SieQA IV 2017

 SieQA 2017 officiated by MOHE Deputy Director General Dr Mohd Nor Azman, organised by MyQAN in partnership with MQA and UTAR

The Seminar on Internal-External Quality Assurance (SieQA) IV 2017 was organised by the Malaysian Higher Education Institutions Quality Assurance Network (MyQAN) in partnership with Malaysian Qualifications Agency (MQA) and UTAR on 26 and 27 September 2017 at Bangunan Mercu MQA, Cyberjaya, Selangor. More than 180 participants attended the SieQA IV 2017.

SieQA 2017 received a great participation from various universities

Present at the event were Ministry of Higher Education (MOHE) Deputy Director General (DDG) Dr Mohd Nor Azman bin Hassan, MyQAN President Prof Dr Ir Shahrir Abdullah, Malaysian Qualifications Agency (MQA) representative Norasikin binti Yahya, SieQA IV 2017 Organising Committee Chairman-cum-UTAR Vice President for Internationalisation and Academic Development Prof Ir Dr Ewe Hong Tat, ASEAN University Network (AUN) Executive Director Dr Choltis Dhirathithi and participants from various universities.

Themed ‘Quality Assurance for Education 4.0: Paradigm Shift and Challenges’, the event was organised to continue SieQA I which was previously held in 2014 by MQA as an annual seminar series and to promote MyQAN among the Higher Education Institutions in Malaysia. Apart from that, SieQA aimed to start a collaborative journey with MQA as the leading External Quality Assessment (EQA) body in Malaysia.

The event started off with a pre-seminar workshop on 26 September 2017 which covered topics such as iCGPA, Institutional and Academic QA policy development, COPPA2, Self-Accreditation, Internal Audit and many more.

Prof Shahrir welcomed the participants and said, “Higher education institutions need to adapt to change. In this current economic development, we need new measures to produce holistic, balanced and entrepreneurial graduates who can adapt and fill in jobs available in the market. Education provider, industry and entrepreneurs will also need to rethink the way they deliver knowledge in order to remain relevant to the marketplace.”

Officiating SieQA 2017 was Dr Mohd Nor Azman with his remark, “There are many challenges ahead, thus, we should gather and brainstorm for strategic policies and plans to remove the uncertainties of the future.”

From left: Prof Shahrir presenting a souvenir to Dr Mohd Nor Azman while Prof Ewe and Norasikin look on

Dr Mohd Nor Azman in his keynote said, “The proposed Higher Education 4.0 Framework includes Curriculum Design and Delivery, Agile Governance, Research 4.0 and Talent. This framework will prepare the country’s higher education institutions for the future challenges in the Industrial Revolution 4.0. Universities have to redesign their curriculum system, improvise and provide courses that are relevant to the industry.”

Dr Choltis spoke about the challenges for ASEAN universities, the paradigm shift for ASEAN universities and Quality Assurance. “The main point is that paradigm shift also includes shifting the way we think and this is one of the most challenging things for us. Quality assurance is a very dynamic process of adaptation and fast evolvement,” said Dr Choltis.

The event also featured a plenary talk titled, ‘Tailoring Quality Assurance towards Education 4.0’ by Engineering Accreditation Department (EAD), BEM Director Ir Assoc Prof Abdul Aziz Omar and MyQAN President Prof Shahrir moderated by MyQAN Deputy President Dr Thian Lok Boon.

Apart from the plenary talk, a squared debate was held to discuss the topic of “Current QA practice will be irrelevant for Education 4.0”. The proponent team were represented by Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS Centre for Excellent in Teaching and Learning (CETaL) Head Dr Mohd Tazli Azizan and Universiti Teknologi MARA Institute of Quality and Knowledge Advancement Assistant Vice Chancellor Prof Dr Roziah Mohd Janor while the opponent team were represented by Monash University Malaysia Quality Assurance and Compliance Director Donald Wong and UTAR  Lee Kong Chian Faculty of Engineering and Science Department of Mechanical and Material Engineering Head Prof Ir Dr D. Rajkumar. Squared Debate moderator Prof Dr Hajah Hanim binti Salleh, the Director of Universiti Tenaga Nasional (UNITEN) Quality Advancement Centre used her interesting communication skills to start off the topic and kindle the participants to think deeply about the topic.

“I am very thankful that among us, we have brilliant staff and academics to bring forth ideas and exchange knowledge in preparation for the Education 4.0 as it is our responsibility to ensure we are ready to meet the challenges of Education 4.0,” said SieQA IV 2017 Organising Committee Deputy Chairman-cum-UTAR Institute of Postgraduate Studies and Research Director Prof Dr Faidz bin Abd Rahman during the closing ceremony. 

 Prof Shahrir presenting the token of appreciation to Dr Choltis (second from right) as Norasikin (far left) and Prof Ewe look on

From left: Assoc Prof Abdul Aziz, Prof Shahrir and Dr Thian during the plenary session

 From left: Dr Mohd Tazli, Prof Roziah, Prof Hanim, Director Donald and Prof Rajkumar during the Squared Debate session

 Clockwise: Workshops conducted by Prof Shahrir, Prof Ewe, Dr Thian and MQA Senior Director Soo Sit Chuan

Participants working on case studies at the workshop