Horizon Campus emphasizes on Quality Assurance in Higher Education
Prof. Colin N. Peiris, Vice Chancellor of Horizon Campus, currently serves as Director, Quality Assurance and Accreditation ( QAA) Council of the University Grants Commission, Ministry of Higher Education and is a Quality Assurance Expert in Higher Education.
He served on the Director Board of International Network for Quality Assurance Agencies in Higher Education (INQAAHE) and is a member of Guideline for Good Practices Committee, INQAAHE. He serves in the Director Board of Asia Pacific Quality Network (APQN) for the 4th consecutive term.
Prof Colin has been responsible for the establishment of the Quality Assurance system in Sri Lankan Higher Education. He has been the recipient of six National and International awards that includes Quality Champion in 2013 and the Best Reviewer Trainer in 2014 for the Asia Pacific Region. He has published a range of both National and International publications and research articles on Quality Assurance in Higher Education.
He outlined the importance and need of Quality Assurance and Accreditation for Sri Lankan Universities and Institutes and said “with the globalization of higher education, national frameworks have been developed in many countries for higher educational institutes that in turn have helped those countries obtain global recognition of their qualifications. in Sri Lanka we are also in the process of compiling together a similar framework aimed at improving the quality of higher education offered by institutions throughout the country. It provides a comprehensive nationally consistent flexible framework for all qualifications consisting of five codes of practice covering key aspects that requires to be developed as components of a comprehensive QA framework. “
Explaining these areas Prof. Colin used his own institute, Horizon campus as an example . Maintaining these practices has led to Horizon Campus with a presence of just five years in the industry to attain the position of being the only private sector education institute in Sri Lanka to obtain recognition by the University Grants Commission (UGC) and the Ministry of Higher Education under two separate external assessments.
Prof Colin also stated “The first criteria were giving our academic panel training opportunities to enhance their teaching methodologies on a constant basis. The second was ensuring that our students attain the competencies and skills required by employers in the respective industries. For this our lecturers give students many hours of individual attention to gain the knowledge and understanding they require in various disciplines of study .This includes honing their ability to demonstrate both technical skills and soft skills and being able to apply this knowledge in a practical business context along with the confidence to exercise personal responsibility and accountability in their tasks in the workplace. The third is focusing attention on the consistency and comparability on promoting student mobility by creating more flexible arrangements for student learning by enabling them to combine employment with study through the Sri Lanka Qualifications Framework. The fourth is to induce quality as a main principle in every operation. This can be achieved by basing it around an internal system that continuously provides quality education though a holistic approach on a day to day basis. We have done this at Horizon Campus by using this method in our Curriculum Design and Content & Review, Teaching, Learning & Assessment Methods, Quality of Students, including Student Progress & Achievement, Extent & Use of Student Feedback, Skills Development and academic guidance and counseling. The fifth is to create a quality culture’ within the institution with the implementation of these internal QA mechanisms and create a sense of responsibility and a new awareness of quality process approaches throughout the entire Horizon campus and its staff. “
Prof; Colin concluded by saying “I am confident that this is the way forward for us and urge all higher education institutes in the country to adopt such methodologies. This in turn will position our education systems amongst the top in the education market globally and could result in the country reaping many benefits similar to those such as the UK, Australia, and Singapore.”