The Role Players

4.3 The Role Players

i. The Liaison Officer

The HEP or the department should appoint a liaison officer to act as the key link between it and the MQA to coordinate the programme evaluation exercise. The MQA should be informed of the name of the officer and will contact him on the arrangements for the programme evaluation.

Where there is a need for a site visit by the evaluation team, the liaison officer may be requested to assist in making arrangements for appointments, and in

arranging accommodation and ground transportation for the team. The location of the accommodation should be close to the HEP wherever possible to minimise travel time.

The liaison officer can also assist in arranging the tentative agenda for the visit and informing all the relevant people of the evaluation schedule.

The liaison officer shall also ensure that the evaluation team will be provided with the necessary facilities to carry out its assignment. This will include the HEP providing a base room and meeting rooms for the team.

Base room

o The base room serves as the team’s office for the sole use of its members and the liaison officer, and should be provided with the necessary office equipment.

o All forms of information in the base room should be accessible to the evaluation team.

This is where the evaluation team will work, share evidence, check judgments, read documentary evidence and draft reports. It is an important place for the team to share ideas and to analyse findings. Because of the confidential nature of information and discussion in the base room, access to it must be restricted.

Meeting rooms

Individual meetings with members of the department or the HEP may take place in the base room but generally it is better if such meetings can be held in separate meeting rooms. This is to provide privacy and avoid anxiety and pressure.

The liaison officer may be requested to join the meeting of the evaluation team should there be a need for clarification of issues.

ii. Representatives of the HEP

The HEP will identify representatives of appropriate stakeholders to meet the POA to discuss the programme. The HEP will be advised as to the groups of people the panel will interview after the panel’s reading and discussion of the PSRR. The POA may request to meet the following people or categories of people: The HEP will identify representatives of appropriate stakeholders to meet the POA to discuss the programme. The HEP will be advised as to the groups of people the panel will interview after the panel’s reading and discussion of the PSRR. The POA may request to meet the following people or categories of people:

be with the Chief Executive Officer o Key persons in the HEP responsible for the policy, management and

operation of the quality system and subsystems o The head of department

o The programme leader o Members of the internal review committee o Members of the board of the department o Student leaders o Academic staff and a cross-section of students of the programme o

A selection of graduates, where appropriate o Leaders from industry and government, relevant to the programme

It is important for the panel of assessors to meet representatives of each of the above categories to obtain a cross-sectional perspective of the programme and its quality, each contributing its views from their specialised perspective. In relation to the effectiveness of teaching-learning and the achievement of learning outcomes, two key constituents would be the students and academic staff.

Students should be selected and briefed on their role to provide representative student input. Student opinion will be sought regarding the quality and adequacy of the academic programme and the provision of the student support services, as well as their role in providing feedback to the department on these matters. Students can also be requested to serve as guides in the visits to the library, classroom, laboratories and other teaching- learning facilities.

Representatives of the academic staff should also be briefed on their roles so that they may provide representative input as well. Their opinion is sought regarding staff development, promotion and tenure, workload distribution, teaching skills, understanding of the programme aims and learning outcomes, their perception of the programme, students, the academic culture of the department and appropriateness and sufficiency of available facilities.

iii. The Chairperson

The MQA will appoint a chairperson for the evaluation panel who will be responsible for the overall conduct of the external programme evaluation exercise. Further details on the roles and responsibilities of the chairperson are given in Section 5.

iv. The Panel Members

The MQA will appoint the members of the POA. Further details on the roles and responsibilities of the Panel members are given in Section 5.