during the same period. It was feared that such a rapid expansion

within a relatively short time had led to the lowering of academic standards, and this raised

concerns about quality assurance (QA) (Mok, 2003). At the same time, in order to achieve the

maximum output from their allocated budgets, universities faced pressure to demonstrate their

‘efficiency’, ‘effectiveness’ and ‘accountability’ [8]. The initial aim of QA systems was simply to

help higher education institutions improve the quality of their provision. However, QA systems

has evolved to also determine or influence resource allocation, and this affects the way in which

universities work internally, as well as the way they react to external pressures such as the

allocation of funding by the government [47].

Beginning in the 1980s, state policy-makers in West Europe became interested in higher

education quality and initiated the trials of new policy strategies to assure and improve the

teaching and learning quality. Accreditation in Ghana, which has endured for over 80 years, is

being transformed from a valued private-sector process to a process that is subject to more and

more state involvement. This change is highly influenced by the public accountability

movement that had roots in the 1980s [17]. The external concern with higher education quality

from spread quickly from the West to other countries and now we have over thirty years of

experience with “modern” external quality assurance schemes.

The growing interest in higher education quality was mainly brought on by the rapid growth of

student numbers against a backcloth of diminishing public funding, the diversification in the

student body, programmes and institutions, and the general quest for better public service [17]

[58]. While the academic literature that emerged since last few decades has often challenged

the need for or appropriateness of these new external quality assurance mechanisms, people

have realised that the traditional way of assuring academic quality, mainly internal to higher

education institutions, were less effective and outmoded in the context of the changing higher

education systems and environments [16]. In the words of Dill [16], we “cannot go home again.”

No university in any national location can escape the “gravitational pull” of the quality

assurance discourse nowadays, as indicated by [41]. Questioning the effectiveness of external

quality assurance is necessary and timely, as many countries such as the United Kingdom,

Australia and China are conducting reforms in higher education, with particular interest in

quality assurance.

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European Journal of Applied Sciences (EJAS) Vol. 10, Issue 4, August-2022

Services for Science and Education – United Kingdom

Monitoring and evaluation are used by governments worldwide to improve school systems and

educational results, and can play an integral role in holistic education transformation.

Education leaders at all levels can benefit from applying the planning, monitoring and

evaluation cycle and outcomes-based planning and evaluation to education transformation

initiatives [53]. Monitoring and evaluation can help educational transformation programs

define and measure quality indicators and measures of the education transformation process,

gauge progress toward desired educational outcomes, increase stakeholder participation, and

empower school leaders and teachers to build and sustain transformation in schools. As each

educational system is unique, evaluators should be prepared to vary their evaluation approach

based on program purpose and context [55]. Technology is playing an increasingly important

role in increasing data access and use by school leaders and teachers to inform instruction and

improve student outcomes in education transformation initiatives.

Monitoring and evaluation for quality assurance (M & E) can play an important role in ensuring

that holistic education transformation initiatives are successful and sustainable. “The M&E

process should be an integral component of any planned ICT in education program and should

be factored into planning before a project starts” [29]. Planning for monitoring and evaluation

is one of ten critical conversations needed to bring about educational transformation, [9]. With

this background, the study seeks to assess the effect of monitoring and evaluation on quality

assurance in higher education using Accra Technical University as a case study organization.

PROBLEM STATEMENT

As far as Ghana is concerned, existing studies on the issue of quality assurance have focused on

examining the concept [48], methods and procedures of carrying out quality evaluation [1], the

organization and practices of assuring education quality [3],[49], accreditation of private

higher education institutions [7], stakeholder perception on quality (Lodesso, 2012), role of

quality education for meeting development needs, and other related themes.

However, little is researched about the institutionalization process of effective monitoring and

evaluation to ensure quality assurance in public universities. In fact, none of the existing studies

were dedicated exclusively to investigating the need for quality assurance in higher education,

quality assurance methodologies in higher education, changes facing the academic profession

due to quality assurance, using monitoring and evaluation to improve higher education

outcomes and challenges to effective monitoring and evaluation in higher education, thus

largely remained unaddressed. This study therefore is dedicated to filling this research gap.

Henceforth the study aims at examining the effect of monitoring and evaluation on quality

assurance in higher education, using Accra Technical University (ATU) as a case study

organization.

Research Objectives

1. To examine the impact of quality assurance on academic’s behavior and perceptions of

the quality assurance unit in higher educational institutions at Accra Technical

University.

2. To analyze the challenges to effective monitoring and evaluation in higher education at

Accra Technical University.

3. To determine how monitoring and evaluation can be used to improve higher education

outcomes at Accra Technical University.