Developing quality assurance processes in a private higher education institution in Australia

This context statement explores my professional practice as a quality assurance practitioner and how I developed my three chosen Public Works which have a common theme of quality assurance. The first Public Work analyses the development process of a new quality assurance (QA) model for Australian Institute of Business (AIB) and how it evolved over three iterations through an Action Research Action Learning (ARAL) process. The second Public Work is an account of how the quality assurance of AIB’s transnational education (TNE) offering through third-party delivery changed through the use of the ARAL method; and the third Public Work demonstrates a deeper dive into the application of the QA model in the development of more robust policies.
Limiting the notion of quality in Higher Education to that of quality control and quality assurance is simply a process of identifying problems in provision, fixing them and ensuring they cannot occur again. But this does not consider the question of whether the system is a quality system, or indeed for whom quality is being conceived. I argue that quality control is a single-loop learning approach to the concept of quality, and quality assurance is a double-loop learning approach. If a triple-loop learning approach is applied, then the foundations on which the provision is being controlled and assured are called into question and a new model of quality emerges.
The implications of this triple-loop learning approach suggest that Higher Education providers need to quality assure in multiple ways simultaneously, seeking continuous improvement as they explore the answer to the question of ‘quality for whom’ for a range of different stakeholders.
The project outcomes achieved through the Public Works are i) the development of a new QA model that continues to be implemented in AIB as an organisational process; ii) the quality mechanisms introduced in the TNE provision but which have now been replaced by online delivery to offshore students; and iii) the implementation of a suite of policies that have been developed in a consultative manner across the organisation rather than in isolation by one part of the organisation.
The process outcome is the development of the quality culture at AIB through having engaged in the ARAL method.