Kundyzbayeva N., Tuyakova B.

S.Seifullin Kazakh Agro Technical University, Kazakhstan,

M.Utemisov West Kazakh State University, Kazakhstan,

ANALYSIS OF THE QUALITY SYSTEM OF EDUCATION AT THE UNITAR INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY (MALAYSIA)

Malaysia is a leader in education in Southeast Asia. Quality of life and access to education have made Malaysia a popular country among students worldwide.

The education system of Malaysia includes education, from pre-school to university [1]. A distinctive feature of the Malaysian education system is multilingual approach to education at an early age, saturation pre-school education (religion, ethics, and science), the emphasis on moral and ethical and religious education, the developed system of knowledge evaluation of students at key stages of learning, allows students to focus in future career choices [2].

The higher education system is under the control of the Ministry of Higher Education Malaysia [3]. For the development of higher education and the creation of common educational standards, the relevant international standards, meeting the Department of Higher Education (Jabatan Pengajian Tinggi), which was formed in 2004. National body responsible for developing and maintaining a system of qualification of Malaysia, both in the public and private sector, is the Malaysian Qualifications Agency. The purpose of forming the structure of qualifications is a unification of the system of post-secondary vocational and academic education. The Agency also monitors compliance with educational programs, implemented by higher education institutions in Malaysia, with established standards (accreditation) [4].

System of Higher Education of Malaysia is extremely flexible and multi-literal from medicine to music, from tourism to engineering. It is fully integrated into the global structure. Universities and colleges in Malaysia offer educational programs focused on the current needs of a world economy that is becoming increasingly global. All programs must get the provisional accreditation status to start a program and must get full accreditation status before students graduate.

Programs of degree offering universities and colleges. Higher institutions offer a lower-level program - Diploma and higher education - bachelor. At both levels of the program taken by students who have attained the age of 17, graduated from high school (11^th grade) and who have passed the examination for SPM (Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia) [4]. The students need to pass a foundation study (1 year), matriculation program (1 year) or STPM (Sijil Tinggi Persekolahan Malaysia) (2 years) to enroll for bachelor degree program. Diploma program usually takes 2 years and 4 months, at the end of which, a graduate of a college or university can either work as a junior specialist, or to continue their education at the bachelor program.

Continue their education at master program (1-1.5 years) only upon presentation of proof of a bachelor degree. Depending on the university and degree, a requirement for admission may be a work experience of 2 years.

The degree of Ph.D. - it's 2 years of study and research, and then has to write and defend a dissertation [2].

Postgraduate education programs, such as Master of Business Administration or Doctor of Business Administration, are becoming more popular in the country and offers both at private and public universities and colleges [4].

Educational institutions are divided into two main groups:

1 Public – government-funded higher education institutions (state universities, polytechnics, community colleges and teacher training centers);

2 Private – funded by private higher educational institutions (private universities, university colleges, foreign universities and colleges) [1].

The purpose of training in public colleges is to provide professional education, retraining and skills development. Polytechnic institutes offer programs developed in close cooperation with entrepreneurs and industry organizations, and also lead to the obtaining professional certificates and diplomas.

Private schools tend to get international recognition and attracted to teaching a large number of foreign students. Many of the private universities offer joint programs with foreign universities, such as the US, UK, Australia, Canada, New Zealand and France [1], which allow students to not only pass part of the course abroad, but also obtain a degree of foreign university. Program, which is part of the training takes place in Malaysia (1+2/2+1), and in the main part of campus university partners called "twinning program". Typically, these programs are implemented by local campuses of foreign universities and degrees awarded upon graduation are similar to those received by graduates of the main campuses of foreign universities and colleges [4].

Suggested programs have absorbed the best experience of partner schools, based on a search, study and development of the most advanced standards and meet the criteria and high standards of the National Council on Accreditation (LAN). Programs and institutions also meet the requirements of legislation: the Education Act 1996, the Private Higher Education Act 1996 and the Malaysian Qualifications Agency (MQA) Act 2007 [2].

But not only in the variety of programs there is flexibility training system in Malaysia. The main thing – is that the educational system is aimed at maximizing the intellectual potential of each student. Universities have developed great technological bases, campuses have an elaborate infrastructure [2].

A striking example of this is the UNITAR International University where we passed internship under the Bolashak International Scholarship of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan. University was established in 1997 and it is part of a larger national agenda to liberate and democratize education in the country. It became the first local university to offer “e-learning” mode of study and one of the first universities in Malaysia to receive MSC status company recognition from the government of Malaysia effective 10^th September 2001 UNITAR has also been awarded the ISO9001:2000, a set of requirements placed on an organization’s business system that focuses on the quality of the product or service quality through a system of process control [5].

UNITAR currently offers 60 programs, in the fields of Business Administration, Education & Social Sciences, Early Childhood Studies, Information Technology and Hospitality & Tourism Management studies within Malaysia and in the ASEAN region. All programs approved by the Malaysian Ministry of Higher Education, and exceed the standards of excellence required of the MQA. [6]. In addition MQA carries program accreditation assessment every cycle of program i.e 2 years for Master program, 3.5 years for Bachelor program, etc [7].

Also within the University yearly conducted scheduled audit, and if as per request – Unscheduled audit. Monitoring and Compliance Department is engaged in the conduct and analysis of internal audits.

One of the goals of the University is to produce high caliber graduates and professionals preferred by employers. In this regard, there are many activities at the UNITAR to improve the quality of education, such as risk management, self-assessment review audit, standard operating procedure (SOP), continuous training and staff development, holding various forms of teaching and monitoring, students' evaluation on lecturers i.e. questionnaires and teaching evaluation report (at the end of semester).

Thus, we conducted interviews with 21 teachers Faculties of Education & Social Sciences, Early Childhood Studies and School of Foundation & General Studies showed that in general teachers are satisfied to create conditions for high-quality work. They attend various seminars for training and retraining of the staff, organized by faculty and top management (90.48%), held internships (52.38%), including a broad internship (14.28%) in US, UK, and Indonesia, and also sent for training organized by UNITAR or other universities in Malaysia (52.38%) or overseas (19.05%).

One of the important indicators of the quality of education is the student's course assessment, which consists of coursework (40%) and final examination (60%). Depending on the discipline and lecturer, coursework may include various forms: quizzes, exercises, discussion in class, assignment, presentation multiple choice question, reports and essay. For example, the coursework of discipline Individual Counseling distributed as follows:

- Individual assignment, including counseling skills & stages, presentation and report, makes 20%;

- Live individual assessment, including counseling skills & stages, application of technique, makes 15%.

The remaining 5% is attendance/attitude.

The basic form of the final examination is paper and pencil test. The final grades of all subjects are entered in a common database that provides visibility not only for students but also for the parents.

Course assessment allows teachers to efficiently monitor students during the semester, and requires a large expenditure of energy and effort from students; it brings a sense of responsibility, which is very important in pedagogical terms. This character of study takes an extremely desirable form, allowing considering the final assessment of the student reliable indicator of its knowledge.

To improve the educational process is conducted surveys of students, giving teachers the opportunity to make adjustments to the course content and to improve himself as a writer and to improve the quality of the "presented product", and the students - not only to evaluate the quality of knowledge, but also to evaluate themselves in the process of learning, and, hence in the process of changing, and in practice (in professional activities). The first survey of students conducted Registry and Examination Department, after a two-week period of study at the university and beyond – at the beginning of each semester. The survey results are used in summary form to help to improve university's service to student.

For the same reason, we carried out questionnaire of students to identify their views on the level of organization of the university educational process. Questionnaire was administered anonymously among students 1-9 semesters. In the questionnaire which involved 65 respondents from Faculties of Education & Social Sciences - 25, Early Childhood Studies - 6, Business & Information Technology - 4, Hospitality & Tourism Management - 2, School of Foundation & General Studies - 28. Of these male - 21 (32.31%), female - 44 (67.69%). Most of the respondents were students aged 23-25 years (41.54%) with a grade point average (GPA) 3.24.

30.77% of the respondents answered that they choose to study at the UNITAR International University because UNITAR gives good education, 16.93% - heard many good things about it, 15.38% - it is the closest location to home, 10.77% - learn from friends, relatives, 9.23% - only here they found an interesting program, 9.23% - friends & parents advise, 6.15% - get scholarship and 1.54% - said that they “admire UNITAR”. At the same time, 53.85% think it is prestigious to study at the UNITAR and 43.07% were undecided.

Noted good management (organization in study, comfortable place for study) - 4.61% of the students, while unsatisfactory management, administration and organization – 33.33%. Are peaceful environment and good education - 23.08%, are dissatisfied environment - 1.85%. Enjoy facilities (virtual learning, Wi-Fi) - 16.93%, said that it has not enough facility, didn't find something interesting - 3.71%. Like well experienced lecturer and their teaching styles – 16.93% and helpful and friendly lecturers – 12.30%. Flexible time classes are satisfied - 4.61% vs. 1.85% who do not like the time gap between one class to another. Satisfied courses and accommodation provided - 7.69%, but not satisfied transportation and accommodation (“far from house”, “uncomfortable to move campus from one to another”) – 11.11%. Like new campus - 10.77 %, but note the bad function of lift (very late, slow, and crowded) - 20.37% and bad services - 5.55%. Among the positive points also note the presence of friends and close to hometown (by 1.54%). Difficulty in the new UNIEC system and the system of SMS (“sometimes can't find”) have 3.71%. Same amount (3.71%) noted discrimination, and lack of benefits for low-income students. Among the negative aspects also note discipline and noise in the classroom, “class too cold”, “hard to pray on time”, “indifference”, “weak Wi-Fi”, and also “some person cheat me” (by 1.85%).

The main concerns of students: search for a future job in training – 25.42% and high prices in the student cafes – 21.18%. Search jobs by specialty are concerned 18.65% of respondents. Followed poor organization of the educational process and unsatisfactory teaching in some subjects (by 13.56%). There were no problems reported 7.63%.

When asked about the applied innovative teaching methods used at UNITAR respondents indicated: active forms of training sessions, such as interactive lectures, role plays, discussions, etc. (39.61%); technical training (educational audio and video resources, Internet, etc.) (31.68%); ranking system for assessing students' progress during the academic year (28.71%)

Average evaluate the quality of education at the UNITAR was 5.27 points from 10 scale. Thus, 55.38% of the students reported medium and 36.92% - high level of the professionalism of teachers. 4.62% think this low rate, and 3.08% were undecided.

For improving the quality of education students suggest to improve the study methods and lecture’s teaching skills (qualification of lecturers, continuous assessment, frequent tests, quiz) (33.33%); make some proper changes in the management system, student assembly, facilities and outdoor activities (27.27%); increase the amount of teachers, have extra tuition for each subject and provide more text and sufficient books in the library for the students to do the assignments (by 12.12%); make simple slides in class, so student can easily and fully understand the subject and can answer in exam (6.06%). Also among the replies was “give good concern on students who have doubts on the education”, “change the students talking habits”, “less noise, more discipline”, and “provide more Wi-Fi” (by 3.03%).

In turn, teachers believe that to increase the quality of education should be improved the organization of educational process (33.33%), the logistics base (27.78%), periodical increase of the qualification of lecturers (27.78%) и rigorous selection of students for training (11.11%).

It is well known that the main purpose of higher education institution is not only education, but upbringing of the individual citizen and the future specialist in accordance with the values of modern society, which ultimately leads to social- psychological adaptation of the students in the vital activity of high school and in society at large, and therefore has a positive effect on the quality of education. At the UNITAR round-the-year student activities from more than 20 student clubs and societies offer you ample, opportunities in arts, culture, and sports and develop personal skills in communication and leadership, at the same time helping student to build community bonds and networks that will benefit them later in life [6].

On the graph 1 shows the comparative participation of students 1 and 4-9 semesters in the carried out activities.

The graph shows that most students are involved in activities such as organizing events & parties, student's conferences and sport competitions and less in political promotions & meetings, student council's meetings and labor works. It would especially like to note the students of 1^st semester, which show a rather more active, participating at student’s conferences, organizing events (by 46.43%) and also at sport competitions (39.28%).

Table below indicates students’ responses concerning the items.

How do you rate the following items which are related to UNITAR’s learning environment, %	Strongly satisfactory	Satisfactory	Low satisfactory	I don’t know
Good environment for studies	38.46	46.15	10.77	4.62
Good conditions for independent work	35.38	47.69	12.31	4.62
Enough books and scientific literature in the library	30.77	49.23	13.85	6.15
Enough computers and educational equipment	36.92	49.23	9.23	4.62
Opportunities for training scientific work	13.85	49.23	26.15	10.77
Good facilities for physical education and sport	21.54	44.62	26.15	7.69
Good conditions for leisure activities	20.00	47.69	24.62	7.69