Review on the Meta-Review to APQR
In June, 2022, the special research project entitled “ Review on the Meta-Review to APQR” (approved by APQN Sixth Board in June, 2021) has been completed by the team under the leadership of Prof.Dr. Jianxin Zhang and Dr. Jagannath Patil, APQR co-chairperson and chairperson.
APQR officially began its first APQR review in June 23-25, 2015. The three-day site-review was conducted to Fiji Higher Education Council (FHEC) by a well-known review panel. This “first milestone review" has opened the way for APQR to carry out the register review system in the Asia-Pacific Region. From 2015 to 2020, APQR has reviewed eight QAAs from six countries (see Table 1).
Table 1 List of the eight QAAs accepted onto APQR
|
# |
Country |
Name of the Quality Assurance Agencies (QAAs) |
Review Time |
|
1 |
Fiji |
Fiji Higher Education Commission (FHEC) |
2015 |
|
2 |
Russia |
Russian Register (RR) |
2017 |
|
3 |
Russia |
National Centre for Public review(NCPA) |
2017 |
|
4 |
Indonesia |
Indonesian review Agency for Higher Education in Health (IAAHEH) |
2018 |
|
5 |
Kazakhstan |
Eurasian Centre for review and Quality Assurance in Higher Education and Health Care (ECAQA) in Kazakhstan |
2019 |
|
6 |
Mongolia |
Mongolian National Council for Education review (MNCEA) |
2019 |
|
7 |
Kazakhstan |
Independent Agency for review and Rating (IAAR) in Kazakhstan |
2019 |
|
8 |
Malaysia |
Finance review Agency (FAA) in Malaysia |
2020 |
APQR officially began its first APQR review in June 23-25, 2015. The three-day site-review was conducted to Fiji Higher Education Council (FHEC) by a well-known review panel. This “first milestone review" has opened the way for APQR to carry out the register review system in the Asia-Pacific Region. From 2015 to 2020, APQR has reviewed eight QAAs from six countries (see Table 1).
Table 1 List of the eight QAAs accepted onto APQR
Source: APQR REGISTER. [EB/OL][2021-10-25].https://www.APQR.co/register/view-as-a-list.
Based on the 11 review criteria of APQR, this research carried out "meta review" with 8 Self-Review Report (SRR) provided by the 8 QAAs and the 8 APQR review reports completed by the review panel; at the same time, supplemented by a survey entitled “APQN Review Status” and some in-deep interviews.
Firstly, this research makes a comparative analysis of APQR review of 8 QAA acceptance onto APQR under 11 criteria. Secondly, based on the "Survey of APQR Review Status", “satisfaction level” of the APQR review is analyzed. Finally, on the basis of the above, it summarizes the experiences that can be used for reference and the spaces for APQR improvement. It is found that APQR review conforms to the concept of "the fourth generation review": (1) from the review basis, APQR is a dynamic review under constructivism; (2)from the review focus, APQR focuses on three aspects: openness,inclusive and credibility of the QAAs; (3) from the review results, APQR is flexible to have four levels of comprehensive review.
This research has conducted “meta-review”/ "re-examined" the APQR review in the past six years, summed up and optimized the good experiences, summarized and analyzed the problems existing in the review, and put forward future improvement suggestions. We believe, with the continuous efforts of experts , council members and staff, we can continue to contribute to quality assurance of higher education in the Asia-Pacific Region and witness the bright future of higher education in the Asia-Pacific Region.
(Written by Jianxin Zhang, APQR co-chairperson)
