The Development and Quality Center (DQC) started to carry out its responsibilities in 2019, shortly after the launch of the Vision Institutional Accreditation Project. The DQC reports directly to the Dean, who supervises Academic Affairs, and he, in turn, reports to the Board of Trustees.
The DQC conducts its duties and responsibilities through subcommittees, including committees for academic programs. The heads of each program committee are the deputy directors and report to the Director of the DQC.
The Quality Management System (QMS) works to meet the quality requirements in preparing and implementing the academic programs at VC, as well as to verify the effective contribution of the VC administrative and academic departments in the continuous improvement of the educational process, student activities, and community services. In addition, the QMS develops strategic and operational plans, follows up on their application, and facilitates development and enhancement in accordance with national and global quality standards.
The major objectives of the VC QMS at the program level include:
- Ensuring and maintaining Vision Colleges’ programmatic compliance with all quality standards in the educational, administrational, organizational, and technical fields to enhance the capabilities of the program to achieve sustainable competitive advantages in accordance with VC vision, mission, and strategic goals.
- Assisting the development and monitoring of academic program mission and goals; and the program operational plan.
- Ensuring the achievement of standard performance along with the satisfaction of the beneficiaries.
- Enabling for qualifying the academic program for national academic accreditation.
- Promoting a culture of quality and continuous improvement where everyone understands, uses and feels ownership of quality principles and practices throughout Academic Program’s community.
- Maintaining effective information management systems regarding all evidences, policies, regulations and quality assurance and accreditation activities at the academic program.
Through its ‘Central Committee,’ the DQC has worked effectively as a coordinating hub of all quality assurance activities at the institute to harmonize various aspects of quality.
Internally, the DQC performs activities through the ongoing performance of sub-committees, checked periodically at an average of 12-18 DQC meetings each year. Both the DQC and its sub-committees issue annual reports that document their achievements and provide insight into what could be done for improvement.
In the external environment of the DQC (VC departments), the DQC coordinates at different levels to assure quality and accreditation by deciding upon the general policy required for quality assurance, assessing performance in all academic and administrative units, promoting a culture of quality, continuing to boost the quality level, and reinforcing the rank of VC among other higher education institutions.
All organizational and administrative units are involved in quality assurance, with performance monitored and plans for improvement implemented. This cross-program engagement in quality assurance is an integral part of the quality cycle. The various units and committees of VC are in constant communication with the DQC for two main reasons:
- To acquire relevant updates on the standards of practice within these bodies; and
- To provide necessary information that builds upon data and evidence for quality assurance. This includes minutes of meetings, annual reports, on-demand specific data, as well as performance indicator data.