“Let Me Enjoy Teaching” Improving Academic Quality Assurance Practices to Attain Teaching Excellence: Case Study of Selected Private Higher Education Institutions in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to identify the academic quality assurance practices that should be employed to attain teaching excellence at selected private higher education institutions in the city of Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. The study adopted a qualitative interpretive research design and utilized one-to-one, in-depth, semi-structured interviews with 12 participants. The sample was purposefully selected and comprised six faculty members, four program directors, one senior academic staff member, and one junior non-academic administrator, from three private higher education institutions in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Findings revealed four categories of practices: a) Must-keep practices, b) Must-modify practices, c) Must-add practices, and d) Must-avoid practices. Some of the practices relating to quality assurance that the study identified are maintaining important evaluation-related practices while providing feedback for improvement, closing the loop, educating all employees about and increasing their reengagement in quality assurance practice, and reducing paperwork and work duplication. This study concludes by recommending that higher education institutions employ the strategies discussed in the findings to promote teaching creativity and to improve the quality of teaching and learning, to achieve teaching excellence.

Internal Quality Assurance of the Education Program at Higher Educational Institutions

“…In the study of Hariri (2021), the practices of ensuring the quality of academic education were studied; it was recommended to take into account the need to work on the excellence of teaching, the professional competencies of the teacher. The necessity of university management's support for ensuring high quality of teaching has been determined.…”

“…The research aim outlined is also considered in the presented academic paper. Some studies (Hariri, 2021;Lytvynenko et al, 2022) have considered ways to ensure and improve pedagogical practices; experiences related to ensuring the quality of education and implemented in private higher educational institutions were studied.…”