Eleven years ago in March 2013 I was asked by the then Provost, Greg Moran to establish a centralised Academic Support Service for Quality Assurance & Improvement and Professional Development on Teaching and Blended & Digital Learning for faculty. As Founding Director establishing what we now fondly call, QTL_net, the Network of Quality, Teaching and Learning, has been the highlight of my career. We have grown from a team of two people to a global unit of 20 academic support staff across Pakistan and East Africa. Over the past decade QTL_net has reached more than 10,000 participants across AKU (10% of whom are from within the AKDN). The external Unit Review commended the world-class capacity development programmes and how embedded QTL_net is across AKU, creating safe, inclusive and interdisciplinary spaces for faculty.
QTL_net over the past decade has:
•Established AKU’s first Academic Quality and Teaching & Learning Frameworks.
•Established the cyclical review process of academic programmes.
•Adopted internationally certified peer-led, experiential, faculty development programmes such as TLEW and RTT resulting in an enhancement of teaching practices.
•Provided a reward and recognition structure for teaching, including teaching dossiers as part of academic promotion, and through the establishment of the Haile T Debas Teachers Academy which now has 35 members.
•Supported the transition to online learning at AKU during the COVID-19 pandemic catalysing AKU’s first Digital Learning Strategy and now the OTHE programme, that is being used by Academics without Borders (AWB) for other LMICs.
•Championed an Outcome Based Education approach to curriculum.
•Built capacity on the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL), resulting in a six-fold increase of SoTL publication citations from AKU faculty over the last five years.
•Achieved international recognition, including through AKU’s accreditation by Advance HE (UK), enabling faculty to gain a teaching qualification through Higher Education Academy (HEA) fellowships. AKU remains the only institution in Pakistan and East Africa to have achieved this and proudly boasts 150 HEA fellows!
•Forged external partnerships to support and build capacity for University Improvement with KIU and the University of Chitral in Northen Pakistan, the IIS in London and UCA, as well as extending best practices in HE quality circles (INQAAHE, EAQAN, IUCEA, HEC, DAAD, HAQAA).
This has all been possible because of the formidable team I have had the pleasure to lead. I must mention Azra Naseem, Director BDL, Faisal Notta, Director QEC, and Dr Khairulnissa Ajani, Director TL who lead and empower the Specialists and Associates under them, as well as Sahreen Chauhan, Manager of TEACH and the Teachers Academy as well Jannat Khan, our Executive Officer and the admin teams. My thanks to the many mentors who have journeyed with us.
Without the faculty who came forward with the demand and the support of AKU Presidents, Provosts, Board, Deans, Associate Deans, Library, IT, Registrar’s Office, DED, CIME, ELE_net and others in the Academy, QTL_net would not be as successful as it has been. I thank particularly the Teaching Champions, our resource pool of FDWs and Trainers as well as our Teachers Academy Chairs, Sadia Fatima and Shanaz Cassum, that make QTL sustainable.
It has been my honour to have served AKU as the first Vice Provost (Quality, Teaching and Learning). I now leave QTL_net is the safe and capable hands of Professor, Dean Jane Rarieya who has been a valued member of QTL_net since we began, and who I know will take QTL_net to new heights.
Thank you for the opportunity. Asantenti Sana, Khuda Hafiez.
