Quality Education Assessment in Private Higher Education Institutions: The Case of Private Higher Education Institutions at Mekelle, Tigray Regional State

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to assess quality education in PHEIs in Mekelle by considering educational inputs, processes and outputs as benchmarks. To conduct this research, mixed research design with convergent parallel mixed method was employed. 236 respondents i.e. 4 vice academic deans, 4 quality assurance directorates, 18 department coordinators, 65 instructors and 145 students were selected by using purposive, availability, simple and stratified random sampling techniques. The collected data were analyzed quantitatively by using descriptive and inferential statistics and qualitatively by using descriptive narration. Questionnaires were the main data gathering instruments while interview, observation and document analysis were equally important to enrich the data. The finding of the study mirrored out that the educational qualification of instructors is below the required minimum standard set by HERQA/MoE. The academic staffs are less experienced to conduct instructional process effectively because about half of them are unfamiliar with pedagogical knowledge, below minimum standard qualification and less teaching experiences. Lack of training opportunities resulted in instructors’ turnover which in turn resulted in large numbers of parttime lecturers. The physical location of PHEIs is inconvenient for effective instruction due to the noises of neighboring music shops, hotels, and sound of vehicles. Similarly, the management bodies are not devoted to create positive working environment, less experienced to fulfill educational facilities and infrastructures, and unmotivated to initiate research outputs and community services to rank excellence to the standards. Moreover, there is instructors' deficiency in using varieties of active learning methods and formative continuous assessment techniques due to lack of pedagogical know how. Lecture method and summative evaluation are the most frequently utilized methods of teaching and assessment techniques respectively to quest for quality education.