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AlGhad Training Institute Quality Management System

Terms of Reference: Quality Assurance Team (QAT)

Policy Reference:

TOR/T/P/004

Version:

1

Person Responsible:

Quality Assurance Advisor

The following is included in this document:

  1. Purpose ‎
  2. Application
  3. Principles
  4. Constitution
  5. Membership
  6. Quorum
  7. Meetings
  8. Key Dates

1. Purpose

To confirm the proposed level and credit of new programmes and short courses and recommend to the QAT that they be sent to the BQA for verification and listing of the qualification on the NQF.

2. Application

These terms of reference apply to members of the Confirmation Panel.

3. Principles

  • Decisions will be made on the basis of the NQF document – Mapping Qualifications and Achievement Programmes on to the National Qualifications Framework
  • Members will not have been part of the qualification/course development team of those involved in mapping the course.

4. Consultation

  • The Confirmation Panel is constituted as an ad-hoc committee reporting to the Quality Assurance Team (QAT).

5. Membership

  • The appointed member(s) must have strong understanding of quality framework requirements. For each course under consideration:

    • 1 or more subject or curriculum expert(s) nominated by the relevant Head of Programme.
    • External subject/curriculum expert(s)

6. Quorum

A quorum is defined as all members of the convened panel.

7. Meetings

  • The Confirmation Panel shall determine the frequency of meetings as required to complete the confirmation considerations in a timely manner.
  • The Confirmation Panel will maintain adequate records of each meeting.
  • The panel will report their confirmation recommendations to the QAT.

8. Key Dates

First Approved: 26 September 2022

This Version Approved: 26 December 2023

Next Review Date: December 2024 or earlier if any changes to legislation or the external environment require it.

VersionEffective Date    Description of Changes    
0126/09/2022First approval of the TOR

Approved by the General Manager, effective immediately:

Signed by General Manager: Abbas Ali Date: 26/12/2023

 GTI’s current policies are available on the website. If you are using a hard copy of this policy, please check that it is the current version before proceeding.

The QAT is established to ensure that GTI maintains the quality of the training and associated services that it provides, ensuring relevance of programs to their industry sectors (Figure 6).

Figure 6: QAT

To deliver effectively on this purpose, it is critical for the QMS to be outcome-focused, as well as process-based. That is, the QMS provides a framework and mechanisms to provide evidence that processes have been followed and that outcomes are achieved. This evidence provides essential input to the internal review and external audit processes which, in turn, provide the basis for further improvements.

  • In the planning stage of the Evaluation and Audit Cycle, GTI determines the objectives to be achieved (input from reviews, surveys), and the expected outputs identified. The result is a quality improvement plan (QIP).
  • Implementation involves responsibilities and resources being assigned.
  • Monitoring involves gathering feedback, with review comparing results with the objectives of plans, to see if requirements have been met.
  • The improvement is continuous, with plans adjusted after assessing the results of the review.
  • The quality assurance team and General Manger have specific roles to play in this cycle.

QAT Purpose

The main purpose of QAT is to monitor and plan to ensure that quality is maintained to the standards specified by the Bahrain Qualifications and Quality Assurance Authority for Training and Education (BQA) Directorate of Vocational Review (DVR) Review Framework and Guidance and the Directorate of National Framework Operations (DFO) Institutional Listing Standards, and the standards required of the awarding bodies for the qualifications that GTI offers.

QAT scope

The Committee’s scope of responsibilities covers operations that are related to finance, health and safety, IT security, management, and training delivery, stiving for excellence in accordance with GTI’s Vision and Mission. Learner performance is constantly monitored to ensure the institution is responsive to individual learning needs.

QAT responsibilities

The QAT is responsible for identifying GTI’s weaknesses and potential risks as well as ensuring compliance with legal and regulatory requirements and its own policies and procedures.

  • Quality Planning: A Strategic Plan and Quality Improvement Plan (QIP) are designed to guide the institute in achieving its vision and mission and quality provisions.
  • Implementation and Monitoring: Services and activities in GTI are implemented using policies and standards, and monitoring ensures compliance. In the future, QAT will be involved in the approval of locally developed new programmes and short courses, and in graduation decisions for qualifications for which GTI is the awarding body. Monitoring of quality standards may be delegated to an external programme monitor after the pilot phase (in accordance with the Course Design, Approval and Revision Policy T/P/004).
  • Evaluation: Training and learning activities, as well as related services are regularly assessed/ evaluated by stakeholders. Results are then analyzed by the General Manager in coordination with the QAT and are then used to improve the service provided by GTI. External audits are also engaged from time to time, to provide advice on areas to improve.
  • Improve– Results of the evaluation of staff, courses and other services offered by GTI are then used to improve the services provided by GTI. If necessary, new policies, standards and procedures or existing ones are revised.

The General Manager is ultimately responsible for ensuring that an integrated QMS is developed and implemented throughout the company. The General Manager has a specific brief to ensure the quality of course development, delivery, and review. In particular, the General Manager is tasked with the following responsibilities:

  • Development and maintenance of Quality Improvement Plan (QIP)
  • Policy development and review
  • Facilitate Annual Programme Reporting requirements
  • Manage internal programme review schedule, processes, and personnel
  • Link with external professional accreditation bodies and agencies such as VRU for external reviews and accreditations
  • Communication and training relating to policy.

While the oversight of Quality Assurance, the QMS, evaluation and audit, and continual improvement, are overseen by the General Manager of GTI in association with the QAT, all staff are charged with identifying needs, assessing risks and threats as well as presenting innovative solutions for improving infrastructure.

Plans and monitoring mechanisms

Quality improvement plans (QIP) ensure that any aspects that are highlighted through reviews are implemented.

Moderation plans ensure assessments are valid and reliable and there are processes for appeal and to register complaints to assure natural justice if systems fail to deliver what is perceived as a fair outcome.

To support a culture of self-review and reflection the GTI has a monitoring system to ensure improvement in response to review findings. GTI has established a regular schedule of meetings that include as a standing item, consideration of the monitoring of the effectiveness of quality assurance institution wide. A quality progress report is thus generated regularly against identified areas of improvement in the Quality Improvement Plan.

The Board has appointed an auditor to monitor financial systems and maintain accountabilities in line with best practice. An audit firm is engaged annually to provide an outsourced internal audit function.

Measurement and Analysis

The General Manager is responsible for developing and sustaining the measurement capability used to support management information needs for evidence-based decision making and the accountability requirements driven by the needs of external agencies by:

  • Establishing appropriate measures of KPIs that facilitate effective monitoring of progress towards stated objectives in the GTI’s strategic and quality improvement plans.
  • Identifying and implementing appropriate measurement tools to ensure effective and efficient data collection with the advice of the QAT.
  • Collecting and analysing data appropriate to the reporting requirements of GTI and any relevant external bodies, ensuring timeliness and quality are consistent with international best practice.
  • Archiving both the qualitative and quantitative data necessary to report to relevant stakeholders as required by policy, internal information needs or external accountabilities.
  • Provide comparisons based on historical analysis internally and benchmarking with external sources as required.

Stakeholder input

Of equal importance are quality requirements arising from expectations of industry, employers, trainees, and other external stakeholders which are systematically collected and collated through industry liaison activities. As well as being responsible for day-to-day operations management and quality training delivery of courses at GTI, the General Manager is also the main liaison link with industry. GTI is also part of a consortium of private training providers that has engaged external research into the Bahrain labor market.

An integral part of Quality Assurance at GTI is validation from industry and the professions, linked to external audit for the accreditation of programs, as well as institutional accreditation, to assure stakeholders that GTI delivers on its promise of market-driven learner-centered training as shown in Figure 2.

Appendix

A 1 Policy review schedule

Policy Name
Training (T)
Operations (O)

Code

Person
Responsible

Last
review
date

Next
review
date

Notes

Quality Assurance Manual

T/QA/000

General Manager

27/08/2022

27/08/2025

Old Quality manual had policies and procedures. These will now go onto the website for ease of access and version control.

Quality Monitoring and Risk Management Policy

T/QA/001

Quality Assurance Advisor

28/9/2022

18/9/2025

GTI-15 Revised to add risk management component.

Admissions and Access Policy

T/P/001

General Manager

27/08/2022

27/08/2025

Old reference GTI-01 but this is also the same code as special circumstances policy.

Special Needs and Differentiated Instruction Policy

T/P/002

General Manager

28/08/2022

28/08/2025

No previous policy. The learner support policy was not sufficiently detailed in coverage to meet the specific needs of this group of learners.

Credit Accumulation and Transfer Policy

T/P/003

General Manager

29/08/2022

29/08/2025

Old reference GTI-03

Course Design, Approval and Revision Policy

T/P/004

General Manager

26/09/2022

26/09/2025

Old reference GTI-06

Assessment and Moderation Policy

T/P/005

General Manager

26/09/2022

26/08/2025

Old reference GTI-07

Recording of Pre and Post Test Results Policy

T/P/006

6/9/2022

NA

GTI-10 Policy incorporated into procedures of T/P/005 assessment & moderation and into new policy Record Management 0/A/001

Academic Appeals

T/P/007

General Manager

12/03/2022

12/03/2023

Old reference GTI-05

Amendment of Final Results Policy

T/P/008

6/9/2022

NA

GTI-09 Policy incorporated into procedures of T/P/005 assessment & moderation

Learning Progression Pathway

T/P/009

General Manager

12/03/2022

12/03/2023

Old reference GTI-02

Exit Award Policy

T/P/010

General Manager

12/03/2022

12/03/2023

Old reference GTI-18

Staff & Trainee Induction Policy

T/P/011

General Manager

26/09/2022

12/03/2023

Old reference GTI-17

Learners Support Policy

T/P/012

General Manager

26/09/2022

12/03/2023

Old reference GTI-16

Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) Policy

T/P/013

General Manager

12/03/2022

12/03/2023

Old reference GTI-04

Academic Honesty and Malpractice Policy

T/P/014

General Manager

12/03/2022

12/03/2023

Old reference GTI-12

Special Circumstances Policy

T/P/015

General Manager

12/06/2022

12/06/2023

Old reference GTI-01 but this is also the same code as admission policy.

Attendance Policy

T/P/016

General Manager

12/03/2022

12/03/2023

Is in old format

Training Policy

T/P/017

General Manager

16/09/2022

16/09/2025

New policy

Learning Resources Policy

O/A/007

General Manager

12/03/2022

12/03/2023

Old reference GTI-14

Complaints Policy

O/A/002

General Manager

26/09/2022

26/09/2025

New policy

Records Management Policy

O/A/001

Course Coordinator

26/09/2022

26/09/2025

Includes course specification policy. Old reference GTI-08

Course specification policy

6/9/2022

NA

Old reference GTI-08 now subsumed into Records Management Policy

Academic Honesty and Malpractice Policy

O/A/003

General Manager

12/03/2022

12/03/2023

Old reference GTI-12 Is in old format

Health and Safety

O/A/004

Health and Safety & HR Manager

No date

NA

No previous code allocated. Is in old format.

Code of Conduct Policy

O/A/005

General Manager

12/03/2022

12/03/2023

Old reference GTI-11 Is in old format

Compliance Policy

O/A/006

General Manager

12/03/2022

12/03/2023

Old reference GTI-13 Is in old format

Code of Conduct Policy

O/A/005

General Manager

12/03/2022

12/03/2023

Old reference GTI-11 Is in old format

Human Resources Management Policy

O/A/008

Health and Safety & HR Manager

No date

12/03/2023

No previous code allocated. Is in old format

A 2 Periodic Programme Review Schedule

Periodic Review Schedule
Programme Cluster

Programme / short course titles

Date for
periodic review

  • Employability
  • Entry Level Certificate in Employability Skills (Entry
  • NOCN Entry 2 Certificate in using Employability Skills

2022

  • Account
  • AAT Access Award in business skills specification

2023

  • Engineering
  • Autodesk Inventor
  • Autodesk revit architecture
  • Revit MEP Certified
  • Staad Pro – Bentley Institute

2025

  • IT
  • CCNA Cyberoperation Security
  • CCNA Security
  • Cisco Certified Network Associate (CCN)-Routing
  • IC3(Internet and Computing Core Certification)
  • ICDL Base Profile Certificate
  • ICDL Standard Certificates
  • MTA HTML-5 Application Development Fundamentals
  • MTA Windows Operating System Fundamentals

2026

  • Language
  • ENGLISH LEVEL 03
  • GA Entry Level 1Certificate in ESOL International
  • GA Entry Level 2 Certificate in ESOL International

2027

  • Management
  • Diploma in Human Resources Management

2028

  • Employability
  • Entry Level Certificate in Employability Skills (Entry 2)
  • NOCN Entry 2 Certificate in using Employability Skills

2029

A 3 Glossary of Terms

  • Admission: This involves accepting a trainee’s enrolment into a specific programme after ensuring they have met all programme entry requirements.
  • Access: The opportunity for a diversity of applicants to enter GTI programmes, as long as they meet the specified entry criteria, ensuring equality and objectivity.
  • Activity: A pre-arranged developmental exercise designed to stimulate learning in support of a key learning point.
  • Aim: An overall statement of what the training programme will achieve on its completion.
  • Assessment: The process of gathering, evaluating, analysing, and judging evidence in order to measure whether an individual has achieved the intended learning outcomes, or the performance outcomes set for a specific unitor qualification.
  • Assessment Criteria: Explicit predetermined standards of required performance to demonstrate competence.
  • Associate: An independent contractor performing a service for GTI. They may be associate trainers or service contractors.
  • BQA: Bahrain’s Education and Training Authority.
  • Certification: The formal documentation process that records the successful achievement of a qualification.
  • Competencies: A combination of Knowledge, Skills and Attitudes (Behaviours) that can be taught, implemented and measured.
  • Competent: A trainee who meets all the prepublished assessment criteria to the required learning outcome standard.
  • Continuous Improvement: GTI’s commitment to the ongoing elimination of any problems that keep its learning programmes, services or processes from meeting the expectations of its trainees and key stakeholders (see Quality Improvement).
  • Credit: The value assigned to the amount or volume of learning required to complete a unit of learning or achieve a qualification. One credit is equivalent to ten total learning hours.
  • Credit Transfer: A process whereby the credits already earned by a trainee in one qualification are recognised toward a new qualification.
  • Diversity: Acceptance and respect for all trainees regardless of their educational backgrounds, religious beliefs, creed, colour or gender.
  • Driving Question/Problem: A key engagement activity used to stimulate learning and engagement at the beginning of a session.
  • DVR: Directorate of Vocational Review.
  • Facilitator: The role that the trainer takes in guiding and supporting trainees to achieve specific learning outcomes. Typically, facilitation utilizes skilful questioning to stimulate higher-order-thinking, providing activities and experiences to develop trainees’ knowledge, understanding and skills, whilst helping them to take increasing responsibility for their own growth and development.
  • Formative Assessment: Assessment at regular intervals to support a trainee’s progress, with provision of feedback in order to help the learner improve their overall performance. As well as identifying a trainee’s strengths and areas that need improving, formative assessment results also assist the trainer to improve their teaching.
  • Inclusion: Ensuring that the diversity of learners is well-catered for and that all trainees are actively engaged in learning. Inclusion necessitates that trainees of all levels of ability are provided with appropriate support, that their learning needs and learning styles are identified, and well-catered for.
  • Level Descriptors: A set of progressive statements assigned to each level of the NQF, that describe the complexity of acquired learning in terms of knowledge, skills, and competence.
  • Learning Outcomes: A set of statements setting out what trainees will know, be able to do or understand by the end of a Programme/Module/Session.
  • Learning Resource(s): The tools, materials and equipment required to support key learning experiences or activities, and to facilitate growth and personal development within a session.
  • Moderation: Moderation activity ensures assessments are valid and reliable. Effective moderation necessitates processes for appeal and the ability to register complaints so that natural justice is assured if systems fail to deliver what is perceived as a fair outcome.
  • Module: Sometimes known as a course, this is a second-tier learning component that forms part of a programme.
  • Module (course) Descriptor: A Document that sets out all of the learning, development and assessment requirements for a specific unit of training and development.
  • National Qualifications Framework (NQF): An instrument for the classification of qualifications according to a set of criteria for specified levels of learning achieved. It integrates and coordinates national qualifications sub-systems and improves quality, transparency, access, and progression.
  • Pathways: The vertical and/or horizontal routes trainees take to navigate through their learning experience, by building on their knowledge and developing their skills, competencies and life experiences through education and training.
  • Policies: Policies are guidelines intended to save time and effort on the part of individuals (staff and students) by providing direction on how to tackle certain organisational requirements based on what has worked in the past and international best practice.
  • Programme Descriptor: A Document that sets out all the administration, learning and assessment requirements for a programme of learning and personal development.
  • Quality: ‘Fit for Purpose’ – Meeting the required standard in the most effective and efficient way.
  • Quality Assurance: Is about giving GTI’s stakeholders confidence that we do what we say we will do.
  • Quality Assurance System: GTI’s Quality Management System (QMS), comprising policies and procedures, together with its Quality Audit and Review systems, which ensure that the quality of teaching and learning is maintained, that services are improved, and that we meet stakeholder and government agency requirements.
  • Quality Improvement: Is GTI’s systematic and continuous monitoring, measurement, and analysis to improve the effectiveness of teaching and learning.
  • Quality Maintenance: Checking actual performance against the standard and actively working to remain within that standard.
  • Qualification: A package of units judged to be worthy of formal recognition in a certificate issued locally by GTI or by an Awarding Organisation (AO).
  • Reflection: An opportunity for trainers to reflect and share best practice and make recommendations for session or module improvement.
  • Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL): The assessment of an individual’s knowledge, skills, and competence acquired through previous Non-Formal and Informal Learning, which is used to grant status or credit towards a qualification.
  • Session: The smallest learning component within a unit of learning (course or module).
  • Session Plan: A plan that sets out the structure, content, learning and assessment strategies for a single lesson.
  • Short Course: A series of sessions that progress trainees to meet the overall learning outcomes. A Short Course must not exceed 16 Contact hours.
  • Special Needs: Special needs are education requirements resulting from experiencing learning difficulties and/or having physical, intellectual, social, or emotional capabilities that restrict or hinder the capacity of a trainee to participate in or benefit from education and training.
  • Stakeholder: An individual, a group or an organisation that has interest in, or can be affected by, GTI’s teaching and learning interventions.
  • Students of determination: Trainees with identified special needs on admission are sometimes referred to as students of determination, to acknowledge their tenacity and resilience, as they strive to overcome any limitations posed by their disability or disabilities.
  • Summative Assessment: To measure the trainee’s level of competence to specified learning outcomes at the end of a course/module or programme of learning.
  • Training Programme: A combination of modules and sessions that progress learners to meet the overall programme learning outcomes. A Training Programme shall be more than 16 Contact hours.
  • Trainee: An individual learner who is actively enrolled on a GTI Programme of Learning, whether studying in the physical or virtual classroom or learning ‘on-job’ in a work placement.
  • Verification: A predetermined assessment to test all trainees against specified session/module learning outcomes.

All policies on the GTI website are the current version.  Please check date of this hard copy before proceeding