The term “quality” is not new in our Arab-Islamic culture. The concept has been referred to in the Qur’an verses and hadiths of the Prophet (peace and prayers be upon him). Allah says in the Quran: “[It is] the work of Allah, who perfected all things” (27: 88). The Prophet also asserts: “Allah will be pleased with those who try to do their work in a perfect way" (Narrated by Muslim).
In the educational context, quality has received a great deal of attention to the point that some scholars call this era the era of quality, being a pillar to cope with the tremendous changes at all economic, social, educational and technological levels. Quality in education is associated with the processes of learning and teaching, as well as administration, with an aim to link education with the needs of society, bring about meaningful change, and build and develop creativity in graduates.
Quality in education can be defined as an approach to comprehensive and continuous development based on teamwork and team spirit. Others have also defined it as continuous improvement.
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has not shied away from keeping pace with global trends towards quality in higher education. In 1424 AH, it established an independent national body concerned with evaluation and academic accreditation to ensure quality in higher education, i.e. The National Commission for Academic Accreditation and Assessment (NCAAA).
Shaqra University is one of the emerging universities, founded by virtue of the Royal Decree No. (7305 / MB) dated 3/9/1430 AH. The university aims to produce qualified and trained cadres to meet the requirements of development and the needs of the labour market, enrich scientific research, and enhance postgraduate studies to respond to community issues and development needs.
The Vice Deanship for Development and Quality at the College of Science and Arts (Sajir) seeks to realise educational quality standards by achieving quality of curricula and academic courses on basis of scientific benchmarking marked with objectivity and reliability. It is a prime goal for us to achieve quality in educational infrastructure and meet the various needs of the educational system by providing the necessary facilities to bring about efficiency of the teaching and administrative staff of the various departments. We intend to ensure continuous improvement in all aspects of education, including curricula, administration, motivation and support methods, and adoption of academic achievement results on basis of student-driven intellectual, analytical and teamwork faculties, rather than blind memorisation, indoctrination and infertile traditional systems. We endeavour to inject technology and modern advanced methods into the educational system, and rely mainly on practical and applied skills in education.
The Vice Deanship for Development and Quality aims to provide the mechanisms that will contribute to achieving the quality of education, including adoption of new strategies in curricula design based on quality standards. We focusing on the achievement of the basic goal of education, which is to create scientifically qualified generations that possess strong personalities capable of expressing themselves and able to push forward the wheel of modernisation and embodied in Saudi Vision 2030.
Dr. Mansour ibin Abdurrahman Al-Aqeel
Vice Dean for Development and Quality