Defining Quality Higher Education in an Emerging Economy: A Case of Cebu, Philippines

Main Article Content

Felix Jr. S. Aca-ac
Isabelle Sofia M. Baes
Angela Gabrielle Balbuena
Divine Grace Cañon
Romina Pauline P. Justiniani
Ikecraig Jean Laoagan
Tiffany Adelaine Tan

Keywords

employer satisfaction, employability, societal impact

Abstract

For a robust economy, unemployment may be caused by job-mismatch, and job-mismatch is often associated with unemployable degree holders. A possible reason for this mismatch is the lack of a standard definition of what is quality higher education (HE) from the perspective of various stakeholders, namely, the educators, employers, and students. To get their definitions of quality HE, we interviewed 10 educators and eight employers from different industries using a non-probability sampling technique. For the sixty students, we used systematic sampling technique and purposive sampling. We collected and categorized their responses using an unstructured interview format and a thematic analysis approach, respectively.  Our findings suggest that all three stakeholders based their perception of quality HE through the relevance of curriculum and quality of graduates. The quality of the educators, availability of resources, and societal impact also affect the perceived quality of the HEIs. Since the business environment is fast-changing, the HEIs need to invite the industry to participate in the student learning process, curriculum design, and in the process of upgrading their resources.  Secondly, aside from the employability of the graduates, HEIs should also focus on the graduates' ability and willingness to learn new knowledge and skills on their own.

Abstract 2610 | PDF Downloads 49

References

Abatayo, R. (2018, May 17). Job-skills mismatch causing losses to economy, says exec. Cebu Daily News. Retrieved from https://cebudailynews.inquirer.net

Abidin, M. (2015). Higher education quality: Perception differences among internal and external stakeholders. International Education Studies, 8(12), 185-192. doi: 10.5539/ies.v8n12p185

Alani, F., Yaqoub, Y., & Hamdan, M. (2015). Service quality in higher education – A case study of Universiti Brunei Darussalam. International Education Studies, 8(4), 231-245. doi: 10.5539/ies.v8n4p231

Andrews, J., & Higson, H. (2014). Is bologna working? Employer and graduate reflections of the quality, value and relevance of business and management education in four European Union Countries. Higher Education Quarterly, 68(3), 267-287. doi:10.1111/hequ.12054

Asian Development Bank. (2011). Higher education across Asia: An overview of issues and strategies. Retrieved from https://www.adb.org/sites/default/files/publication/29407/higher-education-across-asia.pdf

Bringula, R. P., Balcoba, A. C., & Basa, R. S. (2016, May). Employable skills of information technology graduates in the Philippines: Do industry practitioners and educators have the same view?. In Proceedings of the 21st Western Canadian Conference on Computing Education (pp. 1-6). ACM. doi:10.1145/2910925.2910928

Brown, S. (2012). Managing change in universities: A Sisyphean task? Quality in Higher Education, 18(1), 139-146. doi:10.1080/13538322.2012.663547
Campos, O. (2016 February 21). Job skills mismatch affecting 3 industries. Manila Standard. Retrieved from http://manilastandard.net

Chamorro-Premuzic, T., & Frankiewicz, B. (2019). Does higher education still prepare people for jobs? Harvard Business Review. Retrieved from https://hbr.org

Chapman, D., & Chien, C. L. (2014). Higher education in Asia: Expanding out, Expanding up. Montreal UNESCO Institute for Statistics. Retrieved from http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0024/002478/247862E.

Charland, Ryan (2018, June 4). Addressing the rising cost of college education in the Philippines. PhilStar. Retrieved from https://www.philstar.com

CHED strengthens academe-industry collaboration through faculty immersion. (2017, October 5). CHEDK12. Retrieved from https://chedk12.wordpress.com

Cheng, M. (2011). Transforming the learner" versus "passing the exam: Understanding the gap between academic and student definitions of quality. Quality in Higher Education, 17(1), 3-17.doi:10.1080/13538322.2011.554634

Commission on Higher Education. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://ched.gov.ph/

Conchada, M. I. P., & Tiongco, M. M. (2015). A review of the accreditation system for Philippine higher education institutions (No. 2015-30). PIDS Discussion Paper Series.

Cordova, C. (2018, May 19). Job mismatch costing Cebu economy P80 M monthly. Manila Bulletin. Retrieved from https://news.mb.com.ph

Dicker, R., Garcia, M., Kelly, A., & Mulrooney, H. (2018). What does 'quality' in higher education mean? Perceptions of staff, students and employers. Studies in Higher Education, 1-13. doi:10.1080/03075079.2018.1445987

Dobrota, M., Bulajic, M., Bornmann, L., & Jeremic, V. (2016). A new approach to the QS university ranking using the composite Idistance indicator: Uncertainty and sensitivity analyses. Journal of the Association for Information Science and Technology, 67(1), 200-211.

Elassy, N. (2015). The concepts of quality, quality assurance, and quality enhancement. Quality Assurance in Education, 23(3), 250-261. doi:10.1108/QAE-11-2012-0046

Ghavifekr, S., & Rosdy, W. A. W. (2015). Teaching and learning with technology: Effectiveness of ICT integration in schools. International Journal of Research in Education and Science, 1(2), 175-191.

Gupta, F. & Kaur, C. (2014). Perceptions of teachers on quality assurance in higher education. Scholarly Research Journal For Interdisciplinary Studies, 2 (11), 1320-1332.

Hanssen, T. E. S., & Solvoll, G. (2015). The importance of university facilities for student satisfaction at a Norwegian University. Facilities.

Ingleby, E. (2014). Selected student and tutor perceptions of ICTs in further and higher education. Journal of Further and Higher Education, 38(3), 387-304. doi:10.1080/0309877X.2013.858677
Johnson, O. C. B. (2016). Guide to AUN-QA Assessment at Institutional Level. Version 2.0. ASEAN University Network-Quality Assurance.

Kinsinger, P., & Walch, K. (2012). Living and leading in a VUCA world. Thunderbird University, 1-4.

Lapina, I., Roga, R., & Müürsepp, P. (2016). Quality of higher education. International Journal of Quality and Service Sciences, 8(3), 263-278. doi:10.1108/IJQSS-04-2016-0029

Macha, W., Mackie, C., & Magaziner, J. (2018, March 6). Education in the Philippines. World Education News + Reviews (WENR). Retrieved from https://wenr.wes.org

Nabaho, L., Aguti, J. N., & Oonyu, J. (2017). Making sense of an elusive concept: Academics' perspectives of quality in higher education. Higher Learning Research Communications, 7(2), 25-45. doi:10.18870/hlrc.v7i2.383

Pavel, A. (2015). Global university rankings - A comparative analysis. Procedia Economics and Finance 26,54 – 63
Schleicher, A. (2018). Valuing our Teachers and Raising their Status. OECD Publishing.

Selmer, J. & de Leon, C. (2001). Pinoy-style HRM: Human resource management in the Philippines. Asia Pacific Business Review. 8, 127-144. doi:10.1080/713999124

Shurair, A. S. & Pokharel S. (2019). Stakeholder’s perception of service quality: A case in Qatar. Quality Assurance in Education. Retrieved from https://qspace.qu.edu.qa/handle/10576/5359

Six ways to ensure higher education leaves no one behind (2017 April). UNESDOC Digital Library. Retrieved from http://unesdoc.unesco.org

Smidt, H., & Sursock, A. (2011). Engaging in lifelong learning: Shaping inclusive and responsive University strategies, SIRUS. Brussels: European University Association.

Suárez, J.G. (1992). Three experts on quality management: Philip B. Crosby, W. Edwards Deming, Joseph M. Juran. Total Quality Leadership Office Publication, 92(2). Arlington, VA. Department of the Navy Total Quality Leadership Office.

Tacadena, K. (2016, March 6). TUCP: Job-skill mismatch faces 2016 graduates. GMA News Online. Retrieved from https://www.gmanetwork.com

Tan, L. C. & French-Arnold, E. (2012). Employability of graduates in Asia: An overview of case studies. Bangkok Asia and Pacific Regional Bureau for Education: UNESCO. Retrieved from http://unesdoc.unesco.org

World University Rankings (2018, September 7). World university rankings : Methodology. Times Higher Education. Retrieved from https://www.timeshighereducation.com/world-university-rankings/world-university-rankings-2019-methodology
Tongco, M. D. C. (2007). Purposive sampling as a tool for informant selection. Ethnobotany Research and Applications, 5, 147-158. Retrieved from http://journals.sfu.ca/era/index.php/era/article/viewFile/126/111

Welzant, H., Schindler, L., Puls-Elvidge, S., & Crawford, L. (2015). Definitions of quality in higher education: A Synthesis of the literature. Higher Learning Research Communications, 5(3), 3-13. doi:10.18870/hlrc.v5i3.244

Willis, T. H., & Taylor, A. J. (1999). Total quality management and higher education: the employers' perspective. Total Quality Management, 10(7), 997-1007. doi:10.1080/0954412997181

Yeo, R. K., & Li, J. (2014). Beyond SERVQUAL: The competitive forces of higher education in Singapore. Total Quality Management & Business Excellence, 25(1/2), 95-123. doi:10.1080/14783363.2011.637802