Criterion 6 – Student Support Services
Requirements for AUNQA Criterion 6
6.1 Student admission
The student intake policy, admission criteria, and admission procedures to the programme are shown to be clearly defined, communicated, published, and up-to-date.
Diagnostic questions
- How is student intake monitored and analysed?
- How are students selected?
- What policy is pursued with regard to the intake of students? Does it aim to increase the intake or to stabilise it? Why?
- What measures are taken to influence the quality and the size of the intake? What effect does these measures have?
- How does the programme take into account the level of achievement of entering students?
6.2 Service planning
Both short-term and long-term planning of academic and non-academic support services are shown to be carried out to ensure sufficiency and quality of support services for teaching, research, and community service.
Diagnostic questions
- What are the academic support services? What are non-academic support services?
- What are the short-term and long-term plans of academic support services?
- What are the short-term and long-term plans of non-academic support services?
- What are the support services for teaching, research and community service?
- How are the sufficiency and quality of support services determined?
6.3 Student monitor
An adequate system is shown to exist for student progress, academic performance, and workload monitoring. Student progress, academic performance, and workload are shown to be systematically recorded and monitored. Feedback to students and corrective actions are made where necessary.
Diagnostic questions
- Is the study load divided equally across and within each academic year? How is the credit hours calculated?
- What are the indicators used to monitor student progress and performance?
- Does the department have a monitoring system for recording study progress and following graduates? How does it work?
- How is the data of the monitoring system used?
- What is the corrective feedback? How is it provided?
6.4 Co-curricular activities
Co-curricular activities, student competition, and other student support services are shown to be available to improve learning experience and employability.
Diagnostic questions
- What are the co-curricular activities and student competition used?
- How do they improve learning experience or employability?
6.5 Service competences evaluation
The competences of the support staff rendering student services are shown to be identified for recruitment and deployment. These competences are shown to be evaluated to ensure their continued relevance to stakeholders needs. Roles and relationships are shown to be well-defined to ensure smooth delivery of the services.
Diagnostic questions
- Are the support staff members competent and qualified for their jobs?
- Are the competencies and expertise of the support staff adequate?
- How are the required competence of the support staff identified?
- Are the competence relevant to stakeholders’ needs?
- Are support staff members satisfied with their roles?
6.6 Service quality enhancement
Student support services are shown to be subjected to evaluation, benchmarking, and enhancement.
Diagnostic questions
- What are the indicators used to monitor student progress and performance?
- Are students satisfied with the support services provided?
- How are the students support services evaluated?
- Is benchmarking used? How are the student support services enhanced?
Scoring for TRSU QA
| TRSU QA score | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
| Items showing QA practice | 1 item | 2 items | 3-4 items | 5 items | 5 items + 6.6 |
AUNQA scoring rubrics
A seven-point rating scale used for AUNQA assessment is described below.
1. Absolutely inadequate
The QA practice to fulfil the criterion is not implemented.
There are no plans, documents, evidences or results available.
Immediate improvement must be made.
2. Inadequate and improvement is necessary
The QA practice to fulfil the criterion is still at its planning stage or is inadequate where improvement is necessary.
There is little document or evidence available.
Performance of the QA practice shows little or poor results.
3. Inadequate but minor improvement will make it adequate
The QA practice to fulfil the criterion is defined and implemented but minor improvement is needed to fully meet them. Documents are available but no clear evidence to support that they have been fully used. Performance of the QA practice shows inconsistent or some results.
4. Adequate as expected
The QA practice to fulfil the criterion is adequate and evidences support that it has been fully implemented. Performance of the QA practice shows consistent results as expected.
5. Better than adequate
The QA practice to fulfil the criterion is better than adequate. Evidence supports that it (the QA practice) has been efficiently implemented. Performance of the QA practice shows good results and positive improvement trend.
6. Example of best practice
The QA practice to fulfil the criterion is considered to be example of best practices in the field. Evidences support that it has been effectively implemented.
Performance of QA practice shows very good results and positive improvement trend.
7. Excellent (example of world-class or leading practice)
The QA practice to fulfil the criterion is considered to be excellent or is an example of world-class practices in the field. Evidences support that it has been innovatively implemented.
Performance of the QA practice shows excellent results and outstanding improvement trends.
Guide to writing a self-assessment report (SAR)
- The report is the account of the self-assessment. It is not only descriptive but also analytical. It identifies and evaluates the problems and also provides an indication of how the problems identified will be dealt with. (Use the diagnostic questions provided in each of the AUN-QA criteria to do this.)
- Illustrate clearly what, where, when, who, and how the QA mechanisms or instruments are implemented and managed to fulfil the criteria. This will help to piece all related information together.
- Focus on information and data (objective evidences) that directly address the criteria. The report has to be concise and factual. Provide trends and statistics to show achievement and performance.
What is the QA practice to fulfil the criterion?
Quality assurance practice should mean QA plan that evaluates and/or modifies organization’s procedures to ensure that they provide the desired results. The QA plan documents the planning, implementation and assessment procedures for a project, process or any QA activity.
The QA plan should provide information about some or all of the following.
- An overview of the project or process describing background, need, scope, activities, and deadlines;
- Quality objectives to be attained (for example, characteristics, effectiveness, cycle time, cost, etc.);
- Steps in the process that constitute the operating practice or procedures of the organization;
- Allocation of responsibilities, authority, and resources for different phases of the project/process;
- Specific document describing standards, practices, procedures, and instructions to be applied;
- Suitable testing, inspection, examination, and audit programs at appropriate stages;
- A documented procedure for changes and modifications to a quality plan as a process is improved;
- A method for measuring the achievement of the quality objectives;
(Source: https://asq.org/quality-resources/quality-plans)
Operational Result
6.1 The student intake policy, admission criteria, and admission procedures to the programme are shown to be clearly defined, communicated, published, and up-to-date.
…….
6.2 Both short-term and long-term planning of academic and non-academic support services are shown to be carried out to ensure sufficiency and quality of support services for teaching, research, and community service.
…..
6.3 An adequate system is shown to exist for student progress, academic performance, and workload monitoring. Student progress, academic performance, and workload are shown to be systematically recorded and monitored. Feedback to students and corrective actions are made where necessary.
…….
6.4 Co-curricular activities, student competition, and other student support services are shown to be available to improve learning experience and employability.
……
6.5 The competences of the support staff rendering student services are shown to be identified for recruitment and deployment. These competences are shown to be evaluated to ensure their continued relevance to stakeholders needs. Roles and relationships are shown to be well-defined to ensure smooth delivery of the services.
…..
6.6 Student support services are shown to be subjected to evaluation, benchmarking, and enhancement.
…….
Evidence
| ID_Evidence | Name_Evidence |
| 6.1-1 | |
| 6.1-2 | |
| 6.2-1 |
Self-Assessment
| Requirements | Result | Score |
| 6.1 The student intake policy, admission criteria, and admission procedures to the programme are shown to be clearly defined, communicated, published, and up-to-date. | / | 1 |
| 6.2 Both short-term and long-term planning of academic and non-academic support services are shown to be carried out to ensure sufficiency and quality of support services for teaching, research, and community service. | / | 1 |
| 6.4 Co-curricular activities, student competition, and other student support services are shown to be available to improve learning experience and employability. | / | |
| 6.3 An adequate system is shown to exist for student progress, academic performance, and workload monitoring. Student progress, academic performance, and workload are shown to be systematically recorded and monitored. Feedback to students and corrective actions are made where necessary. | / | 1 |
| 6.5 The competences of the support staff rendering student services are shown to be identified for recruitment and deployment. These competences are shown to be evaluated to ensure their continued relevance to stakeholders needs. Roles and relationships are shown to be well-defined to ensure smooth delivery of the services. | / | 1 |
| 6.6 Student support services are shown to be subjected to evaluation, benchmarking, and enhancement. | / | 1 |
| Overall | 5 | |