Face to Face Workshop on Benchmarking for Best Practices in Higher Education

Date: 24^th & 25^th October, 2022  

Time: 09:00 AM – 17:00 PM UAE Time
Early Bird Fee: 2125 AED (578 USD) (for registration fully completed prior to September 23, 2022)
Webinar Fee : 2500 AED (680 USD)for registration after September 23, 2022)
Venue: Hotel Pullman Creek City Center, Dubai, UAE

 

Workshop Overview

In an increasingly crowded and globalized market, higher education institutions in the MENA region are struggling to craft a niche for their offerings and find ways to gain a competitive advantage by differentiating themselves. This challenge is further compounded by uncertainties affecting the global economy, declining funding, increasing operational costs, shifting student expectations and demands for an innovative value-driven learner-centered education as well as increasing public demand for institutional quality and accountability. While responses may vary from one institution to another, there is no doubt that drastic measures must be taken to address these challenges in a proactive and tangible manner. One of the widely used management tools to enable universities deal with these competitive pressures, build capacity for change and improve their standing is benchmarking. Benchmarking provides universities with a systematic process of assessing, identifying and innovatively adapting good practices internally or through partners from education and corporate sectors to improve performance. It is not about cloning the success of other organizations, or indulging in industrial spying.  Nor is it about creating league tables or seeking short-term hard data. Moreover, benchmarking can be used to almost every work area whether curriculum, student support, internal quality assurance systems, internationalization, etc.

This two-day workshop will take the participants beyond metrics to understand the underlying practices that contribute to institutional performance. The workshop will provide a detailed step-by-step understanding of benchmarking in higher education and its implementation supported by hands-on tools, techniques and case studies. The workshop will also expose the participants to benchmarking as a tool for out-of-the-box thinking, innovation and creativity through games and real-life examples.

Workshop Outcomes

By the end of the workshop, participants will be able to:

• Comprehend various advising philosophies, approaches and models and determine which are more suitable to you and your students
• Understand how academic advising fits into the wider institutional support
• Get familiar with the NACADA Academic Advising Core CompetenciesModel
• Integrate the use of technology to improve your academic advising practice and to flip your advising approach
• Use various principles and tools for assessing academic advising
• Collaborate with fellow community members on developing and delivering cohesive learning experience to students

Target Audience

This workshop is geared towards:

• Directors and Managers of planning, effectiveness and quality officers working in Higher Education as well as those working in institutional research.
• Deans of colleges & schools & Heads of Academic Departments considering benchmarking for either curriculum design or periodical program assessment
• Deans of supportive services (i.e. student services, admissions and registration, libraries, etc.)
• Head of administrative departments (i.e. HR, Internationalization, etc.) .

Workshop Structure

Day 1:

Benchmarking – Out-of-the Box Thinking

• What is Benchmarking, a Benchmark and a Best Practice?
• Reasons for Undertaking Benchmarking
• Types of Benchmarking
• Linking Benchmarking to Creativity and Innovation.
• Role of Executive Leadership in Benchmarking
• CSF of benchmarking

The Benchmarking Process

• What are the steps involved in benchmarking?

Understanding your current position

• Developing your benchmarking scope prioritization matrix
• Developing your benchmarking T.O.R
• Performing your internal analysis

Selecting Benchmarking partner(s)

• Dealing with the challenges in finding the right partners
• Developing partner selection prioritization matrix
• Communicating expectations

 Day 2:

Conducting Gap Analysis

• Measuring the gap _ What is gap analysis?
• Looking beyond the numbers _ Identifying the practices contributing the gap
• Projecting Future Performance

Communicating your Results

• Communicate results of benchmarking
• Establish / Fine-tune Improvement Goals

Closing the Loop

• Develop Action Plan to Close the Gap
• Implement & Monitor Results
• Re-calibrate

 

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Mr. Mokhtar Benhadria
CLICKS’s International Associate and
Head of Quality Assurance Division at International Centre for Education in Islamic Finance (INCEIF),
Malaysia
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