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Quality Assurance Directorate


Excellence Through Continuous Improvement

Director

Dr Shynet Chivasa

Director

Email: schivasa@lsu.ac.zw

As QAD we aim to facilitate awareness and implementation of research-driven QA standards, guidelines, policies and best practices to enable the University to successfully execute its mission with respect teaching, learning, research, community service, innovation, industrialization and sound governance.

2016
Year Established
100%
Programme Accreditation
24/7
Quality Commitment

About Quality Assurance Directorate

Guided by its vision, mission and core values, Lupane State University is determined to provide quality in teaching, learning, research, innovation and industrialization, and community service through an effective quality assurance management system and continuous quality enhancement. To achieve these key result areas of the University mission, the Quality Assurance Directorate (QAD) was established in 2016.
The Directorate is mandated to enhance the quality of the academic awards through various interventions such implementation of quality assurance policies and guidelines. QAD is housed in the Office of Vice-Chancellor and its quality enhancement efforts are guided by the University's Strategic Plan. QAD operates under the guidance of the Quality Assurance Committee in framing quality-enhancing policies and procedures.
The Committee is chaired by the Pro-Vice-Chancellor. To promote quality in the University activities, various Quality Assurance Committees at Faculty and Department levels were established. At the same time, Quality Circles were put in place to coordinate quality assurance in non-teaching departments. The University has taken several quality assurance initiatives which are outlined on QAD webpages.

Accreditation

Lupane State University is accredited by the Zimbabwe Council of Higher Education (ZIMCHE). ZIMCHE is the External Quality Assurance Agency in Zimbabwe

Director's Statement

I welcome you all to the webpages of the Quality Assurance Directorate (QAD) at LSU. It is my pleasure to share with you a few thoughts about Quality Assurance (QA) at LSU. Our aim is to be the Centre of Excellence in the provision of QA services to the whole University.The delivery of our QA services is anchored on QA theory and research. As Kurt Lewin surmised, "there is nothing so practical as a good theory". We believe that meaningful practice should be guided by theory and research. In this regard, we benchmark our work against global best practices such as the African Union QA Standards and Guidelines in Higher Education.
As a department we strongly believe in the systems approach to QA whereby all sections, students and staff of the University are critical in the provision of quality education through implementation of our robust QA Management system. In this regard, QA is everyone's business at LSU. Again, we see QA as a continuous process embedded in total quality management.
With our strong conviction in the concept of community of learners and actors, the Directorate is conscious the need to share our experiences with other institutions. Accordingly, QAD is readily available to provide QA consultancy services to other institutions through our "LSU Higher Education Consultancy". The Consultancy is consistent with the parent Ministry's thrust on Universities in Zimbabwe to produce quality "goods and services" under the "Innovation and Industrialisation" drive. In addition to our nominal fee-based consultancy, QAD is also actively involved in volunteerism based on inspiration from prominent scholars such as Dr Martin Luther King, Jr. who said "Life's most persistent and urgent question is, 'What are you doing for others?' Details of our training and social responsibility services are outlined under "LSU Higher Education Consultancy".
For a more detailed information about the work of the Directorate, please feel free to browse through our pages and do not hesitate to contact as we are there to serve our clients and stakeholders.

Institutional Analyst Profile

Institutional Analyst: Mrs. Primrose Chikerema

Email:

🎓 Qualifications: MSc Operations Research and Statistics (NUST, 2015) | BSc Mathematics (MSU, 2012) | PGDE (LSU, 2017)

🔬 Research Areas: Quality Assurance in Higher Education, Information Systems, Data Analytics, Monitoring and Evaluation

📊 Role: Institutional Analyst – dedicated to data-driven insights, QA systems, and strategic planning integration.

Quality Improvement Strategies – Contributions & Focus Areas

As Institutional Analyst, Primrose Chikerema strengthens the University's quality culture through advanced data analytics, monitoring & evaluation frameworks, and research-driven QA interventions. She actively contributes to the directorate's flagship strategies listed below, with a specialized focus on operationalizing quality metrics and institutional research.

📈 Specialist in Operations Research | Data Analytics for Quality Enhancement | PGDE in Higher Education

Quality Assurance Directorate — Committed to Excellence through Evidence-based Strategies and Continuous Improvement

Quality Standards

  • Academic Excellence
  • Research Quality
  • Service Standards

Core Functions

  • Develop quality assurance frameworks that meet national and international quality standards in Higher Education.
  • Review quality standards and guidelines in the University.
  • Develop quality improvement evaluation instruments for continuous quality improvement.
  • Coordinate the implementation of quality procedures, guidelines and policies.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Quality Assurance Directorate initiate quality assurance procedures, guidelines and policies that promote quality education and lifelong learning. It is through the Quality Assurance Directorate that national and international quality standards and guidelines are coordinated.

While there are several definitions of quality education our view is that a good quality education should empower a learner with knowledge, competencies and skills which will enable him/her to be productive in life and live sustainable livelihoods. The same quality education should enable the learner to peacefully co-exist with others as well as contribute meaningfully to society.

Key elements of an academic programme that should demonstrate quality and high academic standards are: a. Programme specification including learning outcomes b. Programme structure and content c. Teaching and learning strategy d. Student assessment e. Academic staff quality f. Support staff quality g. Student advice and support h. Location of a programme in an appropriate Department i. Facilities and infrastructure supporting the programme j. Quality assurance of teaching and learning processes k. Staff development activities l. Stakeholders' feedback (e.g. employers) m. Programme outputs and outcomes n. Stakeholders satisfaction (e.g. alumni) The foregoing should be based on evidence.

It is a company or organisation that claims to be a college or university but provides inferior and illegitimate academic degrees and diplomas for a fee.

Quality assurance in higher education includes all policies, guidelines, procedures, measures, planned processes and actions aimed at ensuring that the quality or standard of academic awards (e.g. degree) an institution is maintained and enhanced. QA can also be viewed as processes and procedures for ensuring that qualifications, assessment and programme delivery meet specified standards.

Yes, there is a difference between the two concepts. Quality control focuses on product defect detection. Thus quality control is product-oriented while quality assurance focuses on the processes that avoid product defects. Hence, QA is process oriented. Quality control also focuses on fulfilling quality requirements, while quality assurance focuses on processes that produce products and services. QA can also be viewed as a quality management system aimed at providing confidence that quality requirements will be fulfilled or met.

Factors that contributed to the rise to QA in higher education include: • Falling academic standards in colleges and universities world-wide • Rise in diploma mills or fake colleges and universities that exchange certificates with money without proper learning. • Competition for students world-wide resulting in relaxed university entry requirements. This compromises academic standards.

It is team of employees doing the same job from the same department who regularly meet to consider ways of solving problems they meet as they execute their tasks with the objective of improving product and/or service quality.

Yes. Accreditation means that the University's programmes meet the required national and international quality standards.

It is important to identify service gaps and ways of bridging the gap as the means of continuous improvement. It is through self-evaluation that a university can improve the quality of its service delivery.

The relationship is that theory of QA and higher education in general helps one to grasp QA issues better. QA is required in all aspects of university operations hence understanding higher education as a field of study helps one to also understand QA issues in universities. QA research helps one to address QA issues. Again higher education theoretical frameworks guide QA research. Thus theory and research help in developing robust QA systems in colleges and universities. As Karl Marx once said ''practice without theory is blind, theory without practice is sterile''. The diagram below synthesizes the relationship between theory, research and development of QA systems in a college or university.