Quality Assurance Practice in Distance Education in Public Tertiary Educational Institutions: A Case Study of University of Cape Coast, Ghana

Abstract

Quality Assurance and management practice has become one of the most effective tools to mitigate and enhance the challenges pose to quality delivery of distance education in Ghana. However, there are no enough research findings to catalogue the quality assurance practices of distance education in all tertiary institutions in Ghana, especially, the College of Distance Education to ensure that stakeholders maintain legitimacy with the labour market, National Accreditation Board, and professional bodies. This study therefore examined how quality assurance practices are undertaken in distance education in public tertiary educational institutions in Ghana with respect to standards set by the National Accreditation Board (NAB) using College of Distance Education, University of Cape Coast (CoDE-UCC)in the Central Region of Ghana. The study adopted qualitative approach using case study design. The data sources for this case study consisted of interviews with key informants and institutional policy documents. Documentary analysis was used primarily to answer the research questions about formal written QA policies, while interviews sought to build understanding of the knowledge and views of key people who developed and carried out these policies. From the results, it was realized that there were clear quality assurance policies adopted and implemented in the Co DE-UCC. It was also realized that quality assurance programmes are in place for monitoring and evaluation of quality assurance programmes. Some of the challenges were that there were no adequate budgetary allocation for quality assurance, inadequate qualified staff in quality assurance, and lack of periodic training for staff. The study concluded that though, the College of Distance Education had an internal quality assurance policy, but there were no adequate qualified staff in place for monitoring and evaluation of quality assurance programmes. The study therefore, suggested that the College of Distance Education should recruit more qualified quality assurance staff and organise periodic in-service training programmes for the staff.