Short Term Consultant on Self-Assessment for Quality Assurance

TERMS OF REFERENCE for Short Term Consultant on Self-Assessment for Quality Assurance

1. Overview 

This is a proposal to provide a bundle of technical assistance to Tay Bac University (TBU) commencing in the current financial year.

The bundle will assist TBU to  produce as high quality as possible self-assessment that accords with the current Ministry of Education and Training (MOET) requirements for that selfassessment. A high quality self-assessment will provide useful empirical data to assist TBU with its intended strategy review and renewal. The strategy review and renewal process will focus TBU on how it will address the identified problem which underpins the design of activities for the universities i.e. that universities cannot meet market demand in terms of quality or quantity of education and research.

This bundle will help directly approximately 25 TBU staff to acquire and apply new skills and knowledge in self-assessment and continuous quality improvement at universities – in pursuance of Program Outcome 1 (PO1):  Male and female alumni use new skills and knowledge to make positive contributions to selected priority areas. It will complement the already approved SCA in Self-Assessment and Quality Assurance, in which seven TBU staff are participating. 

This bundle also can contribute to Program Outcome 2 (PO2): Stronger workplace enabling environment for skills utilisation in selected priority areas because TBU has nominated their Department of Testing and Quality Assurance (DTQA) to be the designated unit to demonstrate an improved enabling environment. The confirmation of the selection of DTQA is expected shortly. The plan for activities to support PO2 is currently under development.

2. Background

Aus4Skills reflects the Australian Government’s continuing commitment to support Vietnam’s human resource development. This commitment is emphasised in the Australia-Vietnam HRD Strategy 2014-2020, which outlines the future direction for Australia’s support for an engagement and reflects the Australian Government’s continuing commitment to support Vietnam’s human resource development (HRD), thus contributing to the country’s sustainable economic and inclusive development and enduring links with Australia.

Aus4Skills is the main vehicle to realise the HRD Strategy objective together with other existing global program investments. Aus4Skills aligns with the new directions of the Australian Government’s investments in Vietnam set out in the Aid Investment Plan (AIP) Vietnam 2015-16 to 2019-20.

To realise the HRD Strategy objective Aus4Skills has developed a Design of Non-Scholarship Components which was approved by the Australian Embassy in February 2017. The Design provides for Australia Awards Short Courses and other informal learning opportunities, including technical advice, to support the Improving Quality of Universities in Northern Mountainous Regions.

All Aus4Skills HRD Activity planning is driven by the targeted Program Outcomes:

Program Outcome 1: Male and female alumni use new skills and knowledge to make positive contributions to selected priority areas

Program Outcome 2: Stronger workplace enabling environments for skills utilisation in selected priority areas

Program Outcome 3: Australia and Vietnam have stronger, sustainable links in selected sectors/agencies

The GEDSI Strategy Principle intersects with these three outcomes. This crosscutting principle is that: Gender equality, disability and social inclusion considerations are fully integrated into all Aus4Skills activities and products.

Tay Bac University

Tay Bac University (TBU) is a multidisciplinary university under the managerial direction of the Ministry of Education and Training (MOET). It was upgraded from a teacher training college in 2001. Located in Son La, it is one of the universities in the northern mountainous regions that is targeted for support from Aus4Skills.

The university mission is the training of highly qualified human resources, implementation of scientific research, technology transfer, and provision of economic and technical services for regional development in the north-western provinces of Vietnam. TBU reports good industry links with basic education providers and some agricultural producers, but does not have established systems for gathering feedback systematically from employers and local industry.

The organisation structure includes 12 disciplinary based academic faculties and divisions with plans to add a medical faculty, 9 administrative units, another 7 centres and service units and a practice school (including primary, lower secondary and upper secondary levels). There is one Rector with three Vice Rectors. In 2016, 25% of the senior management team were women. 40% of persons holding posts with official management responsibilities were women. At the end of 2015, TBU reported 531 staff, 361 of these are lecturers. 35 staff hold Doctorates and 268 hold Masters qualifications. (The MOET target is that universities have 35% of faculty qualified at doctoral level by 2020). The university has also valued recruiting lecturers with business expertise. About 15% of the faculty identify as an ethnic minority person. 54% are women.

In 2016, TBU had 6,000 full time students studying programs ranging from 3-year vocational diploma programs to Masters level degrees. 80% of the students identify as from one of the 33 ethnic minority groups in north western Vietnam. 51% are women. Records are not kept of students who have a disability. 

TBU has two campuses - the main campus is located in Son La City with an area of about 100 hectares; and another 9ha campus based in Thuan Chau district, which is approximately 30 kilometres away from Son La City. The smaller campus hosts Agriculture and Forestry research experiments. 

TBU library has 1,000 volumes for students’ reference and another 4,000 textbooks. The Librarian reported that most books are photocopies. They do not have access to e-collections which is a major disadvantage for development of research capacity and quality of teaching methodology.

MOET requirements

In accordance with MOET’s Circular 12, dated 19 May 2017, TBU is required to complete an internal assessment, which Aus4Skills has referred to as ‘self-assessment’. The two terms should be understood as interchangeable. 

Circular 12 states:

Internal assessment refers to a process during which an educational institution examines and assesses itself based on the education quality assessment standards provided by the Ministry of Education and Training in order to make a report on its actual situation of education quality, the efficiency of its training, scientific researches, personnel, facilities, and other relevant issues for the purpose of adjusting the resources and the course of implementation in order to meet the education quality standards.

Circular 12 specifies 25 standards each with up to 7 criteria to be assessed. The workload of such a self-assessment is not to be under-estimated, especially the first time it is undertaken when systems for dealing with the generation and analysis of data are not well-established.

Article 31 of Circular 12 requires the following steps:

1. Establish the internal assessment panel
2. Develop the internal assessment plan.
3. Collect, process, analyze the information and evidence.
4. Develop the internal assessment report.
5. Storage and use the internal assessment report.
6. Carry out the activities after completing the internal assessment report.

A step between step 5 and 6 – peer assessment – is not compulsory, but strongly encouraged. To implement this activity, a university usually invites a peer university/ies which have already carried out their internal assessment and have enough experience, to assess them after they have implemented step 5.

At the time of writing, TBU has been preparing for the self-assessment. It has organised a twoday training for the TBU staff on self-assessment. This training was delivered in Son La in early March by the Center for Quality Accreditation of the Vietnam National University – Hanoi. The process of self-assessment will start by the end of April. TBU also has a plan to invite Thai Nguyen University (TNU) and Thai Nguyen University of Agriculture and Forestry (TUAF) to help them with peer assessment.

At TBU, a draft assessment plan has been developed with the internal assessment panel of 25 persons.

TBU readiness for self-assessment

TBU has explained that they have the following challenges with the process:

• The staff in general do not appreciate the global trends for universities to develop a quality culture;
• The staff in general do not understand the different types and practices in university quality assurance around the world;
• The staff capacity in self-assessment in general is insufficient;
• Two days of training provided in Son La for key TBU staff in early March was inadequate to meet the need for knowledge and skills development to deliver the best possible selfassessment by September 2018;
• Staff generally understand that self-assessment is a MOET requirement, but they do not understand the likely benefits of their engagement in the process;
• Staff, involved by necessity or desire in the self-assessment, have multiple interpretations about what the criteria mean or what they are intended to mean; 
• Staff are unsure how to generate reliable data for the assessment process;
• Responsible staff are uncertain about how to analyse data for self-assessment.

3. Expected Tasks

The appointed short-term adviser will provide assistance to support TBU staff to complete the self-audit documentation to the highest possible standards. This will involve work at TBU with key TBU staff from June to October 2018. The objectives of the technical assistance are to:

• Provide mentoring to key staff who lead the self-assessment process at TBU so that they can effectively engage staff and other stakeholders’ active commitment and participation in the self-assessment process;
• Ensure that GEDSI groups are well-considered and able to provide inputs in the selfassessment process and report;
• Provide short workshops and short specific training for TBU staff on topics such as the importance of a quality culture, international trends in university quality assurance, particular methods for generating reliable and valid data, and data analysis tools;
• Support the key TBU staff responsible for interpretation of the self-assessment data to make reasonable interpretations with strong justifications;
• Provide Aus4Skills accurate information on professional development needs of DTQA staff.

The adviser will work and alongside the members of the appointed Assessment Panel and the DTQA staff, especially the Head of Department of Testing and Quality Assurance. TBU will provide office space for the adviser to work on campus if necessary.

The technical adviser will coach and mentor the key TBU staff preparing the self-assessment material, and may assist in facilitating processes to engage stakeholders (e.g. workshops) and designing processes to generate data (e.g. focus groups, surveys). 

It is anticipated that the technical adviser will find a variety of gaps in the self-assessment and continuous improvement process e.g. in the ability to generate reliable and valid data, in the knowledge of different methods to analyse and interpret the data, and other gaps. The technical adviser, in addition to providing advice to TBU, will be asked to provide advice to Aus4Skills on what skills development may assist TBU staff, in particular staff of the DTQA, and other important stakeholders to strengthen their self-assessment and continuous improvement processes. 

4. Timeline

The adviser would be recruited to begin work in June2018 and be available for 40 days until October 2018. The timelines and specific tasks are in the following table.

5. Reporting

Reporting Line

The STA shall work in close cooperation with the DTQA’s Head, Mr. Pham Minh Thong.  The STA will report directly to the QUNIS Manager, Aus4Skills and submit a completion report (maximum 15 pages plus annexes) which outlines the completed outputs.

Reporting

STA is required to submit a completion report (maximum 15 pages plus annexes) which outlines the completed outputs. An annex should be used to provide information such as lists of participants (disaggregated by gender and ethnicity) in workshops conducted, workshop material, means of gaining feedback from participants about the usefulness of workshops, details of tools developed for self-assessment, and full details any issues that arose during delivery and the strategies adopted in resolving the issues. 

6. Technical Requirements
The STA is expected to meet the following requirements:

• Ph.D or Master degree focused on educational quality assurance or a closely related field;
• At least 10 years’ professional work experience in educational quality assurance in higher education, and in particular some demonstrated experience in leading self-assessment processes in higher education; 
• Knowledge of a variety of international university quality assurance systems;
• Knowledge of GEDSI issues;
• Knowledge of MOET Circular 12 and associated MOET requirements for self-assessment;
• Demonstrated capacity to provide leadership and promote a collaborative team approach to educational quality assurance and self-assessment;
• Demonstrated experience facilitating engaging and interactive workshops with peers;
• Excellent English speaking and writing skills;
• Availability to stay in Son La for the proposed tentative working schedule to work alongside DTQA and other TBU staff. 

7. Commencement Date

The assignment should commence in June 2018 and end in October 2018. The contract will be for up to maximum 40 working days. 

8. Location

The majority of the work is expected to be conducted based at DTQA at TBU in Son La. The advisor will provide their own laptop but be provided office space with facilities for printing and scanning at DTQA if needed.

9. Application

Interested candidates are invited to send a CV and proposal in English, indicating the approach she/he will carry out the task and consultancy fee for the assignment to [email protected] by 16 May 2018, 5:00 PM (Hanoi time).