The delegation from Universitas Padjadjaran
an international quality benchmarking visit to Universiti Malaya (UM), Malaysia on 1-4 August 2023. The delegation consisted of Dr. Funny Mustikasari (Head of SPM Unpad), Budi Harsanto, PhD & Joniar Fani Widodo (UPM FEB Unpad) and Dr. Asep Mulyana (Head of MMKMT FEB Unpad Study Program). This activity is a continuation of a series of activities after the previous success with the seminar and FGD “FEB Unpad International Quality Benchmarking 2023” on July 11-12 2023 at the FEB Unpad Jatinangor Campus Lead Building.
A visit to UM was specifically made to the Quality Management and Enhancement Center (QMEC) UM. QMEC UM is a special unit at the university level that has the task of managing quality assurance and quality improvement activities at UM. The presentation and discussion from QMEC UM was led by Prof. Ts. Dr. Rafidah Md Noor (Director of QMEC), along with Prof. Madya Dr. Amalina Muhammad Afifi (Head Compliance and Capacity Building Division), Dr. Ng Siew Cheok (Head Analytical and Quality Enhancement Division), and QMEC support staff.
Prof. Rafidah explained that ME’s achievements in terms of ranking included the inclusion of ME in QS-WUR (#65), QS-WUR Asia (#9), QS-WUR South East Asia (#3), THE (301-350), THE Asia (55), THE Impact Ranking (201-300), UI Green Metric (50), Myra (5), Mymohes (54). Other UM achievements in terms of accreditation are international accreditation of study programs such as IChemE, RSC, RICS, Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA), AACSB, AMBA, Royal College of Surgeons and Royal College of Pathologists. Since 2010 UM has become the first university in Malaysia to be given the trust for self-accreditation from the Malaysian Qualifications Agency (MQA).
To understand quality assurance at the faculty level, the delegation was also given the opportunity to have a discussion with the Dean of FASS (Faculty of Arts & Social Sciences) Datuk Prof. Dr. Danny Wong Tze Ken (Dean) and his staff including Prof. Dr. Hamedi Mohd Adnan (Vice Dean Postgraduate), Prof. Dr. Firuza Begham Mustafa (Vice Dean Undergraduate), Assoc. Prof. Dr. Helena Muhamad Varkkey (Vice Dean Research), At UM, there is a quality manager who is responsible for coordinating quality at the faculty. At FASS, the function of this quality manager is carried out by one of the deputy deans. Apart from the faculty, this quality manager is also in the research center and other units so that in total there are 52 quality managers at UM. Under the quality manager there are lead Auditors, QA Expert programs, stakeholder requirements and feedback PICs, risk Officers, and AQA (Academic Programs Quality Assurance) Executives.
Dr. Funny as the leader of the delegation said that even though UM has a very high reputation and ranking in Asia and the world, UM warmly welcomed the delegation from Unpad and was open to sharing experiences and enthusiasm for collaboration. Budi, who is bridging the quality benchmarking visit, added that the quality culture of MUs is already strong. Apart from being marked by the trust to carry out self-accreditation from MQA, also the implementation of ISO at the university level since 2002 until now has been comprehensively implemented by all MUs. Another interesting thing is that international accreditation targets are not assigned to all faculties or study programs equally, but are strategically selected according to their needs and impact.
