Analysis of Quality Assurance Initiatives in Associate Degree Program of Teacher Education Institutions of Southern Punjab

Abstract

Quality assurance (QA) in higher education has grown to be of great concern especially with regard to the Associate Degree Programs (ADPs) in teacher education. Although higher education Commission of Pakistan has introduced Quality Assurance mechanisms in the form of Quality Improvement Cells and policy of standardization, there are still vast implementation barriers in remote areas such as Southern Punjab. It’s a qualitative study of explanatory research design so the purposive sampling techniques was used to select the sample of the study. This paper assessed the correspondence between current. Semi-structured interviews with 15 administrators and 30 faculty members, institutional documents such as QA manuals, curriculum reports and policy documents were used to collect data. Patterns and challenges were determined through thematic analysis. Key shortcomings were observed related to the execution of QA such as use of old curriculum, scarce faculty development opportunities and poor practice of assessment. There was a profound disjunction between HEC-directed structures and organizational practices, especially those of institutions with scarce resources in rural areas. Systematic implementation was low and only few of institutions had contextualized QA policies. The reform of QA would need to incorporate structural change, more stakeholder engagement, professional development throughout the lifetime and localized monitoring systems to be significant. The key to the sustainable enhancement of the quality of teacher education is a region-specific QA model that proposed gradual implementation with the involvement of stakeholders and resource optimization.