The Centre for Education Quality Management at UTM plays a pivotal role in maintaining high educational standards across the University’s programmes. It conducts regular training for scholars, promotes the adoption of new technologies for educational purposes, and collaborates with accreditation and regulatory bodies
In today’s competitive higher education landscape, quality and consistency are key elements worldwide for any university to achieve success. The foundation of UTM’s own reputation lies in the excellence of its academic offerings, with those standards being supported and upheld by the University’s Centre for Education Quality Management.
“Our Centre ensures that the direction of any specific course remains coherent, even when taught by different lecturers, and that the evaluation standards are consistent, to guarantee fair treatment for all students,” says Director Dr. Henrique Fatima Boyol Ngan.
This UTM approach includes guidelines for student assessment and the establishment of what are known as ‘intended learning outcomes’ for each course, guaranteeing that its direction and goals are maintained over time.
As UTM’s education quality assurance unit, the Centre for Education Quality Management also provides faculty members with training and access to a comprehensive repository of educational resources – including teaching/learning software, videos, online resources for ‘self-learning’, and online courses. This helps ensure that the University’s learning environment is continuously improved.
These efforts are crucial for UTM to maintain its international accreditations and improve the overall educational experience at the University, says Dr. Boyol Ngan.
A key focus of the Centre is collaboration with Macao Government units including the Education and Youth Development Bureau, as well as with various external accreditation bodies.
An example of the latter is its relationship with the United Kingdom’s Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education (QAA). UTM was the world’s first higher education institution to receive a successful International Quality Review (IQR) from the U.K. agency. “We learn from them about how they evaluate UTM’s work and ways we can improve,” Dr. Boyol Ngan says.
Reflecting on the development of UTM and its predecessor, the Institute for Tourism Studies, over the years, he notes that the higher education institution has “secured numerous accreditations and maintained high international rankings” in various areas. “These are significant strengths of UTM.”
Dr. Boyol Ngan sees his role as Director of the Centre for Education Quality Management as a way to “make further contributions” to the University’s progress.
He joined UTM over a decade ago, with an academic background in psychology. Prior to moving to the University, he was responsible for researching, creating, and implementing training and development programmes for workers in the leisure and entertainment sector. Dr. Boyol Ngan says this has given him a valuable perspective on either designing new training initiatives or assessing existing ones.
The Centre for Education Quality Management organises between 10 and 12 training sessions annually for UTM scholars. Half of these sessions focus on improving teaching methods and making classes more engaging, to stimulate students’ interest in learning, Dr. Boyol Ngan explains.
“We also discuss how to adopt technology to enhance the students’ learning experience and environment.”
The remaining sessions are dedicated to research, with the Centre offering training in the latest methods, and assessing how UTM can support the research needs of its scholars.
“We conduct training needs analysis, to determine what our participants require and then find specialists capable of delivering the necessary training,” Dr. Boyol Ngan explains. “These specialists might be our faculty members or other professionals, depending on the topic.”
Editor: UTM Public Relations Team
