Client Scenarios

CLIENT SCENARIOS
 
The following are brief descriptions of some of the types of scenarios that national and international clients present to the New Zealand Curriculum Design Institute (NZCDI) before contracting qualifications, research or services.  At times the New Zealand Curriculum Design Institute may also be engaged and work with their partner House of Montrose Education Consultants (HoMEC) to provide services to support provision of a customised solution for a client. 
 

 
Please Note: the scenarios presented below are fictional and should not be viewed as partial descriptors of any current or past client situation. 
Any resemblance between the scenarios described and any real situation is purely coincidental.
 
National

1.                  New Qualification
An educational institution wishes to increase their financial viability by moving into and extending their international student provisions. The provider contracts NZCDI /HoMEC to a) design a new qualification b) support them to succeed in the approval and accreditation processes and c) cost effectively develop the organisations current staff to develop comprehensive high quality assessments, and resources. Provider increases revenues by a quarter of a million dollars the first year the new qualification is offered.

2.                  External Moderation
An educational institution wishing to succeed in national external moderation processes invites NZCDI/HoMEC to conduct an Independent External Moderation of Pre and Post Assessment materials.  NZCDI/HoMEC evaluates work being produced and marked by staff. House of Montrose Education Consultants report they would fail the materials in their analysis and develops a constructive five point strategy to permanently resolve the issues causing the moderation process failures.  The solutions developed are multi-level and involve changes to the organisation QMS processes, development of staff resources and templates, staff capacity building in assessment and moderation, programme leader mentoring, and support through monitoring. 

3.                  Academic Advice & Coaching
An educational organisation has difficulty employing staff with deep understandings of academic quality systems and processes.  They have a willing staff member but this person is without appropriate qualifications, expertise and experience.  The organisation contracts NZCDI/HoMEC for a solution.  NZCDI/HoMEC sets out a capacity building programme which includes the 'willing staff member' gaining appropriate qualifications and they coach this person on a regular basis to undertake the required quality work through an 'On Call Academic Advice Service'.

4.                  New Private Training Enterprise Registration
Individual calls NZCDI/HoMEC from an overseas country to request support to establish a new PTE in New Zealand.  NZCDI/HoMEC put client in contact with a provider who wishes to sell their PTE.  NZCDI/HoMEC supports the purchase process, change of ownership, and undertakes ‘Academic Due Diligence’ for the purchaser.  Within 3 months the new PTE is successfully operating.  NZCDI/HoMEC support development of a new functional QMS, associated materials, employment of staff, develop and update qualifications, develop marketing materials, and provide ongoing advice for the new owner to successfully meet and exceed education quality expectations.

5.                  Qualification Resources
Provider purchases a qualification from an organisation and then finds there are no materials, no resources and no assessment materials or student related documents such as a programme handbook. There is also no qualification information for marketing or regulations. NZCDI/HoMEC develops all the above materials, customising them to meet the needs of the new owners student target groups within weeks.

6.                  Degree Development
Education institution contacts NZCDI/HoMEC indicating they wish to design and have approved a degree qualification. NZCDI/HoMEC conducts a review of the current state of the organisation and readiness to implement a degree programme and reports this information to the organisation's Director. A five year plan is developed to move toward the successful approval and accreditation of a degree qualification in a special new field. The plan includes holistic development of an environment that could support an innovative degree qualification and intense staff capability development programme and research culture development programme. The plan includes all aspects of the institution's systems and operations.

7.                  Staffing
Large educational institution markets and attracts academic staff to a programme of education in New Zealand from high profile overseas universities.  As the programme time comes closer it becomes clear internal staff cannot leave their research project work in their breaks and teach the visiting academics.  NZCDI/HoMEC is contracted to undertake this high level lecturing to the university academics.

8.                  External Stakeholder Consultation
An education provider lives in region with high numbers of people from a specific ethnic background. The provider wishes to change their organisation and begin to provide education to these ethnic groups but has no expertise of background in the people’s cultural customs.  NZCDI/HoMEC is contracted to appropriately contact and conduct a consultation process with this community and to provide the organisation with recommendations for new qualification provision areas to support the people of the region.

9.                  Culture Transformation
A newly employed secondary school principal is requested by their Board to change the staff culture in the school that has just employed them.  The principal has post graduate qualifications and high experience in high schools but is not sure about how to plan and conduct a Culture Change Project.  NZCDI/HoMEC mentors the principal to plan and successfully conduct the Change Project.

10.              Appeal/Defend Evaluation
Educational institution receives a qualification application report from a National Quality Assurance body which identifies a range of serious issues. NZCDI/HoMEC is contracted to support the design and development of an effective response to the Report. The institution also has an issue with an External Moderation Report which fails material on grounds not documented anywhere.  The organisation thinks the decision unfair. NZCDI/HoMEC supports the organisation to challenge and have the unfair decision overturned.

11.              Mediation & Facilitation
A client contacts NZCDI/HoMEC because they have two staff members working in the same field who vehemently disagree about the quality of provided resource materials and the way a qualification is to be taught.  NZCDI/HoMEC mediates a way forward so the staff work together in a harmonious and professional manner. The support continues until a professional relationship and quality qualification delivery is resumed. The organisation avoids losing one or two talented Tutors and employment related action.

12.              Strategic and Operational Planning
A CEO finds his new institution has no Strategic or Operational Plan.  They wish to engage the Board of Directors and staff in an exercise to identify goals and make plans for the next five years after government funding has been lost from the organisation.  Morale is low and agreement about the best way forward is lacking.  NZCDI/HoMEC conducts a multi level consultation process with staff, management, the Board, community stakeholder communities and pertinent government bodies. New strategic and operational plans, monitoring and measurement systems are created and an agreed pathway forward formulated.  Some staff are supported to retrain and move into new business activity areas.

13.              Ideas
Overseas educational organisation seeks intelligence on areas for development in their New Zealand education business.  NZCDI/HoMEC conducts market research and provides the owner with a range of directions, then provides services to implement the selected development ideas.

14.              EER Preparation and Self Assessment Data on Computer System
A large institution wishes to prepare for EER and so approaches NZCDI/HoMEC for an integrated and cross organisation quality assurance system. NZCDI/HoMEC conducts a comprehensive Functional Analysis of the organisation with management staff and then formulates a framework for Internal and External Self Assessment data collection and recording system that can be integrated into the organisation's IT system and, therefore, accessed and contributed to by all staff. NZCDI/HoMEC works with organisation staff IT system developers and then trains staff to utilise the systems developed.

15.              Research
Provider wishes to identify specifically the factors internally contributing to a high level of student success in four particular qualifications as they wish to replicate the success factors in other courses. NZCDI/HoMEC plans and conducts a qualitative research project with students and staff to locate the success factors then reports the findings and develops a strategy and systems to ensure the successes are replicated in other courses in the organisation.

16.             Due Diligence and Independent Second Opinion (Peer Review)
Education organisation considers purchasing a qualification and Quality Management System from an individual who produces this type of document.  NZCDI/HoMEC is invited to review and report on the quality standard of the materials produced for the client and to identify where international and functional standards are met and where they are not and to support the organisation to get the quality of work contracted.


 
International

16.              Culturally Relevant Foundation Qualification
A renown University gains a contract to deliver their degree programmes into a different country and cultural setting.  The purchasers of the university’s degree provision expects the local domestic students will be able to undertake and succeed in the new degree programmes.  The reality however is the university quickly finds the local domestic students do not have the pre-requisite knowledge, skills and attitudes to support them to enter and achieve the degree qualifications in the normal time period.  The contract between the parties is to be reviewed.  The university needs to find a way to support the local domestic students to achieve but has little knowledge and experience in effective Foundation qualifications that support students to understand and operate in studies from an alternative cultural perspective.  NZCDI/HoMEC is contracted to design a Foundation qualification that will support the local domestic students to build baseline knowledge, skills and attitudes plus cultural understandings that will support them to enter and succeed in the degree programmes the university is offering.  NZCDI/HoMEC designs the Foundation qualification and supports, on-the-ground, the successful implementation of the Foundation Course. The contracting party is satisfied promises are being kept by the university to support their nationals to achieve the university’s degrees.  The university’s academic reputation/integrity (and financial gains) remain intact and the degrees are achieved by the domestic Students without a compromise to academic standards.

18.              National Academic System Capacity Development
The Education Department in a fast growing and emerging nation employs a range of universities and consulting companies to provide the expertise to establish schools, supplying staff  and helping establish higher education organisations.  Several years on, the nation finds they seem to be locked into employing organisations and their people, plus the programmes and curricula from these other countries.  The nation wishes to develop their own unique and culturally relevant education system, programmes, curricula and staff.  The country contracts NZCDI/HoMEC to teach New Zealand Curriculum Design Institute qualifications that comprehensively build academic and educational leadership capacities and capabilities the nation requires to establish their own culturally appropriate system, curricula and staff.  

19.            Multi National Quality Assurance & Nationally Customised Qualification Framework
A large International multi-country education provider owns and offers a range of qualifications in different countries. The organisation finds it is constantly spending money and time dealing with national regulatory quality assurance bodies in different countries.  It also finds students respond differently to the same qualification designs in different countries; sometimes they are well received, sometimes they are not.  Addressing the above issues is expensive and the organisation wants to overcome these challenges and ongoing expenses.  NZCDI/HoMEC is contracted and reviews the various national regulatory requirements and creates a matrix against which the organisation's Head Office curriculum designers can measure their curriculum documentation to ensure it meets all countries' regulatory requirements when initially developed. NZCDI/HoMEC also conducts an analysis of students' cultural, social and economic needs to support the organisation's Head Office curriculum designers to customise qualifications to meet the needs of students in the different countries in which they are offered. Client resolves serious ongoing work time and expenditure challenges.

20.            International New Field Benchmark Qualification Pathway 
A group of organisations that work globally wish to have designed three bench mark qualifications in their emerging but globally relevant field.  NZCDI/HoMEC is contracted to design the qualifications required and to ensure the new qualifications will be acceptable to the regulatory quality assurance bodies within those countries and acceptable in all those countries' qualification frameworks.  NZCDI/HoMEC facilitates the precise identification of the knowledge, skills, attitudes and values pathway learners will move through in the new qualifications, then provides a range research support, teaching, delivery, assessment, moderation, review, evaluation and systems  for the professional organisations to select from to achieve the precise qualifications they need to further their field internationally.  The groups are also supported through cost effective Short Professional Development Courses to build a supporting research culture and peer refereed publication for international distribution.

21.            Comprehensive Quality Assurance System Design and Establishment
Client organisation has been evaluated and found to have conducted inadequate consultation with their Internal, External, National and International Stakeholders.  The evaluation also finds that previously gathered Stakeholder Consultation data and findings have not been utilised to improve the organisation at all.  NZCDI/HoMEC undertakes briefings with the client and undertakes a preliminary organisational systems review and finds a) the organisation has an incomplete and piecemeal quality assurance system b) staff working in the quality assurance area are inadequately qualified and experienced and c) the institution does not have a system that ensures developments eminating from the organisation's Quality Assurance team are prioritised and actioned.  NZCDI/HoMEC designs a whole-of-organisation Quality Assurance System with feedback and comunication loops, and identifies and writes responsibilities for the new system into appropriate position descriptions.  Training is undertaken across the organisation to build understanding and awareness, buy-in and clear accountabilities for the new system across the organisation.  In the first year of utility the organisation is able to set baseline standards in all processes within its new quality assurance system and, thereafter, tracks performance in the systems.

22.           Organisation Qualification Framework
NZCDI/HoMEC works with an education provider to analyse their qualification offer and build an aspired-to Organisational Qualification Framework, which includes logical pathways, and meets Government and Stakeholder expectations of their type of organisation, nationally and internationally.