Teaching, Learning and Assessment Practices in Ethiopian Higher Education Institutions: The Quality Aspect in Focus

Abstract

Quality in higher education is a multi-dimensional concept, which should embrace all its functions and activities: teaching and academic programs, research and scholarships, staffing, students, buildings, facilities, equipment, services to the community and the academic environment. In view of this both public and private Higher Education Institutions are under scrutiny. However, critics commonly allege that private institutions are identified with low academic quality. Quality is not simply defined in terms of inputs and resources; quality is also described in terms of processes and outcomes. The purpose of the study is, therefore, revolved around the processes dimension of quality in Ethiopian Higher Education Institutions (HEIs). The study focused on the ways in which HEIs deliver there academic programs with special reference to Teaching, learning and Assessment. In this qualitative inquiry data was drawn from, HERQA’s institutional quality audit reports, self evaluation documents, the investigator’s experience as quality auditor and the related literature. The teaching, learning and assessment practices of 14 HEIs have been analyzed .Thus, the study revealed among others the following. The teaching-learning process is still highly dominated by the traditional forms of teaching especially the lecture; there are no standard criteria set by the institutions to keep the balance between theory and practice; it seems universal that the institution have no explicit written policy on teaching and learning; very few staff maintain regular consultation hours for students, it is virtually non-existence; majority of the senior courses are taught by fresh undergraduate instructors; students spoke of staff not turning up to teach; and in most cases tutorial are not part of the teaching and learning regime. The mid-semester and end-of-semester closed examinations predominate as tools of assessment in almost all institutions; grade are mostly determined by using the norm-references system; there is no wide spread practices of anonymous marking, of moderation, of double marking or of the systematic development of external examiners; the institutions appear to have no specific policy document on assessment ;and there is no transparent system that ensures students are assessed appropriately and graded fairly. The study also revealed some exemplary practices by the institutions which appear to be relevant to share in order to enhance quality in teaching, learning and assessment. Furthermore, the study also indicated that similar trends are observable in all the HEIs in regard to teaching, learning and assessment practices Nevertheless, the private institutions are generally smaller in size, limited in programs, market-oriented and fee and tuition-dependent. The overall conclusion is that the HEIs should extent more efforts in a number of areas to ensure the quality of their programs that fit to the standards as per their mission. Finally some recommendations were forwarded for further enhancement of quality in the processes dimension.