THE CONCEPT OF QUALITY AND QUALITY ASSURANCE MANAGEMENT IN ETHIOPIA: IN LIGHT OF QUALITY IMPROVEMENT, TOWARDS USE IN DISTANCE AND CONVENTIONAL HIGHER EDUCAION

Across the globe it is an accepted fact that competitiveness is the nature of a knowledge market economy. In responding to this reality, quality education and training programmes have been at the centre of the national education agenda of many countries. Quality and productivity are stressed everywhere in the world and a focus on quality improvement is only achieved through better systems of cooperation’s and partnerships with quality enhancement organizations and research institutions, universities, government and private organisations at large (UNESCO, 2013). Quality assurance has become a global issue crossing the cultural contexts of many higher education systems. However, questions still remain whether this notion underpins deeper quality improvement in instructional practice and student learning outcomes. In Africa, where there are rapidly growing and diversified higher education systems, the need to assure quality through external examiners, audits, subject reviews or benchmarking is evident, but it is not clear if quality and standards of education are improved as a con- sequence.