Dimensions of ‘Quality’ In The Case Of Foreign Degree Awarding Institutes of Sri Lanka: A Multiple Stakeholder Perspective

Abstract

The provision of quality higher education is of critical importance for the economy of a developing country like Sri Lanka. This research considering the quality issues of the foreign degree awarding institutes of Sri Lanka investigates the dimensions of quality in relation to these institutes from a multiple stakeholder perspective. The central argument of this thesis is that it is necessary to understand what constitutes as quality in order to improve it. Thus, the study is aimed to identify various understandings of quality in relation to these institutes and their consequences to various stakeholders of these institutes. The study identifies key definitions, purposes and practices associated with the term quality. The students’ and the professionals’ perceptions of how these institutes implement and maintain the key quality criteria and the key issues arriving from the various understandings of quality are also investigated from the receiver country’s perspective. The study adopted a mix of vertical case study and mixed methods approach and worked within a pragmatic paradigm. A questionnaire survey, semi structured interviews and documentary data served as sources of data. The perceptions of students, lecturers and senior managers of five selected foreign degree awarding institutes of Sri Lanka and the officials of three government higher education organizations were sought to achieve the research objectives. The findings revealed a variety of definitions of quality and also various meanings to these definitions, indicating the elusive nature of quality. It was revealed that quality is shaped by external factors such as economy, culture, gender and social class. The different viewpoints of these stakeholders also created confusion, discrepancies and many challenges to quality in these institutes. The findings revealed that the quality of these institutes analysed are neither up to the standards of the government universities of Sri Lanka nor to the standards of their home universities. The way that some of these institutes studied, implemented and maintained quality did not resemble their claimed definitions, purposes and practices of quality, and these mismatches brought out several consequences to the stakeholder groups, while also making a negative impact on the higher education sector of Sri Lanka. The study provided recommendations to the key stakeholder groups to overcome these identified issues of quality.