Committed to quality

SINCE the launch of the Setara Rating for Higher Education Institutions in 2007 – the rating of the quality of teaching and learning of participating universities at the undergraduate level – three subsequent ratings have been released biennially with the latest exercise attracting the participation of 53 institutions.

This exercise laid the foundation for the Malaysian Qualifications Agency ( MQA) to later introduce the Discipline- Based Rating System ( D- Setara) that rates specific clusters of disciplines at the undergraduate level.

Established in November 2007, the MQA is the governing body responsible for quality assurance among higher education institutions in the country.

Its main roles are to implement and enforce the Malaysian Qualifications Framework as the reference point for the criteria and standards for national qualifications as well as monitor the quality assurance practices and accreditation of universities in Malaysia and their courses.

Working on improvements

The four clusters of disciplines rated under D- Setara are engineering, medicine, dentistry and pharmacy, health sciences and hospitality and tourism.

Neethiahnanthan Ari Ragavan, dean of the School of Hospitality, Tourism and Culinary Arts at Taylor’s University, says, “The reason these four areas of study were chosen is that they were underlined in the Government’s education initiatives of the National Key Economic Areas under the Economic Transformation Programmme.”

Similar to the Setara exercise, each discipline cluster is rated and classified into six tiers – Tier 1: Weak, Tier 2: Satisfactory, Tier 3: Good, Tier 4: Very Good, Tier 5: Excellent and Tier 6: Outstanding.

International Medical University’s ( IMU) deputy vice- chancellor of academics Prof Peter Pook says, “The D- Setara rating exercise allows universities to benchmark the quality of teaching and learning of their specific tertiary disciplines against other universities.

“It allows participating universities to reflect and assess the quality of their teaching and learning framework, its implementation and to further improve their programmes based on international best practices.”

Assoc Prof Dr Miszaina Osman, deputy dean of academics at Universiti Tenaga Nasional’s College of Engineering, says, “The D- Setara was an important exercise for the university because it was one of the first rating exercises undertaken by the engineering faculty to rate the quality of teaching and learning.

“It enabled us to put a high rating standard for our 12- year- old engineering programme at that time.”