Student Evaluations of Teaching in Universities of Pakistan: Analysis from the Perspective of Closing the Feedback Loop

Abstract

Internationally, centralized systems for collecting students’ feedback have become an increasingly common practice in higher education institutions [HEIs] for monitoring quality of teaching as well as for professional development of faculty members. The collection, analysis and reporting of evaluation results are carried out systematically in many HEIs across the globe. However, how to effectively close the feedback loop with students as well as teachers on the results of student evaluations of teaching [SETs] remain an issue to be addressed. Consistent with global trend, HEIs in Pakistan are also supposed to conduct SETs. In this context, the main intention of this study was to determine whether the cycle of teaching evaluation process is completed, and feedback loop proceeds effectively towards closing around the SETs or not in Pakistani HEIs. To achieve the objective, the triangulation design was used in which an online search was carried out in 130 Pakistani HEIs’ official websites to collect qualitative data. Concurrently, a questionnaire comprising 13 close-ended items, with “yes-and-no” scale, was administered in online format to collect quantitative data from a sample of 507 faculty members and 110 administrators from 130 Pakistani HEIs. Based on content analysis of documents and descriptive analysis of participants’ responses, this paper concludes that universities in Pakistan are bound by HEC to collect feedback from students using central system of Quality Enhancement Cells, but limited attention has been placed to close the feedback loop with students and teachers to inform improvements. Finally, this paper recommends the need for universities in Pakistan to genuinely listen to students’ voices and to act on their feedback as part of quality assurance.