12/7/21 · Institutional

UOC supports Honduras's Universidad Práctica in its accreditation process

Photo: Freepik

Photo: Freepik

The Universitat Oberta de Catalunya has advised this Honduran university on the design of a set of quality indicators for its online teaching to help it achieve its aim of becoming the country's first accredited fully online university

 

The Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (UOC), a leader in high-quality fully online higher education, has advised Honduras's Universidad Práctica in its accreditation process to help it fulfil the requirements laid down by the assessment bodies of the National Autonomous University of Honduras' Department of Higher Education. Over five weeks, the UOC's eLearn Center and Planning and Quality department have supported the team at the Universidad Práctica to help it develop a quality plan adapted to online teaching. This has resulted in the Universidad Práctica's Academic Quality Management Manual, which will enable it to meet online quality standards and become the first fully online university in Honduras.

University education in Honduras


Honduras's Universidad Práctica (U-Práctica) aims to contribute the country's education system by providing young people access to university. "We want to reach places that have an internet connection but no access to education," said Maricela Espinoza of the Universidad Práctica's Office of the Vice President of Financial Administration, who is a member of the Honduran team. According to the latest report on the progress of education published by FEREMA in 2017, only 13% of Hondurans go to university.

With their sights set on making this contribution to Honduran society, the teams from both universities worked closely together. Following an icebreaker session, the project was put into context. As part of the support provided by the UOC, a process map for the university was drawn up. This included identifying the stakeholders and types of process (strategic, operational and support), and the mission and scope of the project. It also included identifying the parties involved and their responsibilities, and describing the process itself and how it relates to others, the system and indicators for monitoring results, and the flow chart.

This process was a great learning experience for U-Práctica. As Espinoza explained: "The UOC has taught us two things. Firstly, that as an institution we are capable of achieving this and all we had to do was get things in order; and, secondly, that we needed to structure our processes because, in order to prove something, we must have the metrics and openness to share knowledge." The UOC, for its part, has provided the advice taking into account one of the main strengths of its educational model: support. "We've sought to support the Universidad Práctica by providing it with tools to develop its processes and quality manual," explained Alberto Alabau, a quality process specialist at the UOC and member of the training team. This is the first time that the UOC has supported an institution from Honduras, thus doing its bit and sharing its experience to help cement a quality online higher education system in the country. 

Quality online higher education


Online education has really come to the fore during these (post-)pandemic times, forcing many institutions to adapt to new dynamics through online education. The pandemic has also transformed the UOC's consultancy model, which was originally provided face-to-face (before COVID-19); it now has an online model, providing institutions with online support in their process of moving to new hybrid or fully online models and painstakingly analysing every component to ensure the quality of their service. 

This consultancy service is provided from the UOC's eLearn Center, as its objectives include the transfer of knowledge to other educational institutions that are committed to digital transformation. Sílvia Sivera, the centre's director, explained that "We support other universities as they think about how to adapt their educational, organizational and service model, but we also liaise with other UOC units and departments to provide a comprehensive and highly specialized service when necessary, as in the case of the Universidad Práctica." She noted in this regard that the Planning and Quality team's involvement has been key to transferring their first-hand experience on accreditation processes and on the design and implementation of a quality management system. 

Since its foundation 25 years ago, the UOC has been advising Latin American governments and universities on the consolidation of quality online higher education, promoting access to higher education, increasing its reach, and helping to achieve the sustainable development goals of the UN's 2030 Agenda. The UOC has been contacted by governments and accreditation agencies to lay down the foundations of online education taking into account its experience in this field and the current context in each country.

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