The Center for Educational Improvement and Quality Assurance (CEIQA) of St. Mary’s University (SMU) held a consultative meeting with Quality Enhancement Committees (QECs) On Saturday, July 15, 2023, in the Syndicate Room. The meeting involved (QEC) members, representatives from various offices and departments and senior leaders of the University.
Nibretu Kebede (PhD) in his presentation defined Quality Enhancement as an essential management tool to track and assess the performance of activities in an organization, evaluate outcomes, ensure responsibility, and support decision-making.
On his presentation explained that since last year, the 13 QECs have been developing their annual plans and CEIQA has been overseeing and assessing their performances. The plan mainly includes activities that require teamwork, have strategic importance, and improve the service quality of the offices.
The presenter clarified that the objectives of monitoring and evaluation of the QECs are to check whether each committee has completed the planned activities or not, to evaluate the documentation system, reports, and minutes produced, to supervise the committee to focus on the upcoming activities, to identify any unplanned activities done by the committee, and to recognize the challenges and needs of each committee in fulfilling their duties and responsibilities.
He also reported that there has been a significant improvement in annual plan preparation, implementation, participation, and coordination of members on the 3rd quarter of 2014 EC. “However, in the 1st and 2nd quarters of 2015, CEIQA observed that some QECs have not only performed poorly but also showed reluctance to participate in committee work and attend the monitoring and evaluation session scheduled .” he added.
During the meeting it was noted that the QECs faced various challenges and problems in implementing their plans. The most common challenges are heavy workload, lack of commitment or interest to work in committee, frequent change of department heads, staff turnover, and QEC members.
The presentation was followed by a discussion where various QEC members shared their progresses and challenges. For example, some newly reorganized QECs were unable to follow their predecessors’ annual plans. Others struggled because their annual plans lack clarity or fail to give clear direction as to how to carry out the activities mentioned in the plan.
The president of the University remarked that QECs plans need to be overhauled, referring to some planning activities that require revision and reconsideration during the discussion.
The discussion was engaging and interactive, as the participants raised questions, and shared their insights and experiences on QECs’ planning, reporting, and other relevant issues.