Pedagogy and research at work during the era of quality assurance policy implementation in Universities

Abstract

so as to transform global communities economically and socially. Quality Assurance (QA) Policy aims at establishing a culture of continuous quality improvement in Institutions of higher learning; colleges and Universities globally. The process may be hijacked or frustrated by institution’s internal management and national government policy implementation procedures. The existing literature shows that there is need to address access to policy knowledge, negotiation between policy makers and policy implementers, empowerment of policy implementers, influencing mindset of policy implementers. The two objectives of this article are to establish how quality assurance policy implementation can be cognitively enhanced by universities and political leaders in Developing countries. A second objective is to establish relationship between pedagogy, research and implementation of quality assurance policy in universities. This article originates from partial data collected during PhD field research 2017 & 2018 where the following variables were observed significant for institutional policy implementation. The four major constructs ranked according to significance in policy implementation process were as Policy knowledge (cognitive value) 0.883, negotiation between policy makers and policy implementers or involved parties 0.947, empowerment of policy implementers in decision-making 0.873 and perceived service delivery or self-examination by service providers 0.835. Sub-test scores made these constructs to gain accumulative percentage after considering principal components analysis. Some few variables of low factor loading were retained on the scale due to their significance found in the literature review. The current practice of policy implementation in universities and governments remains a challenge as cognitive value is not considered by policy makers and politicians in different global economies. There is a lot of resistance towards transformation and policy implementation due to failure of normal policy cycle. Little is being achieved and verbal practice is surpassing practice or reality of development and quality service. The few intellectuals remaining in developing countries where “masked-democracy” is significant, they are seeking VISA to enslave themselves in search for freedom of expression and possibility of practicing what they know through research. A lot of discrepancy exist between what they say, know and their practice. Pedagogy in such institutions and countries is practiced with reservation and little is achieved by the students due to system failures.