Establishment and governance of IQB

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Chapter 8 Recommendations

8.1 Government

8.1.1 Establishment and governance of IQB

At this stage, the study team concludes that there is an urgent need for the government to establish a national cross sectoral agency, possibly to be called the Indonesian Qualification Board IQB or Badan Kualifikasi Indonesia, with a mandate to coordinate all activities related to the implementation and ongoing maintenance of the IQF. In order to minimize resistance, it is important to make clear that this agency does not take over activities which are the currently mandated responsibility of other government units. Its main responsibility is to coordinate implementation activities, develop and maintain quality assurance standards for quality assurance agencies, meta-evaluate the quality assurance agencies, liaise with similar international agencies, and promote the IQF to the stakeholders. In carrying out its responsibilities, this agency should be positioned above all ministries and other government agencies. It is strongly recommended that there is one single agency to maintain and monitor the IQF, and its scope of responsibilities is across all education and training sectors. The IQB will also become Indonesia’s liaison agency in dealing with relevant international organizations. Thestudy team recommend that the IQB takes responsibility for all national cross sectoral policy documentation related to the IQF, including identifying qualifications e.g. qualification types, qualification type descriptors, volume measures; recognition of prior learning; certification specifications including naming conventions and design and use of the IQF logo; international referencing activities; and national education and training definitions. These national policy documents are to be agreed to by all education and training sectors and key stakeholders, and accessible in Bahasa and English. This includes the establishment of an IQFIQB website for all cross sectoral information and with links to relevant ministries and quality assurance agency websites. The study team is in the opinion that ministries are not the best option for placement of the IQB, and recommends that the IQB reports directly to the Office of the President or the State Secretariat. This would provide the IQB with a level of independence from any one ministry, possess the authority to coordinate the IQF activities of ministries as well other government agencies, and ensure national synergy in implementing the IQF. It is the responsibility of the Office of the President or the State Secretariat to advance the establishment of the IQB. After its establishment, the Office of the Presidentor the State Secretariat will seek nominations and make the final decision to appoint its members. We recommend that the IQB be supported by a strong Secretariat, which is staffed with a small number of qualified and competent staff. Depending on the quality assurance approach taken and the scope of the remit of the IQB for the quality assurance agencies, 26 the Secretariat will need to be supported by additional staff through short term contract assignment. 26 The IQB could take responsibility for quality assuring all quality assurance agencies or only peak quality assurance agencies. Peak agencies are those at the top tier i.e. those that either take full responsibility for quality assurance e.g. BAN-PT or delegate or license others to act on their behalf e.g. BNSP which licenses Professional Certification Bodies.Peak quality assurance agencies are responsible for the agencies to which they delegate or license the responsibility for the quality assurance of qualifications, providers or provision of education, training and assessment services. Peak quality assurance agencies will be held accountable for this delegation under IQB agency quality standards. 71 8.1.2 Preparation for full implementation 8.1.2.1 Official IQF documentation