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Introduction
 
 
The Commission for Academic Accreditation is celebrating ten years of operation and it is a time to reflect on progress made and the impact of quality standards on the development of the UAE’s private institutions of higher learning. Our licensed institutions are maturing and continuing to develop a quality culture, whilst new colleges and universities come forward to the Commission to establish in the UAE and contribute new teaching and learning styles from all parts of the world. This educational ‘melting pot’ is a rich environment to share good practice gleaned from parent nations or from innovative start-up institutions here in the UAE. To celebrate the first decade of the Commission we are launching a data-base of good practice in higher education. The concept of a good practice database is aimed to recognize and celebrate exemplary practice in higher education, and to facilitate the sharing process, bringing benefit across all licensed institutions and improving the quality of higher education in the UAE as a whole. This is complemented by the series of CAA Workshops established over the past year that will be continued and will include opportunities for institutions to present their examples of good practice and receive feedback towards further refinement and improvement. The Commission is conscious of many good practices that emerge during its licensure and accreditation exercises and this scheme will accelerate the enhancement of quality across all institutions and thus benefit the reputation of higher education in the UAE, and of course enhance the student experience which is paramount. The criteria for selection are simple; the practice should represent a commendable or novel approach that has been demonstrated to achieve a marked enhancement to the quality and/or standard of an operation or program. The contextual reference is the CAA Standards (i.e. Standards for Licensure and Accreditation, 2007; e-Learning Standards for Licensure and Accreditation, 2007; Standards for Licensure and Accreditation of Technical and Vocational Education and Training, 2009). The submitted good practice might relate to any aspect of the institution, for example from student representation in decision making, to quality assurance systems, to performance benchmarking, to risk management. The submissions will be reviewed by respected experts in the field, and finally they will be published on the CAA web-site. Opportunities will be arranged for oral presentations of the cases at appropriate CAA Workshops across the Emirates. We hope that every institution will have something to offer that is potentially transferable and quality-enhancing for other institutions.
 
Rules Governing Submission
 
  • All good practices must meet the requirements of the guiding notes, template and the approval of CAA appointed referees operating to specific criteria.
  • The CAA reserves the right to make editorial amendments to submissions (not including attachments) in terms of spelling, grammar and consistency of presentation. Any further suggestions for change would only be done in consultation with the institution.
  • The submitting institution grants CAA ownership of the intellectual property of the submission for the sole purpose of its use within the database. The institution will retain any intellectual property rights of the practice itself.
  • Submitting institutions may request that the CAA withdraw the particular entry in the database at any time and without prejudice.
  • Each entry will be reviewed after two years and will generally be removed from the database at that time unless there are compelling reasons for continuance. This will ensure that entries are current and relevant in the rapidly changing sector of higher education. The title will be retained on a list within the CAA website and can be forwarded on request to anyone interested.
  • Submitting institutions must attest to their ownership of the intellectual property and accuracy of all information within the submission.
  • All entries to the database will be at CAA’s complete discretion.
  • The submission of a good practice to the CAA constitutes agreement to comply with the above rules.
To contribute to the CAA database of “Good Practice in Higher Education”, please click here
 
(* The CAA acknowledges with thanks the significant influence on this good practice model of the INQAAHE Database on Good Practice in Quality Assurance – GPQA, and the AUQA Good Practice Database, 2010).