Implementing quality assurance in tertiary-level colleges in Bangladesh: readiness and leadership support

Abstract

Bangladesh’s college sector is in crisis. Poor governance and leadership, staff and student quality, inadequate resources and a weak accountability and monitoring system are among the many challenges. In 2017, the Government of Bangladesh established large-scale Continuing Professional Development (CPD) training for leaders, teachers and policymakers from the National University affiliated colleges to build capacity and improve the overall quality of teaching and learning. This mixed-method study uses Holt’s Readiness Instrument and Focus Group Discussions to identify participant readiness and leadership support in implementing quality assurance activities in these colleges. The study shows that CPD participants are generally more ready to implement quality assurance activities than non-participants. However, the study indicates a lack of leadership support for implementing quality assurance activities in the colleges. The article concludes that, irrespective of participant readiness, committed senior leaders are critical for success and improving institutional readiness to implement quality assurance activities.

Keywords:

• Change readiness
• continuing professional development
• leadership effectiveness
• self efficacy
• gender differences

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank fellow researchers and contributors to the study: Dr Suria Selasih Angit, Assistant Professor, Centre for Academic Partnerships and Engagement, University of Nottingham Malaysia, Prof Sanjoy Adhikary, Member, Bangladesh Accreditation Council and Mr Ifthekaful Chowdhury, Assistant Professor, Government Titumir College, Dhaka, as well as Assoc. Prof. Dr Ranjit Singh Gill, University of Nottingham Malaysia, for advice on statistics.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the International Network for Quality Assurance Agencies in Higher Education (INQAAHE) under Grant Number 2022-RI-001.