Quality Enhancement Cell and Quality Standards in Pakistan: Document Analysis of the Manual for Self-Assessment

We are living in the age of quality competition, in marketing term, everything only persists until sustains its quality. If something elapsing its quality is meant to ending its existence from the world gradually. The idea of quality education is challenged and comprehended from numerous aspects. During the past decade, the number of higher education institutions (HEIs) in Pakistan has increased and the need for quality education is increased. Keeping in view the needs of the society the alarming question is the quality improvement of these HEIs. In the long run, the quality of education depends upon the teachers' qualities who are serving as nation builders in the system. The Higher Education Commission (HEC) is working as a regulator of Degree Awarding Institutions (DAIs) in Pakistan. All regulated & accredited DAIs by HEC Pakistan are evaluating, improving and sustaining their quality through internal quality body Quality Enhancement Cells (QECs). All universities sustaining their internal quality through the operationalized mechanism of QEC are structured by the Quality Assurance Agency (QAA). The leading aim of the existing paper was to analyze the content concerning the quality assurance process of Higher Education (HE) in Pakistan. This study was conducted under the interpretive paradigm and evaluative content analysis was applied. The selected document was Self-assessment Manual used by Quality Enhancement Cells for the quality assurance of DAIs in Pakistan. Through thematic analysis, seven themes ("Curriculum," "Facilities," "Labs," "Students support," "Faculty," "Institutional support" & "Process control") were noted. Furthermore, it was assessed the QEC manual, mechanism and all its performance are measuring the quality of all disciplines with the same brush. By hanging all quality keys at the same grid (Manual), Teacher Education Programs (TEPs) are indirectly sustained in the standings of quality improvement in Pakistan. It was concluded that quality means meeting the predetermined standards and noted six themes during qualitative analysis was based on the Self-Assessment Manual used by QECs in DAIs in Pakistan.