Impact of External Quality Assurance Practices on Higher Education Institutions in Tanzania: A Review Paper

Abstract

For the past two decades, quality issues in higher education have attracted many scholars. While scholars are trying to answer the question whether quality assurance both internal and external has an impact on the operations and output from higher education institutions, there is evidence that quality is still a problem in Tanzania. This can be established by a series of deregistration of universities due to non-conformity. In February 2016 TCU revoked the earlier approval that established two private universities and in January 2020 it deregistered six universities and three campuses for quality issues. This study examined previous empirical literature on higher education in order to establish the impact of external quality assurance practice on operations and output of higher education institutions. It focused on creating understanding of EQA and its concepts, identifying benefits of EQA in HEIs and determining ways of improving adherence to EQA. While focusing on impact of external quality assurance practices, this paper reviewed various literatures from previous studies published between 2010 and 2020 on the subject matter. Findings from the review suggest that external quality assurance has both positive and negative impacts on universities’ internal operations. Some of the negative effects include increased cost of operations and the positive are increased enrolment, quality output and good internal quality assurance practice). It is therefore important that higher learning institutions adhere to External Quality Assurance and go beyond its requirements for better results. It is also recommended that External Quality assurance practices should align with globalization pace and that the government should extend support to private universities for maximized quality.