About us
The Centre for Quality Assurance (CQA) Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS), was established through the approval of the UMS Board of Directors Meeting No. 1/2021 (96th) effective on 27th of January 2021.
The establishment of the Centre for Quality Assurance in UMS involves the merging of the academic quality assurance function managed by the Academic Quality Assurance Section, Centre of Excellence in Teaching & Academic Quality (PKPKA) with the service quality assurance function managed by the Quality Management Division (BPQ), and the separation of BPQ from the Registrar Department in order to form the new PTJ.
To ensure the quality management function and compliance audit are implemented more effectively, there is a need to coordinate the functions related to Academic Quality Assurance with Service Quality Assurance.
The justification for merging the functions of Academic Quality Assurance and upgrading BPQ to become a UMS Quality Assurance Center are as follows:
i. To comply with the requirements stated in the COPPA Document and the findings of the Compliance Audit of the Postgraduate Programs Full Accreditation Requirements in 2016.
(a) The need to separate the Academic Quality Assurance function from PKPKA is based on the requirements in the COPPA Document, namely Area 7 - Monitoring, Review and Continuous Quality Improvement Program, in which item 7.1 - Mechanisms for Program Monitoring, Review and Continual Quality Improvement, states:
7.1.2: The department must have a Quality Assurance (QA) unit for internal quality assurance of the department to work hand-in-hand with the QA unit of the HEP."
(b) The need to comply with the findings of the Compliance Audit of the Postgraduate Programs Full Accreditation Requirements in 2016, states in the following item:
2.1.6: Monitoring and Review of Continuous Quality Improvement Programs. The quality assurance process is an ongoing process. Quality assurance and academic development are different. Hence, it is therefore recommended that these two tasks be separated and carried out by different departments or individuals."
2.1.6: Monitoring and Review of Continuous Quality Improvement Programs. The quality assurance process is an ongoing process. Quality assurance and academic development are different. Hence, it is therefore recommended that these two tasks be separated and carried out by different departments or individuals."
ii. To avoid repitition and redundancy of activities between the Academic Quality Assurance Section of PKPKA and BPQ through the joining of the two functions in a newly proposed PTJ (Centre for Quality Assurance UMS);
iii. To avoid conflict of interest between the academic quality assurance function and the academic development function if both functions remain under PKPKA;
iv. To avoid a clash of interests between the Registrar's Department which coordinates and monitors service delivery with the BPQ which conducts service quality audits if the BPQ is still a part of the Registrar's Department
v. To utilise existing resources where all staff of the Quality Management Division (BPQ) will be centralized and mobilized optimally and save costs;
vi. To avoid criticism from quality assurance-related authorities such as MQA and SIRIM; and
vii. To make the administrative and governance structure of the quality assurance center in UMS in line with the existing structure and practiced in other public universities (UA) in Malaysia.
Based on the need to meet these justifications, the Centre for Quality Assurance which functions to manage and monitor matters related to academic quality assurance and services at UMS has been successfully established through the approval of the UMS Board of Directors Meeting No. 1/2021 (96th) effective on 27th of January 2021.
