Quality Assurance and Continuous Improvement: A Case Study of the University of Bahrain

In recent years, Bahrain has taken serious actions to diversify its sources of income and solve major national problems such as unemployment. Through this process it discovered that one of the main factors for its economic problems was the quality of higher education on offer. This led to the creation of a national Quality Assurance Authority that aims to regulate higher education institutes according to the national standards. This initiative is expected to both improve higher education in Bahrain and maintain international standards to ensure its reputation outside the country. To start, the Quality Assurance Authority relied indirectly on the good practices of higher education institutions in Bahrain. These were used as a benchmark for standards. This article addresses some aspects of applying quality assurance in higher education in Bahrain by using the University of Bahrain as a case study of good practices. It also compares these practices across various disciplines.