Week 10- Stepping into academic development and career building

“When we manage people, we become leaders,

When we manage ourselves, we become successful.

Let us manage our university: and bring to it its life and

Prosperity” (Kafle, 2009).

     Post modernism is an outcome of consistent human development and achievements in different fields and realms of human existence. Man’s inquisitiveness for innovations and discoveries, and evolution of knowledge speak in volume of expansion and dominance of educational territories and their empowerment. Education has a lion’s share in global market and every institution has goals and mission to meet the challenging needs of the time. However, the pace of growth vary from one space to another in terms of government policies, institutional culture, work habit, economy and politics.

     There are challenges in 21^st century education and Nepalese institutions are of no exceptions to be influenced by global tendencies and changes in education. Dr Tirth Raj Khaniya’s studies on policies of HE (2009) reflects the failure of the proposition of the National Education Commission. The National Education Commission established the idea of “multi- universities” in 1992 in the wake of huge proliferation of students in various institutions especially in TU (Tribhuvan University). The main purpose of this new idea was to:

·         set up one university in each development region (there are five development regions in Nepal).

·         provide higher education to all qualified and talented individuals.

However, the party politics took precedence over professional inputs and repudiated the whole idea before it was put into practice. From another perspective, this was a good lesson for the entire educational sector to think that universities should be based on “knowledge empire” instead of “territorial empire” (Khaniya, 2009).

       Though the rate of student enrollment irrespective of caste and socio- economic background of students is high in TU, the standard of quality education is low. The fundamental focus of the university should be towards improving quality teaching and enhancing human resources. Responding to the overall poor performance of TU Kafle (2009) came up with the following propositions essential for the university.

·         Focus on qualitative growth rather than quantitative growth.

·     Focus on setting values and beliefs through proper education and research initiatives.

·         Primary concern should be on reengineering its rigid structure.

·         Proper utilisation of government funds.

·    Educational reforms should be based on values such as what is desirable in education and how it may be attained.

     The idea of qualitative approach along with an emphasis on teacher development strategies can be extended in the context of my institution (New Don Bosco Academy) incorporating the following additional essential features which we generally practice.

·         Follow some internal standard to ensure quality education.

·      Develop human resource through both internal and external trainings.

·         Work with a motto “Putting the Students first” (prevailing principle of my institution).

·    Conduct workshops, seminars and awareness programmes at both national and international level (especially essential to universities).

·         Integrate shared instructional leadership in institution environment.

·         Reward staff/promote them to higher level for their oustanding performance and contribution

·         Conduct regular staff meetings.

·         Encourage parent- teacher interactions.

·         Focus on formative assessment.

·         Focus on Project- based learning (PBL).

         For organisational goals quality management systems are practised by many institutions in  the world.Mahony & Garavan (2012) give the widely used example of the ISO9000 series which is founded on the following eight quality management principles:

·         Customer focus

·         Leadership

·         Involvement of people

·         Process management

·         System approach to management

·         Continuous improvement

·         Factual approach to decision making

·         Mutually beneficial supplier relationship

     To sum, putting quality management in practice is a Herculean task but institution should not give in or give up because education is meant for progress and after all it is a sensitive institution that deals with the future of students.

References

Kafle, B. S. (2009). Role of Tribhuvan University in National Development: Prospects and Challenges. In A. L. Bhomi, B. Luitel, S. B. Mulmi, & K. Devkota (Eds.), Education and Development, vol. 24 TU (CERID), ISSN: 1816-7691, URL: http//www.cerid.org

Khaniya, T. R. (2009). Policy on Higher Education. In A. L. Bhomi, B. Luitel, S. B. Mulmi, & K. Devkota (Eds.),  Education and Development, vol. 24 TU (CERID), ISSN: 1816-7691, URL: http//www.cerid.org

Mahony, K., & Garavan, T. N. (2012). Implementing a quality management framework in a higher education organisation. A case study. Vol.20 No.2, pp. 184- 200. DOI: 10.1108/09684881211219767.  

Upadhaya, H. P. (2009). Educational Reform and School Governance in Nepal. In A. L. Bhomi, B. Luitel, S. B. Mulmi, & K. Devkota (Eds.), Education and Development, vol. 24 TU (CERID), ISSN: 1816-7691, URL: http//www.cerid.org