The Vice-Rectorate for Educational &Academic Affairs has organized a workshop entitled “Establishing Data and Reporting” in association with the Deanship of Development and Quality. The workshop has been conducted by Dr. Stephen Shedwek and Dr. Julia Chester, affiliated to the British Quality Assurance Agency (QAA). The workshop lasted for two days, Tuesday and Wednesday, 12th -13th of Mahrem, 1436. It was organized through coordination with the British Council. Thirty two teaching staff members affiliated to Sattam bin Abudalaziz University attended the workshop alongside nine teaching staff members from other Saudi Universities.
The Workshop was initiated by giving a brief introduction concerned with the experiences of the trainers in the field of Higher Education Information System. The experts focused on the benchmarking and how important it is in obtaining the information related to the quality of the academic programs performance in the institutions of higher education. In addition, they explained the pivotal role of using the performance indicators for evaluating the performance quality at both program and institution levels. In this respect, Dr. Shadwek refers to the importance of selecting the benchmarks that suit the realistic condition of the institution, taking into consideration the possibility of fulfilling such benchmarks in line with implementing good practices. The trainers focused on the importance of the mission and the vision as starting point toward determining the strategic objectives of the institution of higher education. In other words, the benchmark of the University has to be consistent with its mission and vision.
The trainers discussed in the second session of the workshop the methods necessary for making the strategic plans including its different stages. They explained the relationship between strategic plans and performance quality of the institution of higher education, particularly in the long run. Dr. Julia explained the characteristics to be considered when selecting the performance indicators; they have to be explicit, measurable, and realistic and compatible with the vision, the mission and the objectives of the institution.
“The purpose of organizing such workshop is to fulfill several objectives such as making use of the sophisticated global trends in Quality Assurance and Academic Accreditation, improving the performance quality in the University and implementing the pertinent self-study: Not to mention the fact that the University raced against the time to complete the self-study report as a prerequisite step toward the implementation of the Developmental Review Project. Accordingly, the workshop targeted the category of the quality coordinators in the college, the representative of the programs and the teams of the Developmental Review Project” reported by Dr. Saleh Alkahtani, the University Deputy for Development & Quality.