Comparison of Lecturers’ Competency in Maldives Higher Education Institutes

Abstract

Researchers in the past have found that instructors’ levels of competence have an important effect on their ability to teach. This research aims to determine if there is a quality gap in Maldives’ higher education institutions between public and private institutions and between full-time and part-time lecturers. An online structured questionnaire was used to conduct a cross-sectional survey as part of the quantitative research strategy. Lecturers from both public and private universities took part in this investigation. The Mann-Whitney U test found a statistically significant difference between public (M=67.52) and private (M=48.07) institution lecturers in terms of competency; U=829.50, p=0.021. However, lecturers’ competency mean rank scores of full-time lecturers (M=64.82) and part-time lecturers (M=59.34) indicate the difference of mean scores of lecturers’ competency was not statistically significant, U=937.50, p=0.55. It is likely better recruitment and in-service professional development policies at public institutes are established at the institutional level, thereby improving lecturers’ competency compared to private institutes.