Bureau seeks to evaluate local ‘higher education’ institutions
Bid to apply quality standards set by authority
KUWAIT CITY, June 12: In a step considered as the first of its kind, a recent meeting of the Board of Directors of the National Bureau for Academic Accreditation and Education Quality Assurance (NBAQ) ended with a decision to start evaluating local higher education institutions, and applying the quality standards set by the authority on them, reports Al-Qabas daily.
Two memoranda of understanding between the NBAQ and the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education in the United Kingdom (QAA), and the Education and Training Evaluation Commission in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (ETEC) were reviewed during the meeting in order to use the two bodies to train the staff of the bureau and to also consider the possibility of using external arbitrators from both sides to evaluate local institutions according to the standards of the national body.
Praised
The Minister of Oil and Minister of Higher Education Dr. Muhammad Al-Faris praised the efforts of the bureau in improving the quality of higher education and its keenness to support the local labor market with high and homogeneous academic inputs either from inside or outside Kuwait in order to enhance Kuwait’s competitiveness globally in line with the vision of 2035.
He insisted that the quality of education and the requirements of sound educational attainment require setting the necessary controls and procedures to ensure their achievement in educational institutions that meet international standards, affirming that this is what the bureau has been doing in its various councils by issuing decisions and setting procedures aimed at leading the process of improving higher education in Kuwait and assessing its qualitative level.
The minister said the bureau also supports local higher education institutions to reach a regional leadership position, and identifies higher education institutions outside Kuwait in terms of the quality that allows the accreditation of the qualifications of its graduates.
In a press statement issued after the meeting, the Director General of the agency Dr. Hamad Al-Adwani explained that the aforementioned memoranda of understanding were presented, whereby QAA and ETEC will be used for training employees of NBAQ and other educational institutions in the country on academic accreditation processes. Virtual workshops will be used for the training purpose. At the end of the training program, a certificate of training quality reference or training quality practitioner will be granted.
Revealed
He revealed that the most important developments in academic standards and evaluation controls were discussed, in addition to the lists of accredited universities and the latest studies and recommendations issued by the competent committees regarding updating the lists of higher education institutions in the Gulf Cooperation Council countries. He affirmed that the bureau took the appropriate decisions in this regard.
Dr. Al-Adwani concluded by praising the constructive and fruitful cooperation and continuous coordination between NBAQ and the Ministry of Higher Education, which greatly contributed to the continuous improvement of academic outputs and keeping pace with Kuwait’s vision regarding the quality of education outputs to serve the labor market.
Last month, Minister Al-Faris has called on the concerned authorities to increase the number of seats available at the external missions and higher education institutions inside the country more than the number of Kuwaiti students expected to graduate from high school in the academic year 2021-2022 from the public and private schools.