Development of Systems and Mechanisms Quality Assurance in Educational Institutions of Nan Polytechnic College under the Office of Vocational Education Commission

Abstract

The purposes of this study aimed to investigate the present conditions, desirable conditions, and key factors affecting the development of internal quality assurance system and mechanism in educational institution.
The instruments were questionnaire and interview for quantitative and qualitative data. The questionnaire was administered to school director, deputy director and teachers, and the data were analyzed by mean and standard deviation, and summarized into tables with description. The focus group discussion was conducted with school administrators, external experts, head of educational quality assurance and standards, department heads of disciplines. The data were analyzed by content analysis and summarized into narrative format.

The results showed that the current and desirable conditions of the internal quality assurance of Nan Polytechnic College, in overall and individual aspects, were found at the high level. The aspects required urgent improvement were Domain 5 Evaluating and validating education quality and Domain 7 Improving and developing education quality.

The key factors affecting the internal quality assurance of Nan Polytechnic College were 1) Use of technology showed an effect on determining quality standard of educational institution, evaluating and validating education quality, monitoring operation, and developing self-assessment report. 2) Leadership showed an effect on determining quality standard of educational institution, evaluating and validating education quality, monitoring operation. 3) Personnel showed an effect on designing education administration plan, developing self-assessment report, improving and developing quality education.

The internal quality assurance system and mechanism of Nan Polytechnic College were proposed based on PDCA consisting of 7 domains. 1) Establishing educational standards for educational institution 2) Preparation of educational development plans focusing on quality according to educational standards. 3) Implementation of educational administration development plans. 4) Arrangement for educational quality monitoring and checking. 5) Deployment of internal quality assessment according to the standards of educational institution. 6) Development of internal quality assessment report as annual report. 7) Consistent improvement of quality of education. The quality assurance system consisted of 3 components: 1) Educational quality control 2) Checking, monitoring, reviewing and improving educational quality 3) Evaluation and certification of educational quality. The quality assurance mechanism according to TPL model consisted of 1) Technology (T) 2) Personnel (P) 3) Leadership (L).