Author(s)

Samson John Mgaiwa

Faculty of Education, Department of Educational Foundations and Management, Mkwawa University College of Education, Iringa, Tanzania.

The purpose of this research was to examine the extent of operationalization of quality assurance processes in Tanzanian Private Universities (PRUs). A descriptive survey design informed by a mixed research approach was employed to guide this research. Purposive and stratified random sampling procedures were employed to select a sample of one hundred and ninety-five (N = 195) participants in the study who comprised of 191 academics, and 4 quality assurance officials from four private universities. Questionnaires and face-to-face interviews were used for data collection. The findings indicated that QA processes such as institutional self-assessment and external examinations were to a large extent conducted by PRUs. Unlike these findings, internal quality audits and tracer studies were not adequately carried out. Conclusively, the non-regular practice of these processes remains the main challenge in most of the surveyed Tanzanian PRUs because they are stipulated in the institutional policy documents without a will to adequately implement them.

Quality Assurance, Self-Assessment, Examinations, Audit, Private Universities

John Mgaiwa, S. (2018) Operationalising Quality Assurance Processes in Tanzanian Higher Education: Academics’ Perceptions from Selected Private Universities. Creative Education, 9, 901-918. doi: 10.4236/ce.2018.96066.