Standards to assure quality in tertiary education: the case of Tanzania

2008 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 164-180 ◽  
Author(s):  
Timothy Manyaga

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to provide information on development of standards in Tanzania which may be of help to training providers in other countries as they seek to improve the quality and standards of their provision.Design/methodology/approachThe need to provide quality assured tertiary qualifications in Tanzania to win both national and international recognition is explained. Processes of registration of institutions capable of delivering training programmes adequately and accreditation of the same to offer awards at appropriate levels as a means to ensure quality of provision are explored. Standards of good practice in Tanzanian tertiary education are surveyed and the challenges to their achievement are discussed based on the author's direct experience in Tanzania. Relevant and recent literatures on the topic are surveyed and some lessons drawn.FindingsAccreditation standards are useful in instilling best practices in education and training. However, education and training institutions need to understand and practice them over a period of time to bring about expected results. It is concluded that ensuring quality in education is a multifaceted phenomenon that calls for the joint efforts of all key stakeholders.Originality/valueThe paper illustrates that the National Council for Technical Education is one of the first regulatory bodies in Africa to introduce academic quality standards in tertiary technical institutions. Notable improvements have been recorded since its inception. The experience described is the paper is not very common, so other countries taking similar steps may find it useful.

Author(s):  
Thomas Bolli ◽  
Ursula Renold

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to shed light on the questions as to how important skills are; which skills can best be learned at school, and which skills can be acquired better in the workplace. Design/methodology/approach The authors exploit data from a survey among professional tertiary education and training business administration students and their employers in Switzerland. Findings The authors find that skills used in the business processes strategic management, human resource management, organizational design, and project management are most suitable to be taught in school. However, the results further suggest that soft skills can be acquired more effectively in the workplace than at school. The only exceptions are analytical thinking, joy of learning and organizational soft skills, for which school and workplace are similarly suitable. Practical implications The paper provides empirical evidence regarding the optimal choice of the learning place for both human resource managers as well as educational decision makers who aim to combine education and training, e.g. in an apprenticeship. Originality/value Little evidence regarding the optimal learning place exists.


2020 ◽  
Vol 44 (6/7) ◽  
pp. 595-614
Author(s):  
Anderson Galvão ◽  
Carla Marques ◽  
João J. Ferreira

Purpose This study aims to understand how entrepreneurship education and training programmes (EETPs) influence the development of entrepreneurial competencies and creation of business ventures. Design/methodology/approach The study included a questionnaire distributed to 103 EETP participants. The data were processed using SmartPLS software to construct a structural equation model. Findings The results show, first, that the respondents’ motivations have a positive impact on participation in entrepreneurship education programmes and company creation. Second, participation in these programmes positively influences individual entrepreneurial orientation and entrepreneurial skills. The findings also include that the entrepreneurship education programme under study has strengthened its participants’ capacities and competencies, making these people more autonomous and facilitating their creation of new businesses. Originality/value This study sought to contribute to a fuller empirical understanding of how EETPs affect their participants’ individual entrepreneurship orientation and capacities (human resource development), thereby fostering company formation and regional development. Theoretical and practical implications are presented, with an emphasis on what needs to be done to improve EETPs.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  

Purpose The goal was to study how entrepreneurship education and training programmes (EETPs) influence the development of entrepreneurial competencies and creation of business venture Design/methodology/approach The authors tested a series of hypotheses on the EETPs designed for the Sabor Entrepreneurship Programme (SEP), in northern Portugal. They used a detailed questionnaire. At the time of the research (2018), the SEP had had five editions across Sabor’s five municipalities. The main aim of the EETPs was to train participants to run their own companies. Findings The study showed that the entrepreneurship education and training programmes (EETP) developed in the Sabor Region in the north helped participants to develop entrepreneurial skills. Despite these positive results, the researchers were unable to prove statistically that the programme had a definite influence on the creation of companies. Too many other factors, such as financing, bureaucracy and access to information proved critical in the formation of new businesses. Originality/value The researchers were motivated to carry out their research because EETPs have been rapidly expanding throughout the world, but there is no consensus about their effectiveness, or about the best elements to include. To bridge the gaps, the authors examined the role of EETPs in the development of entrepreneurial skills and the creation of businesses.


2017 ◽  
Vol 59 (7/8) ◽  
pp. 871-887 ◽  
Author(s):  
Celestin Mayombe

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the way the adult non-formal education and training (NFET) centres motivated and empowered graduates to start their own micro-enterprises as individuals or as a group. The specific objectives are as follows: to find out the transforming factors fostering the utilisation of acquired skills into self-employment in micro-enterprises; to investigate challenges encountered in starting and managing micro-enterprises and to investigate short-term impact of the NFET programmes and micro-enterprises on living conditions of graduates. Design/methodology/approach The research design was multiple case studies. Semi-structured interviews and field observations were used for data collection in the qualitative study. In the context of non-probability sampling, the study used the purposive sampling method to select five out of 20 self-employed graduates for one-on-one interviews. Case studies also comprised some observations of activities in their small businesses. Findings The main findings reveal that “learning by doing” training approach and forming groups of entrepreneurs while being on the programme were major factors fostering the translation of acquired skills into micro-enterprises. Practical implications The adult NFET is a tool to enable poor disadvantaged people to improve their well-being. However, this can be achieved if the livelihood skills training is combined with the creation of conducive environments to allow adult trainees become micro-entrepreneurs and self-reliant. Originality/value The study contributes to the knowledge of effective entrepreneurial training programmes by demonstrating the importance of involving stakeholders from the local communities and designing post-training support mechanisms for self-employment prior to the training delivery. The centre managers should also motivate trainees to start micro-enterprises in groups or co-operatives while still on the training programmes.


Author(s):  
Rebecca Ye

AbstractThis paper addresses the question of how higher vocational education and training programmes socialise participants for future work, where the occupational pathways they are to embark on are weakly defined. The analysis focuses on organisational rituals as a means to understand individual and collective transformative processes taking place at a particular intersection of education and labour markets. Building on organisational and sociological theories of rituals, as well as drawing empirically from a longitudinal qualitative interview study of a cohort of students in Swedish higher vocational education for work in digital data strategy, I explore how rituals are enacted in a vocational education and training setting and what these rituals mean to the aspirants who partake in them. The findings illustrate how rituals initiate, convert, and locate the participants in a team. These repeated encounters with rituals socialise, cultivate and build vocational faith amongst participants, despite the nascency and unstable nature of their education-to-work pathways. However, while rituals can serve as a catalyst to ignite processes of collective identification and vocational socialisation, they are not always successful. The paper discusses implications of faith-building in weak-form occupational pathways when the labour market is strong and conversely, when the economy is in recession. The text concludes by advocating the need for examining the power of educational institutions in shaping transitional experiences of participants in vocational education.


2014 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 98-118
Author(s):  
Coral Houtman ◽  
Maureen Thomas ◽  
Jennifer Barrett

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to address the advantages of education and training in creating the “Audiovisual/Digital Media Essay” (AV/DME), starting from visual and cinematic thinking as a way of setting up, developing and concluding an argument. Design/methodology/approach – Recognising the advantages to education and training of the “AV/DME” this paper explores ways of enabling visually disciplined students to work on film theory within their chosen medium, and to develop arguments incorporating audiovisual sources, using appropriate academic skills. It describes a hands-on BA/MA workshop held at Newport Film School (May 2011) and subsequent initial implementation of an examinable DME. The paper contextualises the issue in the light of practice-led and practice-based research and of parity with written dissertations. Drawing on analysis of in-depth interviews with students and tutors, it makes practical recommendations for how to resource, staff and support the implementation and continuation of the AV/DME and/or dissertation. Findings – The paper feeds back from both students and staff on the running of an initial AV/DME workshop and finds that the Film School Newport is suited to running the AV/DME and suggests a framework for its support. Research limitations/implications – The study needs to be followed up when the students complete their full dissertations. Practical implications – The AV/DME needs sufficient technical and human resources to support student learning. Originality/value – The paper provides a clear and original framework for teaching, supporting and assessing the AV/DME. This framework can be disseminated beyond the University of Wales Newport, and can be used to teach the AV/DME in further contexts and to wider groups of students.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Theresa Chinyere Ogbuanya ◽  
Taiwo Olabanji Shodipe

Purpose With critical reviews of previous studies in workplace learning, this paper aims to investigate workplace learning for pre-service teachers’ practice and quality teaching and learning in technical vocational education and training: key to professional development. Design/methodology/approach The study adopted multistage sampling technique to select sample for the study. Empirical analysis was adopted to analyse the data collected from technical vocational education and training pre-service teachers. Findings The result of the study revealed that the constructs of social learning theory had a stronger linkage with the constructive teaching than traditional management. Originality/value This study emphasizes the need to adequately train pre-service teachers on instructional delivery processes, building strong relationship with learners and build the ability to organize and execute necessary actions required to successfully carry out a specific educational task in a particular context.


1998 ◽  
Vol 24 (5) ◽  
pp. 188-191 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Edmonstone

Education consortia are now over 18 months old and can be seen as a “hybrid” between a top‐down resource allocation system and a bottom‐up workforce planning system. The strengths and weaknesses of the developing system are identified, as is emerging good practice in consortia operations. A model for consortia working which emphasises strategic working is proposed.


2016 ◽  
Vol 10 (6) ◽  
pp. 342-348
Author(s):  
Karina Marshall-Tate

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to outline a two-year project designed to reduce health inequalities and improve health outcomes of people with intellectual disabilities using health services in South London by raising awareness and increasing health staff confidence and capability. Design/methodology/approach The project was conducted in two stages. In stage 1, a mapping exercise was undertaken to establish existing intellectual disabilities education and training availability. In stage 2, a network of stakeholders was formed and education and training materials were developed and delivered. Findings A formal evaluation of the project is underway and this paper seeks to share information about the project. That said prima facie data appear to indicate that health staff who attended education and training events learned new knowledge and skills that they could implement in their practice, increasing confidence and capability. Research limitations/implications Health staff who attended the events appeared to have an interest in intellectual disabilities and wanted to increase their knowledge and skills base. This means that there is a significant group of health staff that the project was unable to reach or who may not know that they need to know about intellectual disabilities. The results of the project have not yet been formally analysed. Practical implications Work-based education and training events can have a positive impact on health staff capability and confidence, however, it would appear that only those who already have an interest in the field or recognise its value to their own practice attend such events. To truly capture all health staff intellectual disabilities needs to be visibly included in all health curricula. Originality/value This project has not focussed on one profession or one aspect of healthcare and has embraced the values of inter professional and inter agency learning; this has enabled health staff to learn from each other and think in a “joined up” way replicating the realities of providing healthcare to people with intellectual disabilities.


Author(s):  
Raewyn O'Neill

In their 1997 green paper on tertiary education the Ministry of Education said, "to ensure our prosperity New Zealand needs to be a 'learning society' recognising the importance for all of our people to continue to develop new skills and knowledge throughout a person’s lifetime." Given the importance of an educated and adaptable workforce, there is surprisingly little information available on education and training undertaken in New Zealand. While some information is collected on those enrolled in study towards formal education qualifications, there is little available information on human capital development beyond this. One of the few sources of information is the Education and Training Survey (ETS), conducted in September 1996. This paper uses information collected in the ETS to look at the characteristics of those participating in education and training as well as the barriers to and reasons for participation in education and training. lt then goes on to compare the labour market outcomes of those people who participated in education and training with those who did not.


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