The purpose of this study was to identify the academic quality assurance practices that should be employed to attain teaching excellence at selected private higher education institutions in the city of Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. The study adopted a qualitative interpretive research design and utilized one-to-one, in-depth, semi-structured interviews with 12 participants. The sample was purposefully selected and comprised six faculty members, four program directors, one senior academic staff member, and one junior non-academic administrator, from three private higher education institutions in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Findings revealed four categories of practices: a) Must-keep practices, b) Must-modify practices, c) Must-add practices, and d) Must-avoid practices. Some of the practices relating to quality assurance that the study identified are maintaining important evaluation-related practices while providing feedback for improvement, closing the loop, educating all employees about and increasing their reengagement in quality assurance practice, and reducing paperwork and work duplication. This study concludes by recommending that higher education institutions employ the strategies discussed in the findings to promote teaching creativity and to improve the quality of teaching and learning, to achieve teaching excellence.
OBSTACLES TO ACHIEVING QUALITY ASSURANCE STANDARDS IN PRIVATE HIGHER EDUCATION INSTITUTIONS IN EGYPT - FIELD STUDY
