Abstract:

In higher education, developing and implementing Quality Improvement Plans (QIPs) is an accepted practice after each quality review, evaluation, or institutional audit exercise. This is done to ensure that the recommendations of the review panels are implemented to optimize process improvement in the core activities of the institution. The improvement plan outlines the actions, strategies, timelines and description of resources or support needed to achieve the desired outcome. Not much research has been done in QIP implementation in Higher Education Institutions as is the case in the Health Sciences sector. At the University of South Africa (Unisa), the Department of Quality Assurance and Enhancement (DQAE) is responsible for coordinating the process of QIP development, implementation and ensuring that these are submitted to the University Quality Committee (UQC) for approval. During the process of coordination, it was observed that some units submit their QIPs merely for compliance reasons instead of aiming at effecting improvements. This paper examined whether there has been effective process improvement in implementing a QIP for the Unisa Trial Audit conducted by the Commonwealth of Learning (COL) in four professional and administrative student support units (Institutional Quality Assurance & Enhancement, Ethics Division, Facilities Management and a Regional Office). The objective was to ascertain whether the units implemented the actions stated in the QIP, and whether these actions were effective or merely for compliance reasons. Data generated is from focus group discussions conducted with staff members responsible for implementing the QIP. Results indicated that there were effective process improvements as new ways of providing services to students were instituted. However, there were also areas of compliance. The study recommends that engagements with the QIP by the UQC should be strengthened as these engagements are vital for the units’ performance and planning for future improvement.

Keywords:

Quality improvement plan, continuous improvement, effectiveness, process improvement, compliance, implementing improvements.