Abstract
Quality assurance in higher education in Pakistan was formally initiated when Quality Assurance Agency (QAA) was established under Higher Education Commission of Pakistan. The current study is a descriptive study which was conducted to review the impact of programme evaluation on Pakistani universities. Data available with QAA, Pakistan, Self-Assessment Report available for the programmes and field notes were used as tool in this study. Programme evaluation reports were graded on a rubric in order to rank departments within a university. The study shows that quality assurance mechanism has got its firm roots at micro level, that is, at university level in Pakistan under the supervision of QAA of Pakistan. The study would be of interest for all educationists as it shows both the role of QAA, Pakistan and the role of quality enhancement cells whose combined efforts have resulted into a systematic programme evaluation in Pakistani universities.
 Keywords: Programme evaluation, self-assessment, learning outcomes, feedback.
Highlights
If it is the impact evaluation, it would measure the extent to which the programme is effective in meeting the desired requirements of its target population and it provides the findings that help the programme providers to decide if the programme is worth continuing or not if it has brought no changes to the target population (Newcomer, 2015, p. 137)
When Quality Enhancement Cells (QECs) started evaluating their programmes using the prescribed model, they had to face great deal of resistance and difficulties from the management and the faculty who were involved in the programme development and implementation mainly because it was considered sufficient that the programme was approved by the designated university statuary bodies, so there was no need of assessing whether it was in compliance with the regulatory bodies’ requirements which were prescribed after the establishment of the Quality Assurance Agency (QAA)-Higher Education Commission (HEC)
Teachers and courses were evaluated by students in a very monotonous way but with the help of this model, universities felt the need to seek the feedback from these stakeholders and revised the programmes and courses in the light of the analysis for example one university started Experiential Learning Programme after collecting alumni feedback as they felt the need of bridging the gap between academia and market instead of sending graduates directly into the job market, they were given an opportunity to work with corporate sectors as internees to gain real-life work experience
Summary
The term programme evaluation refers to the systematic procedure of assessing the quality of a programme with a purpose to identify the areas for improvement. Bracke, Maybee and Weiner (2016) presents the view point of Patton (2002, p. 148) in defining the programme evaluation as a structured mechanism to estimate the efficacy of the programme focusing on how well the programme is successful in attaining its predefined outcomes. The method of the programme evaluation can vary depending upon the purpose and objectives of the evaluation. If it is the impact evaluation, it would measure the extent to which the programme is effective in meeting the desired requirements of its target population and it provides the findings that help the programme providers to decide if the programme is worth continuing or not if it has brought no changes to the target population Paz-Ybarnegaray and Douthwaite suggest that the implementation of ‘Outcomes Evidencing’ at regular intervals as one of the effective methods of programme evaluation to estimate the level of contribution in terms of the impact of the programme (Paz-Ybarnegaray & Douthwaite, 2017). Some other evaluators are of the opinion that the programme evaluation can be considered as a systematic or scientific procedure to evaluate the programme organisation, delivery and its outcomes (Rossi & Freeman, 1993; Short, Hennessy, & Campbell, 1996)
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