Abstract:

Improving the quality of education has become an essential objective pursued by most higher education institutions (HEI) to improve the current educational policies, and to improve the performance of the university systems. Therefore we find that most universities head towards the introduction of quality accreditation and have worked to develop mechanisms to ensure the quality of their programs and to develop systems, procedures and quality standards in line with global trends and the circumstances of each society.
Evaluating the performance of these institutions must be based on benchmarks that help achieve a quality assurance where the output of the institution is in conformity with the objectives and standards set for them, and help to achieve the standards of accreditation. In practice, using such standards would help the institution analyze its performance detecting strengths and weaknesses.

There are various standards and methods to evaluate the performance of HEI. This diversity would help institutions take accurate judgments and rational decisions. Common techniques in the preparation of evaluation standards are qualitative and quantitative evaluations. The former uses various tools and methods such as discussions, interviews, observations and examination of records, case studies, questionnaires and others. In the light of information, data and evidence collected results and judgments are summarized, which indicate the quality of performance of the institution, especially in terms of the quality of inputs, processes and outputs. The latter technique depends on translating these judgments into digital forms. This technique provides institutions with a deeper look at every element of the performance of the institution quantitatively each on its own. It is noted that the integration between these two approaches and following the set criteria help to clarify the final judgments on the institution in terms of its performance quality and the possibility to get a certificate of quality assurance and accreditation.

In this paper, emphasis will be placed on the first type of measurement: the qualitative one. When establishing this type of measurement, certain aspects, related to the educational process in higher education institutions, should be addressed such as the quality of the vision, mission and goals of the institution, the quality of planning, leadership and administrative management, financial and material resources, faculty members, students, student services, programs and curricula, scientific research, community service and evaluation. These measurements must be made in a way that measures the performance of the institution in terms of the quality of inputs, processes and outputs to answer the prime question that this paper seeks to address i.e., the suggested measurements to evaluate the performance of higher education institutions in the light of quality assurance and accreditation criteria. This paper will adopt an analytical and descriptive approach to achieve its objective. It is hoped that the present paper comes up with results and recommendations that contribute to the formation of a broader theoretical framework in order to conduct deeper and more comprehensive future studies on these measurements.

Keywords:

Accrediation, quality assurance.