Obstacles and success factors for the implementing of quality assurance system Case study - Department of Architecture, University of Al-Nahrain

Abstract

Education and Higher Education in particular, are the most important millstones of knowledge economy and community; as Higher Education Institutions essentially contribute to maximize the knowledge capacity of society in research, use, and application through exercising their roles of (teaching) knowledge dissemination, scientific researches (knowledge production) and community service (Application of knowledge). However, the success of these institutions, to prepare qualified human capital for production, to develop creative capabilities for it, and to raise the level of its qualification to meet the needs of society, mainly depends on the success of applying the quality assurance system to its academic institutions. This research seeks to present and discuss concepts and ideas related to the concept of higher education’s quality assurance system, which is a recent introduction in the literature of higher education; to also explore the most important impediments of applying quality assurance system in higher education institutions, specifically in the Department of Architecture - Al-Nahrain University, in addition to diagnosing certain factors that make the application of this system successful. By adopting the opinions of the faculty members of that department, the research came out with a set of impediments, of them (...). In its conclusions, the research also contains a number of factors that serve the success of applying the quality assurance system in the department.