International Quality Review Action Plan | Asia Pacific University (APU)

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International Quality Review Action Plan


Conditions: NONE

Good Practice:

The QAA review team identified the following features of good practice at Asia Pacific University of Technology and Innovation:

  • active engagement with industry within the development of new academic programmes (ESG Standard 1.2)
  • active engagement with industry in the design and delivery of learning, teaching, and assessment (ESG Standard 1.3)
  • close relationship between APU and industry to support students' ongoing professional development and success (ESG Standard 1.6)
  • effective use of industry advisory panels to monitor and review the programmes across different schools to ensure its programmes reflect the changing needs of society (ESG Standard 1.9)
  • proactive engagement of different external quality assurance activities to inform internal continuous improvement of its academic provision (ESG Standard 1.10).

Recommendations:
The following action plan has been developed to address recommendations suggested by the QAA review team.

Senior Director, Partnerships & Standards
​May 2024

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NoRecommendationAction to be takenDate for CompletionAction bySuccess indicators
1Develop a systematic review mechanism to ensure its quality management documentation is consistent among different policies and procedures (ESG Standard 1.1)

Migration to new ISO 21001 by start December 2024
Audit mid-December 2024
Outcomes end December 2024

January 2025Director, Quality Management/ Lead, Quality EnhancementNo non-conformities identified during annual ISO audits related to consistency of policies and procedures.
2Produce and publish a commercially sensitive version of the policy for quality assurance (ESG Standard 1.1)Review QA policy documentation to create versions available for public access.October 2024Director, Quality Management/ Lead, Quality EnhancementAbility of all current and prospective staff, students, quality partners and employers to view the APU policy for quality assurance online.
3Clearly define the relationship between various committees in the governance structure to ensure effective oversight of its academic provision at all levels (ESG Standard 1.1)Amend APU Governance Structure Chart and review all Terms of Reference for Committees/Sub-Committees.October 2024Vice Chancellor/ Lead, Quality EnhancementPublished governance structure online.
4Urgently update Student Conduct and Discipline Policy to ensure it refers to the correct policy once the Senate approves the APU Academic and Research Dishonesty Policy (ESG Standard 1.1)Amended policy document to be presented to APU Senate meeting in March 2024March 2024Lead, Quality EnhancementPolicy presented and approved at APU Senate Meeting on 12th March 2024.
Published on APU's Knowledge Base.
5Broaden the involvement of internal stakeholders (such as students and academic staff) at APU's committee structure in developing and implementing its policies for quality assurance (ESG Standard 1.1)Undertake review of committee structures to identify opportunities and enhancements to broaden internal stakeholder involvement in line with local Malaysian Qualifications Agency expectations.December 2024Lead, Quality Enhancement/ Head Academic QualityAvailability of minutes of relevant meetings where APU’s policies for quality assurance are discussed.
6Review its student assessment feedback policy across various documentation to ensure consistent standards (ESG Standard 1.3)Review all policy documents for consistency of standards and benchmark against partner universities.

Audit mid-December 2024 Outcomes end December 2024		January 2025Lead, Quality Enhancement/ Academic CommitteeNo non-conformities identified during annual ISO audits related to consistency of documentation related to student assessment and feedback.
7Reconsider its approach to managing how changes to academic regulations, policy, and practices are applied to student-facing documentation (ESG Standard 1.3)Benchmark policies related to student-facing documentation with partner universities. Develop a clear policy for the dissemination of changes to academic regulations, policy, and practices.October 2024Lead, Quality Enhancement/ Academic CommitteeAvailability of a policy in APU Knowledge Base accessible to all staff and students.
8Reflect on whether the value conferred by the online feedback system is best expressed as an additional mechanism for collecting informal, ad hoc feedback from students or whether this should constitute the formal mechanism for gathering formalised student complaints (ESG Standard 1.3)Review student feedback mechanismsDecember 2024Vice Chancellor/ Registrar/ Director, Academic OperationsPresentation of findings and any subsequent proposed actions to the Senior Management Team.
9Develop a more systematic approach to planning and reviewing learning and support services to ensure they are sufficient, efficient and easily accessible to students (ESG Standard 1.6)Review and enhance current processes for reviewing and planning resources.
Creation of process flow for the planning and reviewing of learning and support services.		December 2024Vice Chancellor/ Chief Operating OfficerAvailability of a process flow in APU Knowledge Base accessible to all staff.
10Ensure EMRs are appropriately completed, effectively discussed with involvement of module tutors to share their practice and learned lessons to support the continuous module and programme improvement (ESG Standard 1.7)Review and articulate current practice. To enhance process if required.June 2024 - Review current practice December 2024 - Enhance process if requiredLead, Quality Enhancement/ Academic CommitteePresentation of findings and any subsequent proposed actions to the Senior Management Team.
11Adopt a consistent approach to recording committee minutes to ensure they reflect actual committee discussion, fully aligning with their Terms of Reference, and subsequently informing continuous quality improvement activities (ESG Standard 1.7)Review current minute taking practice across the institution, identify areas of good practice and areas of improvement.
Develop a standard university approach and general template for meetings, Identify training requirements.		October 2024 - Review university minute taking practice December 2024 - identify training requirements January 2025 - implement new standardised process/formatSenior Director, Administration & Human Resources/ Director, Academic Operations/ Senior Leadership TeamAvailability of a policy indicating APU’s standard approach accompanied with a template. Record of staff training being undertaken.
12Develop a systematic approach to involve students and staff in planning follow-up activities in relation to teaching and learning and subsequently enhancing the quality of the programmes and the student experience (ESG Standard 1.7)Engage with students to identify involvement opportunities Review and align proposals with recommendation #5 above.December 2024Manager, Student Experience/ Lead, Quality Enhancement/ Senior Management TeamAvailability of minutes of relevant meetings where staff and student have involvement in relation to discussion and enhancement of APU’s teaching and learning approaches, programme developments and enhancements to the student experience.
13Formulate and use a systematic process to clearly define and explain the different levels of access for both internal and external stakeholders (ESG Standard 1.8).Review current access privileges for stakeholders and develop a process flow to identify default permissions, identify staff with the opportunity to request access, and to identify a process for approval of access to documents.October 2024Centre for Technology & Innovation/ Lead, Quality Enhancement/ Chief Operating OfficerAvailability of a policy indicating APU’s approach to identifying and approving access to documents in Knowledge Base.