About HEDP / MoHE

Afghan policy makers perceive higher education as a vital engine of growth and development. The higher education system produces a pool of high level human resources, including policy makers, administrators, managers, entrepreneurs, engineers, medical personnel, highly skilled technicians, as well as qualified teachers and academics, that are essential for economic development. The availability of such a pool of well-educated human resources will be of central importance for the overall future development of the country. Recognizing this, the Government of Afghanistan and the World Bank (WB) have agreed to support the higher education sector through a Higher Education Operation that will succeed the previous Strengthening Higher Education Project (SHEP). The new Higher Education Development Project (HEDP) will support the overall Government’s own effort to expand and strengthen its higher education sector. THE PROJECT The proposed project contains two components: (1) A program component that finances strategic initiatives to develop the higher education sector. The strategic initiatives are (a) increasing participation in universities in priority degree programs for national economic development, (b) modernizing and enhancing the quality and relevance of teaching and learning; (c) expanding the professional qualifications and skills of academic and technical staff; (d) strengthening governance, quality assurance and accreditation; and (e) stimulating development orientated research. And (2) a program operations and technical support component that would support project coordination, implementation, monitoring and evaluation, research activities, human resource development for academic managers and administrative and technical staff, policy studies, beneficiary satisfaction surveys, communications and policy dialogues. The Director of the Operations and Monitoring Support Team (OMST) in the Ministry of Higher Education (MoHE) will coordinate and facilitate the implementation of HEDP in close collaboration with its relevant departments. . OPERATIONS AND MONITORING SUPPORT TEAM Support under OMST will cover coordination, technical assistance (TA), monitoring and evaluation, research and policy studies, and communication. The technical assistance and capacity building activities of this component will assist the MoHE to implement the development initiatives of the NHESP-II. Policy studies could include tracer studies of graduates to analyze their job search and labor market experience, as well as beneficiary satisfaction surveys of staff and students of institutions and programs supported by HEDP. Resources for communication would enable higher education authorities to disseminate development initiatives to political authorities, policy makers, academics, students, and the general public. The team would help MoHE to fine tune policy reforms, such as piloting and evaluating innovative approaches to promote female enrolment in priority programs. Component 2 of the Projectwill also finance the incremental operating costs of an Operations and Monitoring Support Team (OMST) in the MoHE.

Job Summary

The position is for the duration of the project, subject to satisfactory performance. There will be a probation period of three months. Annual performance evaluations will be organized by the Director OMST. Feedback will be obtained from the MoHE and universities for the performance evaluation. 

Duties & Responsibilities

The main duties and responsibilities of the QAA Manager are to:

• Support the work of the Directorate of Quality Assurance and Accreditation
• Assist the MoHE in the development of the regulatory framework for Quality Assurance and Accreditation in higher education
• Support the MoHE to conduct external quality assurance reviews in all public universities and higher education institutions during the life of the project
• Assist the public universities to establish and develop Internal Quality Assurance Units (IQAUs)
• Support the MoHE to coordinate and facilitate the training of an adequate number of Quality Assurance Reviewers to undertake institutional quality assurance reviews of all public universities and higher education institutions over a four-five year cycle. This would include training in external QA governance, structure and administration, as well as guidelines of good practices in QA
• Support the MoHE to coordinate and facilitate the training of an adequate number of Quality Assurance Reviewers for the work of the Internal Quality Assurance Units (IQAUs) of each university both public and private
• Help the MoHE to establish links with international quality assurance networks such as the Asia Pacific Quality Network (APQN) and the International Network for Quality Assurance Agencies in Higher Education (INQAAHE)
• Assist the MoHE to produce, revise and modernize the quality assurance handbooks and guidelines to reflect evolving international trends in quality assurance over time and have them at disposal of both public and private universities and higher education institutes
• Help the MoHE to produce, revise and modernize the guidelines and processes for licensing / registering and accrediting public and private universities and higher education institutions
• Assist the MoHE to undertake the key stages of licensing, coordination of quality assurance reviews, and accreditation of public and private universities and higher education institutions.
• Facilitate the MoHE to develop and implement quality assurance processes for private higher education institutions
• Maintain a database of public and private universities and higher education institutions which have undertaken external quality assurance reviews
• Maintain a database of public and private universities and higher education institutions which have established functioning IQAUs
• Provide progress reports every quarter to the Director of the OMST and the World Bank when required.
• Develop accurate annual plans for the Academic Leadership and Management courses for the faculty deans, deputy faculty deans, chancellors, vice chancellors, department heads and other managerial level academics in the public universities. And responsible for the overall planning and implementation of these trainings as per the targets under the intermediary indicators of the project paper.    

Job Requirements

A Senior Academic with at least 5 years of relevant work experience in teaching and research, and substantial university management experience, including conducting external QA reviews at universities. At least a Master degree holder and a Ph.D. would be added qualification.

Thorough knowledge of importance of the QA and Accreditation for the higher education and good understanding of the laws, regulations and procedures on the subject matter

Ability to speak, read and write excellent English, and produce project reports in English for regular and continuous presentations

Ability to interact with senior academics and administrative staff in the university system

Ability to work with and be a partner of a team of diverse backgrounds

Ability to work efficiently, and to meet deadlines

Ability to function effectively in a team environment inspiring trust and cooperation of other team members

Strong communication, negotiating skills and good interpersonal relations and be computer literate

Ability to travel widely within the country.

Submission Guideline

Interested national candidates should submit their applications in writing to Administration & HR Department Higher Education Development Program (HEDP) at the Ministry of Higher Education located in Karta-e-4, MoHE, Kabul, Afghanistan or e-mail their application (indicating in the subject line the Vacancy Announcement number and the title of the post applied to) to the Following email address. Please note that applications received after the closing date will not be given consideration. Only short-listed candidates whose applications correspond to the above criteria will be contacted for written test / interview.

Female candidates are highly encouraged to apply.

Functional Area

Education/ Training

Countries

Submission Email

vacancies@hedp.af

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