Effects of Quality Assurance in Higher Education Evidence, Practice, and Policy Options for Universities in Mogadishu, Somalia.docx

Quality assurance (QA) has become a cornerstone of higher education reform across Africa and is increasingly salient in fragile and post-conflict contexts like Somalia. In Mogadishu, a rapidly expanding private higher education landscape coexists with evolving public governance, including the Ministry of Education, Culture and Higher Education’s (MoECHE) ongoing establishment of a National Higher Education Commission to steer quality, accreditation, and qualifications recognition. Against this backdrop, this paper synthesizes theoretical and empirical literature and policy documents to analyze how QA affects teaching and learning, assessment, research productivity, graduate employability, institutional governance, and resource stewardship in universities located in Mogadishu. Drawing on foundational quality theory (Deming’s continuous improvement, Harvey & Green’s multi-dimensional definitions of quality, and Biggs & Tang’s constructive alignment), and continental frameworks (the African Standards and Guidelines for Quality Assurance—ASG-QA—and the African Quality Rating Mechanism—AQRM), we map pathways through which internal (IQA) and external (EQA) QA produce educational and organizational benefits. We then contextualize these pathways with Somalia-specific developments, including policy directions in the 2022–2026 Education Sector Strategic Plan, system-strengthening initiatives, and publicly available evidence from Mogadishu institutions. The analysis finds that credible, context-adapted QA is associated with clearer learning outcomes and assessment standards, improved curriculum coherence, the professionalization of teaching, stronger research governance, data-informed decision-making, and enhanced public accountability—provided QA is developmental (not merely punitive), resourced, and aligned to institutional missions. The paper concludes with policy and practice recommendations for MoECHE/NCHE and Mogadishu universities, proposes a pragmatic indicator set aligned to ASG-QA, and outlines an applied research agenda to measure QA’s effects on student learning and graduate outcomes in Somalia. (Deming Institute, 2018; Harvey & Green, 1993; Biggs & Tang, 2011; Materu, 2007; HAQAA/ASG-QA, 2018; AU/AQRM, 2010–2020; MoECHE, 2022–2025).