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The
establishment of a new entity which merges the National
Accreditation Board (LAN) and the Quality Assurance
Division, Ministry of Higher Education (QAD) was approved by
the Government on 21 December 2005. This entity is
responsible for quality assurance of higher education for
both the public and the private sectors.
The new
entity, the Malaysian Qualifications Agency (MQA), was
established on 1 November 2007 with the coming in force of
the Malaysian Qualifications Agency Act 2007. The MQA was
officially launched by the Honourable Minister of Higher
Education, Dato’ Mustapa Mohamed, on 2 November 2007.
The main
role of the MQA is to implement the Malaysian Qualifications
Framework (MQF) as a basis for quality assurance of higher
education and as the reference point for the criteria and
standards for national qualifications. The MQA is
responsible for monitoring and overseeing the quality
assurance practices and accreditation of national higher
education.
The
establishment of the MQA saw LAN dissolved and its personnel
absorbed into the MQA.
With the
vision to be a credible and internationally recognised
higher education quality assurance body and the mission to
inspire the confidence of its stakeholders through best
practices, the MQA is set to chart new boundaries in higher
education quality assurance.
As a
quality assurance body, the functions of MQA are:
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(i) |
To
implement MQF as a reference point for Malaysian
qualifications; |
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(ii) |
To develop standards and credits and all other relevant
instruments as national references for the conferment of awards with the cooperation of stakeholders; |
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(iii) |
To quality
assure higher education institutions and programmes; |
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(iv) |
To accredit
courses that fulfil the set criteria and standards;
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(V) |
To
facilitate the recognition and articulation of
qualifications; and |
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(vi) |
To maintain the Malaysian Qualifications
Register (MQR). |
The
establishment of the MQA and the implementation of the MQF
will benefit national higher education and the development
of human capital.
In brief,
the contributions of MQA and the benefits of implementing
the MQF is shown below:
THE CONTRIBUTIONS OF MQA
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