Quality Assurance Workshops in Building Capacity of University Lecturers for Sustainable Development in Zimbabwe

This qualitative research was conducted to explain the, “opinions, experiences, feelings and behavior” of lecturers as a result of the quality assurance workshops (Hancock 2002:2). The interpretivist philosophy underpinned the whole research as focus was on interpreting the influence of quality assurance workshops on lecturers’ performance (Scwandt 1994). The phenomenology research design was used. The sixteen academics in Mashonaland East Region  of the Zimbabwe Open University were the population and all of them participated in the study. Interviews were used to elicit data. For triangulation, data was also generated through analysis of internal quality audit results carried out over the last year. The research concluded that, quality assurance workshops imparted knowledge, developed skills, attitudes, confidence and competence of the staff members in the implementation of the ISO 9001 based quality management system. Effective workshops use learner centred approaches. Workshops are important for continuous improvement in service delivery. The time for the quality assurance workshops was not sufficient for the participants to develop the required mastery of skills. Quality assurance workshops left out the part-time tutors who are important players in the open and distance learning institution. The study recommends that, regular quality assurance workshops must held to continuously improve on the academics knowledge, skills, attitudes, confidence and competence on the implementation of the quality management system. Academics should be afforded the opportunity to suggest areas they need work shopping. Part-time tutors should be staff developed too. Staff development programmes should be learner centred and address the immediate and future quality assurance needs of the institution.