MA-EDucation-SEM-II-CCMAED08-Quality-Management-In-Higher-Education-English-munotes

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MODULE I
1
QUALITY IN EDUCATION
Unit Structure
1.0 Objectives
1.1 Introduction
1.2 Concept of Quality and Quality in Education
1.2.1 What is Quality?
1.2.2 Dimensions of Quality
1.2.3 Quality in Education
1.2.4 Quality in education -Indian perspective
1.2.5 Quality in Education -International Perspective
1.3 Concept of Quality Learning Environment
1.3.1 Learning
1.3.2 Quality Learning
1.3.3 Quality Learning Environment
1.3.4 Quality Teaching
1.3.5 Q uality Learners
1.3.6 Quality Process
1.3.7 Quality Curriculum
1.4 Assessment and Accreditation
1.4.1 Meaning of Assessment and Accreditation
1.4.2 Objectives of Assessment and Accreditation
1.4.3 Relation between Assessmen t and Accreditation
1.5 Let us sum up
1.6 Unit End Exercises
1.7 References
1.0 OBJECTIVES After going through this unit, you will be able to:
• Define Quality
• Understand the concept of Quality
• Explain basic concepts related to Quality in Education
• Describe basic elements involved in Quality Learning Environment
• State and describe meaning, objectives and relationship between
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2 Quality In Education 1.1 INTRODUCTION It is well known that soul of any nation is its human resource and
developmen t of human resource require a lot of planning and rigorous
exercise at all levels of education. Higher Education must aim to develop
good, thoughtful, well -rounded and creative individuals. Higher Education
must enable an individual to study one or more sp ecialized areas of
interest at a deep level, and also develop character, ethical and
constitutional values, intellectual curiosity, scientific temper, creativity,
spirit of service, and all those capabilities which are required to meet 21st
century challen ges across a range of all disciplines. The quality of human
resource and higher education are interrelated, if the nation is to be
recognised in the world it is necessary to concentrate on the quality of
higher education. It is essential for you as a stud ent of education to
understand some of the basic concepts related with quality.
1.2 CONCEPT OF QUALITY AND QUALITY IN EDUCATION Concept of quality has been borrowed from business and industrial sector
i.e. corporate world. It means those features of produc ts that meet
stakeholder needs and thereby provide stakeholders satisfaction. If you
apply this to education you need to satisfy the stakeholders. In education
various stakeholders are students, teachers, parents, community members,
administrators etc. The students are the primary stakeholders of any
education system, the quality of education should meet, exceed and delight
students needs and expectations with the fact that these needs and desires
will change over time. To understand concept of quality and quality in
education you need to know what quality is?
1.2.1 What is Quality?:
The term quality is being used everywhere, you will find in your
surrounding every person demands quality in every sphere of life, quality
is the relative term and difficult to find a specific definition. There are
many definitions of the term quality, the most relevant refers to the set of
inherent properties of an services that allows satisfying the needs or
fulfilling expectations. Quality can be defined as conformance to
specifications, the degree to which a product meets the specifications.
Quality can also be considered as the perception that the customer has
about object or services of the product. Some of the widely accepted
definitions of quality are as follows:
• Quality is the predictable degree of uniformity and dependability, at
low cost and suited to the market -W. Edwards Deming.(1900 -1993)
• Quality is fitness for use -Joseph Juran.(1904 -2008)
• Quality is conformance to requirements -Philip B. Crosby .(1926 -
2001) munotes.in

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3 Quality Management In Higher Education • Quality is the (minimum) loss imparted by a product to society from
the time the product is being shipped - Taguchi.
• Quality is, in its essence, a way of managing the organisation -
Feibygunbaum.
• Quality is correcting and preventing loss, not living with lo ss-Hoshin.
• Quality is the totality of features and characteristics of an entity that
bears on its ability to satisfy stated and implied needs -ISO
(International Organization for Standardization) It is universally
accepted definition of quality which conv eys a lot about the
requirement of quality .Here the entity may be a process or a product
of an organization, need or requirements may be stated in due form of
a specification by the customers’ expectations. Hence, the quality of
an object is determined by comparing a predetermined set of
characteristics against a set of requirement, if these characteristics
conform to the requirement high quality is achieved but if these
characteristics do not conform to the requirement it is termed to be of
low or poor qu ality is achieved. When you apply this to education,
you need to satisfy the stakeholders of educational institutions i.e.
students, teachers, parents community members, administrators etc,
the consumers are the students and employing agencies who shall be
satisfied by the teaching -learning process of the educational
institution. Quality is achieved by a strict and consistent commitment
to certain standards to satisfy specific customer requirement. Concept
of quality also have one interesting element in whi ch services
provided by the product or process are not only as per expectations
but beyond imagination. Total Quality management (TQM) in
education is the concept that acquires importance to systematically
address the issue of quality in educational instit ution. TQM is creation
of quality culture in the institution , to provide the customers what
they want, when they want and how they want it. TQM involves
moving with changing customer expectations and aspirations to
design programmes or course of studies a nd providing learning
experiences to meet and exceed their expectations.
1.2.2 Dimensions of Quality:
As you know that perception of the stakeholder is main deciding factor for
quality, you might be observing that the stakeholders want to get enrolled
in the institution which fulfils or satisfy the needs or requirements and
expect that the product from the supplier(institute) should have certain
characteristics and features which should reflect whether the quality is
achieved or not. Every educational ins titution needs to set up certain
standards specifying the characteristics. These characteristics or features
are to be measured either by determinants or by subjective criteria or a
combination of both. Various dimensions of quality which the customer
look for in the product in order to satisfy their needs, determine the
characteristics of the product. Following are the attributes which are
expected in the product: Performance, Features, Reliability, munotes.in

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4 Quality In Education Conformity, Durability, Serviceability, Aesthetics, Perce ived quality,
Time, Timeless, Completeness, Courtesy, Consistency, Accessibility,
Convenience, Accuracy, and Responsiveness. You might feel many of
these attributes are important and related to corporate sector where
customer’s demand with respect to produ cts appearance, service,
durability could be anticipated and satisfactory services could be provided
for quality, it is obvious when we are dealing with machines and are aware
of expected service details ,it is easier to control and assure quality
products but when it is education and the product is human, providing
quality education to develop these attributes it must be ingrained in an
educational institution through its vision and mission.
1.2.3 Quality in Education:
Education is one of the important fa ctors responsible to shape the
personality of individual and has many functions, to develop quality
individual, it is necessary to have quality in education. Quality in
education can be achieved through continuous improvement of the
educational process wit h active involvement of all the concern members.
Improving quality of education means raising the levels of academic
performance. Quality in education is a multidimensional concept with
various conceptualisation. To get clarity with the concept of quality in
education let us consider the Models of Quality in Education identified
by Yin Cheong Cheng & Wal Ming Tam (1997) for Quality Assurance
in Education:
Table -1: Models of Quality in Education Model of quality in Education Description The Goal and Specification model Institutional goals and specifications (Standard) clearly stated which are time bound and measurable. Sufficient resources should be available with institution to achieve the goal. The Resource Input model Quality of educational institution is not identified by output but by its input. The Process model It stands for smooth internal process & fruitful learning experiences. The process where transformation of the inputs into outputs occur smoothly. munotes.in

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5 Quality Management In Higher Education The Satisfaction model Stakeholders are satisfied i.e. educational authorities, teachers, parents, community and students. The Legitimacy model It implies the achievement of institutions
reputation & noticeable position in the
society. This model is usually used when the
environment is very competitive and
demanding and public image becomes
important criteria of institutions merit. The Absence of Problem model Human organization has problems and
educational institutions try to identify big
and small problems and build an appropriate
strateg ies to overcome those identified
problems .This will result in minimizing
problems. The Organisational Learning Model Everything is constantly changing, there is continuous knowledge expansion thereby leading to many changes and challenges in front of the team. This model implies that the institution should constantly learn & improve according to the changing demands .This requires awareness of changes and needs , continuous internal process monitoring, programme evaluation, developmental planning for adjusting as per the changing needs. These models can form a comprehensive framework for understanding
and conceptualising quality in education from different perspectives and
facilitating development of management strategies for achieving quality.
All mode ls emphasise the different aspects of Educational context ,all of
them have their own strength and weaknesses ,the need is that wise
selection, combination and implementation of models for quality in
education is required.

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6 Quality In Education 1.2.4 Quality in education -Indian perspective :
Quality in education need to be defined in a wider sense, the over all aim
of education is to bring all round development of an individual and his/her
commitment to society. In India since Independence through various
commissions and commit tees appointed by Government of India from
time to time to recommend measures to be taken to achieve the goals and
efforts made with regard to quality in education, the first National Policy
of Education 1968, Second National Policy of Education 1986 and i n the
year 2019 National Education Policy draft DNEP -2019 which is released
as New Education Policy (NEP)2020 with an objective to reform the
education system of the country.NEP -2020 will be a milestone in the
history of Indian Higher Education. The policy has proposed robust and
thoughtful ideas to bring the transformation in India’s Higher Education
system, mainly focusing on the assurance of quality. NEP envisions an
education system rooted in Indian ethos that contribute directly to
transforming India i nto an equitable and vibrant Knowledge society by
providing high quality education to all and thereby making India a global
knowledge superpower. The policy envisages that the curriculum and
pedagogy of institutions must develop among the students a deep s ense of
respect towards the Fundamental Duties and Constitutional values
,bonding with one’s country , and a conscious awareness of one’s role and
responsibilities in a changing world . The vision of the policy is to in still
among the learners a deep -rooted pride in being Indian, not only in
thought , but also in spirit , intellect and deeds, as well as to develop
knowledge, skills, values and dispositions that support responsible
commitment to human rights , sustainable development and living, and
global well-being, thereby reflecting a truly global citizen. Apart from this
various apex bodies of Higher Education has taken innovative initiatives
to enhance quality & excellence in education like making institution and
programme accreditation mandatory, attr acting quality faculty,
establishing faculty development centres etc.
1.2.5sss Quality in Education -International perspective :
Movement for quality had its origin from Japan in late 1940’ s through
industrial management , number of management thinkers from o ther
developed countries also brought the ideas for quality as total quality
management (TQM). Contribution of W.E.Deming, Joseph Juran &
Philip B. Crosby are considered to be very important for quality in
education at international level though all of the m concentrated on quality
in industrial and manufacturing sector but their contributions can also be
applied to education sector .With unprecedented expansion of education
system in past decades imposes new challenges for the institutions to
maintain quali ty. Implementation of quality assurance is one of the most
decisive transformations for education, education systems are trying to
develop assessment tools to improve the quality of teaching, research and
extension activities .International ranking of inst itutes also contribute to
impose a set of transnational standards and values which is also being
considered as indicative by stakeholders .There are quality awards for
standards have been introduced by many countries to promote quality and munotes.in

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7 Quality Management In Higher Education excellence in ed ucation like ISO 9000, IASC(International Accreditation
Services Commission), IAO(International Accreditation Organization) and
many more.
1.3 CONCEPT OF QUALITY LEARNING ENVIRONMENT 1.3.1 Learning:
Learning can be defined as the process which lead to cha nge in the
behaviour of the student as a result of experience gain due to encountering
with environment. You are well aware that there is always interaction
between student and environment and as the result of this interaction
learning occurs. Learning is always affected by various internal and
external factors.
1.3.2 Quality Learning:
Concept of quality as already discussed “meeting expectations or
requirements” so as far as quality learning is concerned the change in
behaviour among learners should sati sfy the expectations .At higher
education level, what is expected from the learners behaviour is far from
just memorisation and recalling information. It involves understanding ,
relating ideas and making connection between prior and new knowledge,
indepen dent critical thinking and to transfer knowledge to new and
different context. One of the basic requirement for learning to occur is the
environment and in order for quality learning to occur Quality Learning
Environment(QLE) is needed.
1.3.3 Qua lity Lear ning Environment (QLE) :
It is the environment which allows greater student ownership ,
responsibility and control of the learning process , it is important to create
QLE early in the course so that mutual trust and respect can be develop.
Continuous effor ts are required to improve learning environment on the
part of all educators involve in the process.QLE refers to pedagogy that
creates classrooms where students and teachers work productively in an
environment which totally focused on quality learning , s uch pedagogy
sets high & explicit expectations and develop positive relationship
between teachers and student and among students. To achieve QLE in
which greatest growth is possible for all students ,faculty need to follow
few key principles which will gui de them to bring expected behavioural
change.
Table -3: Principles for establishing a Quality Learning Environment Principles for QLE Description Establish high degree of trust and respect Mutual trust and respect enable learning to take place, learning environment should be learner centred, knowledge centred and munotes.in

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8 Quality In Education assessment centred. Set clear and high expectations Productivity is highly correlated to the expectations set at the beginning of the process in which the students are engaged so it is necessary to set clear and high expectations. Involve students Once the expectations are set, it is to be
informed to the students by involving
them in the process. Take feed from them
and modify accordingly. Challenge students Challenge the students and encourage to
accept the challenges so that they use their
potentials and become self growers. Encourage Risk Taking When expectations are high, there will be chances of failure on the success if the outcome is not desirable, encourage them to take risk in achieving genuine learning.
QLE offers students and faculty flexibility, openness & access to
resources. QLE can be designed to provide learners with opportunities to
move towards the ideal and leverage the qualities that are already present
in them to maximize learning in any discipline. Quality learning require a
comprehensive approach that involves appropriate curriculum, engaging
pedagogy, continuous formative assessment, and adequate student support.
The curriculum must be interesting and relevant, and updat ed regularly to
align with the latest knowledge requirement and to meet specified learning
outcomes. High quality pedagogy is then necessary to successfully impart
the curricular material to the students. Pedagogical practices determine the
learning experi ences that are provided to the students, thus directly
influencing learning outcomes. The assessment methods must be
scientific, designed to continuously improve learning and test the
application of knowledge. Along with this, development of capacities tha t
promote student wellness such as fitness, good health, psycho -social well -
being, and sound ethical grounding are also critical for high -quality
learning. Thus, curriculum, pedagogy, continuous assessment, and student
support are the cornerstone for quali ty learning. Along with providing
suitable resources and infrastructure, such as quality libraries, classrooms ,
labs , technology , sports/recreation areas , student discussion spaces , and
dining areas , a number of initiatives will be required to ensure that quality
learning environments are engaging and supportive and enabling all
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9 Quality Management In Higher Education 1.3.4 Quality Teaching:
Teaching can be defined as engagement with learners to enable that
understanding and application of knowledge, teaching is to eng age
students in learning .Teaching involves students actively in construction of
knowledge ,it transform students into active learners. Main aim of
teaching is to transmit information to students and convert them from
passive recipients to active construct ors of their own and others
knowledge in a environment which brings desirable change in behaviour.
For learning to be of quality, quality teaching is required. Quality teaching
is the use of pedagogical techniques to produce quality learning outcomes
in th e learners. Quality teaching also involves well adapted learning
environment and students support services .It depends on the institutions
efforts to serve students of different backgrounds & abilities through
effective experiences . As per the changes occ ur i.e. journey from face -to-
face to online/blended mode quality teaching demands to have good
awareness of the social and emotional aspects of technology -based
education. Quality teaching involves many dimensions including effective
design of curriculum & course content , use of variety of approaches as
project based learning , collaborative learning , cooperative learning
,experiential learning and effective assessment of learning outcomes and
for online mode of teaching use of various tools and resource platforms
like SWAYAM(Study Web of Active Learning for young & Aspiring
minds) , NROER(National Repository of Open Educational Resources) ,
SWAYAM PRABHA(group of 32 DTH channels -telecasting high quality
educational programs on24x7 using GSAT -15 satellite) , e-Patshala, ,
Diksha portal, google classroom, Zoom, Edmodo , Class Dojo , You -tube
etc. ODL and online education prove a natural path to increase access to
quality higher education
1.3.5 Quality Learners:
Whenever there is interaction between learner and environment learning
occurs, quality of learning depends on how learner received and
responded, learner show behaviours that optimize learning & predict
successful performance. If the learner experiences joy in learning, gets
motivated to learn and gr ow and this is possible when the educators use
various teaching strategies suitable in all situation or the style which
serves as best suited to learners needs and inclination. Quality learners
have definable behaviour , this behaviour helps the instructor s to design
instructions to foster growth , quality learners behaviour is fully integrated
into the personality and reflected in daily life routine activity.
Quality learners are motivated intrinsically for learning even if any
external reward is not given .They give their best in every situation by
choosing and using appropriate combinations of learning skills from
different domains for a given circumstance. Researches on learning
behaviour showed that individuals control their own motivation and
thought p rocess by observation and self -assessment and brings
behavioural change for accomplishment of goal. Albert Bandura a
Canadian American Psychologist used the term ‘Self-regulation’ in Social munotes.in

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10 Quality In Education Cognitive Theory of Personality for showing how individuals behavi our is
controlled by cognition which involves four co mponents: self-
observation, self -evaluation , self -reaction and self -efficacy. All four
components are interrelated and have effect on motivation and goal
attainment. Self -regulation is nothing but active management by learner of
their motivations, cognition and behaviour to achieve their goals .There is
positive correlation between learners ability to self -regulate & academic
success. Learners self -regulation provides a dr ive for learning with
curiosity , enthusiasm and risk taking. Quality learners are self -regulated,
ready to look for new applications & connections and able to apply
learning in new context. They become constructive partners in the learning
process and contribute to the knowledge creation & internalization &
promote more creative and innovative ideas which are required by the
present system for more and more employability.
1.3.6 Quality Process:
Lot of discussion on quality of education highlighting quality learning
environment, quality l earning ,quality teaching , quality learners was done.
However there is also a need to consider quality educational process for
students where faculty and administrative authority use inputs to frame
meaningful learning experiences for students. The purpos e of quality
process is to ensure the quality assurance and quality development of
educational processes which is done in a systematic and documented way.
Quality process requires to focus on high quality outcomes that impact on
learning and achievement & to build systems and strategies that will
ensure students to achieve their full potential during the course of time.
All faculty members need to work together consistently under the effective
leadership. Vision and mission must be clear to all the concerns involved
in the process so that they can find ways of translating it into objectives,
all the resources required to achieve the objectives should be made
available .Authority should inspire and encourage the team to plan for
providing meaningful learning experiences. They should also focus on the
quality of ongoing professional development that focus on pedagogy, on
learning and on deepening knowledge as per the requirement.
1.3.7 Quality Curriculum:
Curriculum means a range of courses from which student s choose what
subject matter to study for a specific learning programme. Curriculum
collectively describes the teaching , learning and assessment materials
available for the holistic growth of students and also concept of
community services are interwoven in curriculum and all such courses
generates research and reflection skills among students. In order to
ascertain the quality of education all concern should be aware of the
objectives in the cognitive, conative and affective domain for students
holistic g rowth , to accomplish these objectives quality inputs, process and
outcomes to be focused which can be possible when the curriculum
introduce employability skills, communication skills, critical thinking ,
problem solving and entrepreneurial abilities amon g the students.
Curriculum should provide guidelines to education agents and munotes.in

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11 Quality Management In Higher Education stakeholders to play an important role in ensuring quality education hence,
quality curriculum is that which articulates competencies necessary for
quality lifelong learning and h olistic development .
Quality curriculum enables students to acquire and develop the knowledge
, skills and values along with associated capabilities and competencies to
lead meaningful & productive life. Quality curriculum maximizes the
potentials for eff ective enhancement of learning. Quality curriculum
should be equitable , inclusive , learner centred , learner friendly ,open &
flexible as reflected in the global education development agenda Goal -
4(SDG -4) of 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development adapte d by India
in 2015 seeks to “ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and
promote lifelong learning opportunities for all “by 2030.
Quality Curriculum Development is an ongoing & continuous process as
per the changes taking place , there is a need to keep pace with the world
in which knowledge is rapidly expanding , communication technologies
are broadening ,access to information & skills for learners are constantly
changing or being invented.
1.4 ASSESSMENT AND ACCREDITATION Quality cannot be impos ed by force on any institution, it has to be
originate as a internal mechanism which will lead to develop quality work
culture wherein quality consciousness and striving for excellence will
become powerful internal driving force at all levels of higher edu cation
institutions. Each Higher Education Institution need to set certain
standards and accordingly they plan, process and give outcomes. The
quality of outcome depends on the efforts taken by the entire team under
the visionary leadership. It is necessar y to acknowledge, appreciate and
recognise the efforts of Higher Education Institutions and this will be done
by various external agencies accrediting Higher Education Institutions.
The objectives of these agencies are mainly focused on the Assessment
and Accreditation process. A Higher Education Accreditation is a type of
quality assurance process under which services and operations of
Educational Institution or programme are assessed and evaluated by
external agency to determine whether the expected stand ards are met or
not.
1.4.1 Meaning of Assessment and Accreditation:
Assessment is a performance evaluation of an Educational Institution ,it is
the procedure for verifying & validating the information given by the
institution to be accredited , assessme nt is not fault finding act , it provide
corrective measures for improvement of academic and administrative
practices of the institution.. Accreditation means to identify an educational
institution as maintaining standards and to ensure that their certific ation
are acceptable ,In broader terms , accreditation is a process to scrutinize
Higher Education Institutions and programmes to enhance quality. It is the
process by Government and Private agencies to assess the quality of
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12 Quality In Education in order to formally recognize it as having met certain predetermined
minimal criteria or standard. Accreditation provides a benchmark for
quality and integrity. Accreditation serve as a quality assurance and
accountability mechanism for educational institutions , accreditation
agency examines the philosophy , goals , programmes ,facilities ,resources
,financial management and product quality .The Assessment and
Accreditation process will be carried out in three st ages- 1)application by
the institution to the accredit ing agency in prescribed format , 2) on-site
visit by the team for assessing the information given by institution and
3) certification after verification of the informa tion the assessed data
gathered , summarized and used for accreditation. Each accrediting agency
establish certain criteria, under each criteria various key aspects are
identified for assessment and evaluation of Educational Institution ,
accrediting agency also publish list of instituti ons they accredited
periodically. Result of accreditation process is usually awarding of
institutional status in the form of grade, star, certification or license of
quality valid for particular duration like 1, 2, 3, 4, 5…years.
In India there are various agencies at Higher Education level which assess
and accreditate the institutional academic and administrative process to
ensure quality assurance like:
UGC : University Grants Commission(1956 )
AICTE : All India Council of Technical Education(1987)
AIU: Association of Indian Universities
ICAI : Institute of Chartered Accountant of India
ICSI: Institute of Company Secretaries of India
FTII : Film and Television Institute of India
NAAC : National Assessment and Accreditation Council
NBA : National Board of Accre ditation
NIRF : National Institute Ranking Framework
BCI: Bar Council of India
DCI: Dental Council of India
CCH : Central Council of Homeopathy
DEC : Distance Education Council
INC: Indian Nursing Council
MCI : Medical Council of India
NCTE : National Council f or Teacher Education
PCI: Pharmacy Council of India munotes.in

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13 Quality Management In Higher Education VCI: Veterinary Council of India(1984)
NCHRH : National Council for Human Resource in Health
1.4.2 Objectives of Assessment and Accreditation:
1. To verify & validate the information provided by the instit ution.
2. To identify strengths of educational institution and give recognition.
3. To identify weaknesses of the Educational institution and suggest
corrective measures for improvement.
4. To determine the areas of institutional accomplishment in which
quality will be judged.
5. To encourage new and innovative approaches adopted b y Higher
Educational Institutions.
6. To stimulate the improvement of the practices of Higher educational
institution
7. To provide assurance of educational qua lity which is recog nised by all
stakeholders.
8. To ensur e that educational institutions maintain a culture of aiming at
excellence and continuous improvement.
9. To identify and update the accredited institutions/programmes to the
public.
1.4.3 Relation between Assessment and Accreditation :
It is clear from the meaning of assessment and accreditation that both the
process are interrelated with each other , decision taken by accrediting
agency depend on the assessment data. Assessment data is gathered
through internal as wel l as external assessment. Internal assessment
involves all major stakeholders like teachers, students and management.
Interna assessment includes review of all the stakeholders work whereas
external assessment is the accreditation done by certain external
accrediting agency which is quality control mechanism of educational
institution. Every accrediting agency set certain criteria’s and key aspects
under each criteria which has number of assessment indicators which may
be used as guidelines for visiting tea m to capture the micro level quality
parameters of the institution, hence criteria based assessment forms the
backbone of accreditation, the main focus of accreditation is on the
culture of compliance .An Higher Education Institution should follow
certain practices keeping in mind timely modifications made by
accrediting agencies which will assure quality of education they impart
and helps in the process of quality enhancement.

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14 Quality In Education 1.5 LET US SUM UP The term quality is being used by everyone everywhere but w hat exactly
quality is ? is difficult to explain. In this unit meaning of the term quality
and its concept was discussed in the light of ideas given by various
management thinkers, as the concept of quality in education is borrowed
from the corporate world . Models of quality in education suggested by Yin
Cheong Cheng & Wal Ming Tam and wise use of these models for quality
improvement leading to develop quality learning environment. There are
related concepts like learning, quality learning, quality teaching , quality
learners, quality process, and quality curriculum under the banner of
quality learning environment required in an educational institution also
discussed in detail. Every higher education institution need to internalise
the quality work pattern an d to recognize their efforts it is mandatory that
all educational institutions are to be assessed and accredited on patterns
similar to the corporate organization by different accrediting agencies
based on their set criteria’s. Educational institutions are required to
internalise the work philosophy and keep themselves on the top with
regard to quality standards.
1.6 UNIT END EXERCISE 1. Define the term Quality.
2. What is the concept of Quality in Education .
3. Elucidate the seven models introduced by Yin Cheong Cheng & Wal
Ming Tam (1997) for Quality Assurance in Education.
4. Visit a website of any Accreditation agency for Quality Higher
Education and write a report regarding its vision, mission, functions ,
procedure and steps.
1.7 REFERENCES  Agarw al,Pawan 2009.Indian Higher Education: Envisioning the
Future.NewDelhi:Sage Publishing India
 Australian Quality Training Framework,(2007).Quality Indicators
overview.Australia.AQTF
 Fostering Quality Teaching in Higher Education: Policies and
Practices . Se pt 2012
 Henard,F.and Leprence -Ringuet,S.(2008) The Path to Quality
Teaching in Higher
Education.http://www.oecd.org/edu/imhe,144150246.pdf
 IGNOU -MES -044 Institutional Management Block -5(Total Quality
Management). munotes.in

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15 Quality Management In Higher Education  MHRD (2020) National Education Policy 2020, Ministry of Human
Resource Development, Government of India, New Delhi.
 NAAC(2019) Institutional Accreditation:manual for Self -Study of
Universities,National assessment and Accreditation
Council,Bangalore.
 Owlia,M.S.,Aspinwall,E.m.(1996).A framework for the dimensions of
quality in higher education.quality assurance in education.
http://doi.org/10.1108/09684889610116012
 Tam,N.(2001). Measuring Quality and Performance in Higher
Education.http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13538320120045076
 UNESCO (2005) Education f or All: the Quality Imperative UNESCO
report
2005,ParisUNESCO.http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/001373/13733
4e.pdf
 https://www.gbnews.ch/what -is-your-definition -of -quality/
 https://marketbusinessnews.com/financial -glossary/quality/
 https://www.right -to-educationorg/sites/right -to-
education.org/files/resource -attachments/UNICEF -Defining -quality -
education -2000
 http://www.facultyguidebook.com/4th/demo/1/1 -2-2.htm
 http://www.sun.ac.za/english/learning -teaching/ctl/t -1-
resources/curriculum -t-l-assessment
 https:/ /doi.org/10.1108/09684889710156558
 http://www.ibe.unesco.org/en/geqaf/annexes/technical -notes/what -
makes -quality -curriculum.
 https://images.app.goo.gl/N8aatffrbBb5J5yN6


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16
2
QUALITY MANAGEMENT: THE
CONTEXTS
Unit Structure
2.0 Objectives
2.1 Introduction
2.2 Concept of Quality
2.2.1 Need and Significance of Quality Management
2.3 Quality Management Principles
2.3.1 Quality Managements areas
2.4 Quality system in Educat ion
2.4.1 NAAC
2.4.2 Seven Parameters of NAAC
2.5 Let us Sum -up
2.6 Unit End Exercise
2.7 References
2.0 OBJECTIVES This chapter introduces general terms and definitions related to quality and
principles of quality management in education.
This unit fo cuses on:
 Concept of Quality Management
 Need to study Quality Management
 Principles of Quality Management
 Quality System in Education
 Seven Parameters of NAAC
2.1 INTRODUCTION The success of quality management in industry has prompted many of us
to rai se "Why not in Education?" Before proceeding to know the meaning
of the term quality management, it is necessary to discover its
etymological origin. It has two different words “Quality” and
“Management”
Quality, first, comes from Latin, exactly of “quali ties.” This word is the
result of the sum of three components: the interrogative “quae” (which);
the suffix " -alis", which indicates "relative to"; and the suffix “ -tat”, which
comes to indicate quality. And word management comes from Italian
word ‘maneggi are’(to handle especially tools) and “manage” comes from munotes.in

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17 Quality Management In Higher Education the Latin word manus, meaning “hand.” This is also, where we get the
word “manual.” Mary Parker Follet,Harold Koontz and several other
management authors called management “as an art of getting thin gs done
through people”
The concept of quality it refers to the characteristics that are characteristic
of something and from which it is possible to estimate its value. When
these characteristics are positive or beneficial, they speak of good quality.
The desire to achieve higher standards in education is depend upon its
Quality. Therefore, Quality is the new mantra to achieve excellence in
educational field.
As we know that “Quality” word comes from industry. When quality
management is comes to education some long cherished ideas about how
to manage the teaching/learning process will have to change. To begin, it
is well to keep in mind some of the important differences between
education and industry.
1. The school is not a factory.
2. The students are not the product.
3. Their education is the product.
4. The customers for the product are several a) the students themselves.
b) Their parents c) Their future employers.
5. Students need to be "co -managers" of their own education.
6. There are no oppo rtunities for recalls.
Education can be improved, productivity of teachers enhanced, teachers
and students find greater joy in their work and the leaving students are
more likely to make positive contributions to their society. This implies
that we need to concentrate on the Quality of Education .Then question
arises ‘What is QUALITY’?
2.2 CONCEPT OF QUALITY Quality may be a far more sophisticated term than it seems. It looks that
each quality professional defines quality may be a somewhat totally
differe nt method. It seems that every quality expert defines quality is a
somewhat different way. There are a different perspective in defining
quality. Some definitions of QUALITY as follows:
Dictionary definitions of the word “quality” cover fairly similar gro und.
Merriam -Webster defines it as “degree of excellence” or “superiority in
kind,” while Oxford opts for “the standard of something as measured
against other things of a similar kind; the degree of excellence of
something.” When talking about quality in t erms of providing products or
services, however, we have to drill a bit further down into how we define
the term. In terms of providing a quality product or service munotes.in

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18 Quality Management: The Contexts Quality can be defined as “Fitness to use”.
- Juran 2019
Quality can also be defined as the capability of products and services to
knowingly satisfy want of users.
- Johnson1987
Quality is dynamic state associated with product, services, people, process
and environments that needs expectation and helps produce superior value.
- Goetsch and Davis2010
Quality is an expression of educational services and products useful in
meeting needs and expectations, it is value for money and its utility to
individuals and society.
Quality Management can be defined as “that aspect of a overall
management function th at determines and implements the quality policy”
- Bureau of Indian Standards1988
From all these definitions pointed out the importance of Quality in today’s
time. As Lucius Annaeus Seneca, a Roman Philosopher points out “It is
quality of work rather than q uantity that matters”. It is the most essential
aspect of every educational institution. It helps institutions to bring about
positive changes in any educational institute. As mahatma Gandhiji has
also said that, “It is the quality of our work which will p lease God and not
the quantity”.
Quality management is that the act of overseeing all activities and tasks
that has got to be accomplished to keep up a desired level of excellence.
This includes the determination of a top quality policy, making and
impleme nting quality coming up with and assurance, and internal control
and quality improvement. it's additionally observed as total quality
management (TQM).
Components of Quality Management: Quality management can be
segmented into four key components to be e ffective: quality planning,
quality control, quality assurance, and quality improvement. These are
four components of quality in any institution. These are as follows. Quality planning Quality improvement Components of Quality Quality Assurance Quality control munotes.in

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19 Quality Management In Higher Education  Quality Planning : The process of identifying the quality standards
relevant to the project and deciding how to attain them.
 Quality Improvement : The determined change of a process to
improve the confi dence, reliability and consistency of the outcome.
 Quality Control : The enduring effort to uphold a process’s integrity
and reliability in realizing an outcome.
 Quality Assurance : The organized or the planned actions necessary
to offer sufficient reliabili ty that a particular service/product will meet
the definite requirements.
Check your progress:
 Define Quality Management.
 What are components of Quality?
2.2.1 Need and Significance of Quality Management :
Any human activity is identified by the quality of its product. The same
rule applies to education. The quality of education is therefore responsible
for the quality of its "product": students. Various forms of education are
present in different places, at various times, under different circumstances
and t erms, intentional and unintentional, organized and unorganized, with
or without a program. Need of Quality Management are as follows
Need and Significance of Quality Management in Education:
1. Curriculum : It is important to construct a good quality struc ture of
the curriculum (program/goals, tasks, focus on development of
functional tasks, focus on students’ activities, integration of programs
within and between areas) - courses and programs - key competences
that will help students development in the gi ven school.
2. Impart high quality and liberal education
3. Improve Standards of Students
4. Improve social life of students
5. To make students good citizen
6. Create conducive learning environment.
7. Empowered governance and autonomy
8. National Development.
9. Quality management is essential for satisfaction which eventually
leads loyalty.
10. Quality education is important for those who are involved in it
either directly or individually. munotes.in

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20 Quality Management: The Contexts 11. Quality management is a part of manag ement, aimed at achieving
quality goals through planning , monitoring, assuring and improving
Quality.
12. Quality management is essential in the term s of performance and
reliability.
2.3 QUALITY MANAGEMENT PRINCIPLES “Quality management principles” are a set of fundamental beliefs, norms,
rules and values that are accepted as true and can be used as a basis for
quality management. There are seven Quality Management Principles are
as follows Customer focus Leadership Engagement of people Quality management principles Process approach Improvement Evidence-based decision making Relationship management 1. Customer focus:
The term customer refers to ‘Students’. Today education is looks upon as
an industry where we provide services to stu dents who are clients or
customers of any educational institute. All teachers and principles should
know the profile of their students. This is known as developing customer
focus i.e. knowing the likes, dislikes, attitude and interests of the students.
On the basis of this the institutions can know whom they have to cater and
develop tailor made packages accordingly.
e.g. In order to provide vocational guidance to higher secondary students,
one can choose from automobile repairing and mobile repairing ,ha rdware
etc
2. Leadership:
The Seven principle definition states “Leaders at all levels establish unity
of purpose and direction and create conditions in which people are
engaged in achieving the quality objectives of the organization.”
Leaders at all leve ls establish unity of purpose and direction and create
conditions in which people are engaged in achieving the organization’s
quality objectives. From an institutional point of view, leadership exerts a munotes.in

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21 Quality Management In Higher Education very powerful influence on individual and the group. In any educational
organization Leadership play vital role .If Leader is good than the institute
is also fulfilled its quality.
e.g. In a school the principal is the leader of all human resources in school,
while teachers are leaders of all students in s chool, and class monitor is
leader for that respective class.
3. Engagement of people :
Engaging people is most important task in Quality Management. To
manage an organization effectively and efficiently, it is important to
involve all people at all levels and to respect them as individuals.
organizations need their people to use their abilities for the benefit of the
organization. Ensuring that this happens is important for innovation and
creativity. Without staff — both teachers and support staff —educationa l
establishments could not function. Planning the needs of staff and
ensuring that their talents are used to the full are key indicators of success
All human resources should conduct their desire duties. It is necessary to
see that all activity and program s are carried out properly.
e.g. If any teacher is absent, all classes were allotted to other teachers who
have free period. So class, students and teacher also properly engage.
4. Process approach:
The quality management system is composed of interrelat ed processes.
Understanding how results are produced by this system, including all its
processes, resources, controls and interactions, allows the organization to
optimize its performance. Processes within an organization should be
structured in order to a chieve a certain objective in the most efficient and
effective manner. It helps us in systematically defining the activities
necessary to achieve/obtain the desired results.
e.g. If you want to improve the student's achievements, put your attention
on the teaching/learning process and not on the achievements in
examinations.
5. Improvement :
Successful organizations have an ongoing focus on improvement. Once
the plan is drafted, it is implemented and if certain obstacles arise then
plan need to be revised, worked out and improve as per requirement. It is
here that development and improvement of existing plans are carried out.
The organization should Provide people with training in the methods and
tools of improvement. The organization should make improvemen ts of
products, processes, and the system an objective for every individual in
the organization.
e.g. Remedial teaching programe is organized for teaching Mathematics to
standard 9th students to explain difficult concept.
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22 Quality Management: The Contexts 6. Evidence -based Decision Makin g:
Decision -making can be a complex process, and it always involves some
uncertainty. It often involves multiple types and sources of inputs, as well
as their interpretation, which can be subjective. Evidence is information
that shows or proves that someth ing exists or is true. Evidence can be
collected by performing observations, measurements, tests, or by using
any other suitable method. Any decision -making should away be based on
evidence.
e.g. Due to COVID19 most of the educational institutes accepted H ybrid
teaching learning model i.e students who want to attend class in college
will allow to attend while those who want to attend online class they can
attend.
7. Relationship Management :
The organization establishes relationships that balance short -term gains
with long term considerations. Relation management with interested
parties meaning sharing knowledge, vision, values, understanding, and
suppliers not treated as adversaries. In Educational Management
Relationship management means Management trusties , Principal,
supervisor, teaching and non -teaching staff, students and parents. For
developing good relation it is important to sharing of information and
future plans to each other.
These are seven principles which can be used in any educational institute
for developing good quality management and good educational
environment.
Educational institutions play an important role in the development of the
national economy, of the society as a whole and of its individual members
through high quality educational s ervices. Thus, Quality Management in
education is for the development of ‘total quality mind’ and provides an
important opportunity to look at the quality in a holistic fashion and also
provides instrumentalities for managing quality.
2.3.1 Quality Managem ents areas :
In any educational institution , different levels of Managements performs
their duties .i.e Higher level management ,Middle level management and
lower level Management. Thus in educational management a
comprehensive efforts intentionally to ac hieve some specific educational
objectives for good quality education. Following are some areas of
Quality Management
1. Human Resource Management:
For Quality Management good efficient manpower is key to success.
Human resources is essential for any org anization that would like to
progress in future. Human resources is most valuable asset of the
organization. The requirements, placement, orientation, training, munotes.in

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23 Quality Management In Higher Education motivation, appraisal etc work were handle by Human Resource
management.
2. Financial Managem ent:
Finance Management is the part of Business Management. It is concerned
with identifying carefully the various sources of finance and the
appropriate use of capital. For managing all educational activity .
Improvement in educational quality is directl y depend on financial and
human resource available in organization.
3. Educational planning:
It is first and the most important function of management. “Well plan is
half success” Any new programme or policy before implementation we
have to decide differen t methods or strategies for effectively achieving
goals. Thus it is very important factor in quality management.
4. Educational Administration :
Educational administration is another vital task of educational
management. It almost cover all different compon ents, such as planning,
supervision, controlling, guidance and regulation.
5. Educational evaluation:
This is necessary to find out desired out comes. It also useful to compare
failure or success . Each and every system should be assessed and
reviewed from time to time. For this evaluation of student’s achievement
and teachers, performance should be done in a comprehensive and
continuous way.
Check your progress:
 What is customer focus in Education?
 How can you take decision for solving classroom problem?
 What is financial management in educational sector?
2.4 QUALITY SYSTEM IN EDUCATION A quality system is formally described as 'the organizational structure,
responsibilities, procedures, processes and resources for implementing the
management of quality'.
A quality system concerns the way an educational institute goes about
running to achieve its goals effectively and efficiently. The quality system
mainly depend upon documents and is often based around a quality
manual that defines and embodies the syst em.
The perspectives are quality, and system. Each acts as a gear engaging
with the others munotes.in

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24 Quality Management: The Contexts a. Quality : What is the institution’s conception of quality and the
methodology of doing ‘quality’?
b. System : How does the institution’s strategy, culture, stru cture,
rewards, behaviour, etc. support its own model of quality?
We discuss Quality in det ails, lets learn about System in Education. A
system is an organized, purposive structure consisting of interdependent
components that constantly , but variably influ ence one another.
Educational systems consist of human resources like management,
teaching non -teaching staff and students. While infrastructural
components like buildings, machines, etc. For quality education , every
institution have to take into account the needs and expectations of these,
who are the recipients of educational services - it means students, their
future employers and local communities.
Quality Manual - it contains the quality policy and quality objectives, the
system description with di scussion and explanation of possible exclusions,
the description of relations between processes in the quality management
system and procedures (their content or only relations to them), Other
documents (drafts, forms, records).
Top management of the univ ersity carries out in the settled period of time
the review of the Quality Management System in the aim of its continuous
usefulness, adequacy and effectiveness. This review includes the
estimation of the possibility of the improvement and the need of chan ges
in the quality management system, quality policy and realization of the
objectives contained in it.
2.4.1 NAAC - National Assessment and Accreditation Council :
The national policy on Education (NPE) and programme of Action (POA),
1986 inter alia recomme nded that:
“Excellence of institutions of Higher Education is a function of many
aspects: self -evaluation and self -improvement are important .If a
mechanism is setup which will encourage self -assessment in institutions
assessment and accreditation by coun cil……..the Quality process,
participation , achievements etc, will be constantly monitored and
improved.”
In pursuance of the above, the University Grand Commission (UGC),
under section 12ccc of the UGC Act of 1956(3),established the National
Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) on 16 September 1994 in
Bangalore. This concern among academics for ensuring Quality in Higher
Education has been a source of strength and inspiration for NAAC.
In simple words NAAC is the National Assessment and Accreditation
Council. It is an autonomous body funded by the UGC. The main purpose
of NAAC is to accredit or give accreditation to higher education. NAAC
aims for quality in higher education. munotes.in

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25 Quality Management In Higher Education There are quality parameters based o n which NAAC assess the institution
and provide grades like A++, A+, A, B++, B+, B & C So on. They expect
that minimum quality standards should be maintained in higher education.
If any institute gets less than the CGPA > 1.50 the benchmark score,
NAAC giv e them a “Not Accredited status” with D grade.
The Agenda:
The prime agenda of NAAC is to Assessment and Accreditation
institutions of higher learning with an objective of helping them to work
continuously to improve the quality of education. Assessment is a
performance evaluation of an institution and/ or its units and is
accomplished through a process based on self -study and peer review using
defined criteria. Accreditation refers to the certification given by NAAC
which is valid for a period of five ye ars. The process of assessment
followed by NAAC is in accordance with internationally accepted practice
but, with certain modifications to suit the Indian context. The application
of assessment and accreditation as a quality enhancing mechanism has
yielded appreciable results worldwide and has shown similar favorable
indications in India also.
National consultative committees :
NAAC functions through its General Council (GC) and Executive
Committee (EC) and other academic, advisory and administrative sub -
committees.
NAAC draws its expertise from senior academics of undoubted integrity
from all over India. National Consultative Committees in various areas
provide the necessary inputs for establishing and strengthening the
processes.
Process:
NAAC has formulate d a three -stage process for assessment and
accreditation as given below:

 Preparation of the Self -study Report was prepared by the
institution/department based on the parameters defined by NAAC.
This is very first step where any institute undergo for accr editation
has follows criteria given by NAAC. munotes.in

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26 Quality Management: The Contexts  Validation of the Self -study Report by a team of NAAC committee
members through on -site visit. Documentation, human recourses
and Infrastructural resources and also presentation of detailed quality
report to the institution.
 The final decision on assessment and accreditation by the Executive
Committee (EC) of NAAC depend on all required documents and
presentation.
NAAC accreditation is mandatory for all the higher learning institutes,
particularly state un iversities. Without NAAC accreditation, universities
are not eligible for UGC grants, RUSA grants, financial aid etc Highest
weightage criteria The largest criterion is the teaching learning process
having 35% share. Focus is given to academics to ensure g ood learning
takes place.
2.4.2 Seven Parameters of NAAC :
NAAC is to focus on Quality in every aspect for NAAC’s Assessment
and Accreditation process so that to provide students outcome based
education and maintain quality in higher education with enormou s
accreditation benefits.
The Assessment & Accreditation (A&A) process of NAAC is based on 7
letters of Quality:
Q – Quest for Excellence
U – Understanding the concept
A – Action Orientation
L – Learning Centric Approach
I – Innovation for Change
T – Train ing for Competencies
Y – Year around activities
There are seven assessment criteria which the institution have to accept
with in order to get a NAAC accreditation. These criteria are as follows:
 Curricular Aspects
 Teaching -Learning and Evaluation
 Research, Consultancy and Extension
 Infrastructure and Learning Resources
 Student Support and Progression
 Governance, Leadership and Management
 Institutional Values and Best Practices munotes.in

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27 Quality Management In Higher Education 1. Curricular Aspects :
Curriculum is in the core of education .Curriculum & sylla bus is one of
the basic pillars of quality education. It's crucial to have a relevant,
detailed, well -organized syllabus to boost the student learning outcomes &
skills. The key aspects to be consider as,
 Curriculum design and development,
 Curriculum plann ing and implementation
 Flexibility
 Curriculum enrichment,
 Follow up
2. Teaching, Learning And Evaluation :
This criterion takes the first criteria of curriculum designing one step
ahead. It involves teachers to implement teaching -learning activities &
keep a tab on the results to enhance student progress. As the first criteria
deals with a “ WHAT ” in learning, this one assess the “ HOW ” the
learning happens. Various evaluation and assessment practices are also a
point of interest for this one. Any institutio n can focus on following points
 Students profile
 Students diversity in classroom
 Teaching -Learning process,
 Teacher quality
 Evaluation Process
 Learning outcomes of students
3. Research, Innovation, And Extensions :
This criterion suggests that institutions must focus on directing students
towards research & innovation and also addressing real -life problems &
solutions to enable students to grow personally. The key aspects are as
follows:
 Encouragement for research
 Collection of different resources for Resea rch
 Research facilities
 Research publications
 Institutional social responsibility and Extension activities
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28 Quality Management: The Contexts 4. Infrastructure and Learning Resources :
This criterion focuses various other infrastructure & resources to ensure a
good educationa l environment. Classrooms, labs, technology, facilities for
physical fitness and medical purposes, proper and sufficient reference
materials are all vital for assuring higher educational quality of the
institution. Introducing ICT in education comes under this criterion. The
major factors to consider is,
 Infrastructural facilities like playgroun d, building , classroom, hostel ,
ICT lab etc
 Well -equipped Library
 ICT laboratory
 Maintenance of all facilities
5. Student Support and Progression :
This criterion recommends institutions to pay attention to students’
requirements and guide them at every step of their academic life.
Mentoring and providing guidance for the students in various aspects of
education and their field of study also matters. Helping and gui ding
students in their education contributes into the overall quality of
education. How the institution facilitate the progression of students to
higher level of education and/or towards employment is also an important
factor while working on this criterio n. the institution need to focus on the
following:
 Observe students’ progress and support them
 Student participation and activities.
6. Governance, leadership and management :
Governance and management are the backbone of the institution. Having a
well-structured governing body and a management helps to find and
address gaps in practices, and efficiently implement proper counter
mechanisms on time. The quality and future of the institution depends on
it. Internal quality assurance, faculty empowerment, finan cial resource
management, strategy development, all comes down to this criterion.
Following points should be consider
 Institutional vision and leadership,
 Empowerment strategies for all teaching and nonteaching staff
 Financial management
 Check Internal qua lity assurance system
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29 Quality Management In Higher Education 7. Institutional Values and best practices :
This criterion focuses on ensuring the best practices by following the
institutional values. It suggests that institutions must develop values &
then follow them with utmost honesty. Key po ints should be keep in mind
are ,
 Gender Equality programmed
 Environment awareness program for staff and students
 Waste management
 Focus on Human values and ethics
 Innovative practices ( different activities)
Check your progress:
 Why NAAC is established?
 What is process of NAAC?
2.5 LET US SUM UP In this unit, we have discussed some of the context of Quality
Management. We also have discussed need and significance of it.
Maintaining Quality there are some principles and different areas .By
using Quality sys tem in Education We can manage & maintain quality
management . NAAC is major part in Quality system in Education. There
are seven criteria of NAAC by following these criteria Assessment and
Accreditation can be done for any institute.
2.6 UNIT END EXERCI SE 1. What is concept of Quality Management? Explain Quality
Management is important in Higher Education with suitable example.
2. What are different Principles of Quality Management?
3. What is Quality system in Education? How do you improve Quality
system in your institute?
4. Explain the conc ept of NAAC ,What is function of NAAC?
5. Explain seven criteria of NAAC with examples.
6. Why only NAAC is discussed as an agency as an accrediting agency?


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30 Quality Management: The Contexts 2.7 REFERENCES • Haggett Albert: Practical School Adm inistration, Iiinois Grarrand
Press. 7.
• Hemalata, T., & Ruhela, S.P. (1997). Educational Management -
Innovative global patterns. New Delhi: Regency Publication
• Pandya,S.R(2004),Administration and Management of
Education.New Delhi,Himalaya Publications.
• Rai B.C. - School Organization and Management, Prakashan Kendra,
Lucknow.
• Rajput K,Rajput S., (2012),School Management : Principles And
Practices,Insight publication Nashik.
• Richard D. Freedman (1982) - Management Education, John
Waliaand sons, New York.
• Dale H. Besterfield, Carol Besterfield -Michna Glen H.
Besterfield(2012)Total Quality Management Revised Third
EditionPublished by Pearson Education, Inc., publishing as Prentice
Hall. ISBN 9788131764961
• Farooq, M.S, Akhtar M.S, Zia Ullah, S.Application Of Total Quality
Management In Education Journal of Quality and Technology
Management Volume III, Issue I1, Dec 2007, pg 87 -97
https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED506778.pdf
• Greame Knowles (2011) Quality Management, BookGanga.com
ISBN -978-87-7681 -875-3
• Matorera,D ()Quality Management Systems in Education,Published
by IntechOpen
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/323922590_Quality_Mana g
ement_Systems_in_Education/fulltext
• Matorera D. A conceptual analysis of quality in quality function
deployment -based higher education contexts. Journal of Education
and Practice. 2015;6(33):145 -156
• Michalska -Ćwiek J.(2009), The quality management system in
education - implementation and certification,
http://jamme.acmsse.h2.pl/papers_vol37_2/37274.pdf
• Narang R. How do management stude nts perceive the quality of
education in public institutions? Quality Assurance in Education.
2012;20(4):357 -371
• Pathan S.N.,Nigavekar A.,Iyengar C(2005),Quality improvement
Programme In Higher Education Through NAAC A Success Story of munotes.in

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31 Quality Management In Higher Education MaharashtraPublished by Intellectual Book Bureau,Bhopal. ISBN 81 -
88909 -03-3
• Rao V.K(2005),Management of Education,APH Publishing
corporation,New Delhi ISBN 81 -7648 -827-5
• http://naac.gov.in/docs/Books/Total%20Quality%20Management%20
for%20Tertiary%20Education.pdf
• https://qcmr -1.itrcweb.org/2 -quality -concepts/?



*****


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32
3
UNDERSTANDING THE PROCESS OF
QUALITY MANAGEMENT IN HIGHER
EDUCATION
Unit Structure
3.0 Objectives.
3.1 Introduction
3.2 An overview
3.2.1 What are Quality Dimensions?
3.2.2 What is meant by Quality Dimensions in Higher Education?
3.2.3 General Quality Di mensions
3.3 Quality improvement process -
3.3.1 Program Educational objectives (PEO)
3.3.2 Program Objectives (PO)
3.3.3 Course Objectives (CO)
3.4 Contemporary benefits on Higher Education Quality Management
3.4.1 Contemporary perspectives
3.4.2 Contempor ary benefits on Higher Education Quality
Management
3.4.3 Benefits of the Quality Management Process
3.5 Let Us Sum Up
3.6 Unit End Exercises
3.7 References
3.0 OBJECTIVES After going through this unit, you will be able to:
 Define quality dimensions.
 Desc ribe quality improvement process
 Explain Contemporary Perspectives
 State benefits of the Quality Management Process
3.1 INTRODUCTION The main responsibility of universities is to provide and educate expert
human resources, create new knowledge through cond ucting research as
well as increase and disseminate knowledge. Consequently, this has
resulted in the development of higher education and rapid increase in a
number of universities, majors and levels of study as well as number of munotes.in

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33 Quality Management In Higher Education students (Farastkhah & Keb riyaie, 1998). The mentioned competition
significantly promotes the signing of the Bologna Declaration - a
declaration on harmonization of the European higher education area.
Signing of these declarations has set a new scale of success which all
higher edu cation institutions must reach in order to survive in the market
and thereby achieve excellence, which is inextricably linked with the
quality. That imposes the need for achievement of quality, development of
continuous monitoring, measurement, management, and enhancement…
3.2 AN OVERVIEW 3.2.1 What are quality dimensions? :
Defining quality is one of the most difficult tasks as it depends on the
perception of the stakeholder, in unit I of this course you have been
oriented with the meaning and concept of qu ality. Quality may have
several dimensions, these dimensions or characteristic attributes which the
customer desire in the product are suggested by different thinkers, the
dimensions of quality in Higher Education is based on the dimensions of
service qual ity. Different dimensions of service quality are used for
different industries but there are some similarities between them but
Researches show that there is no single dimension which can be applicable
for all the service sectors.
While considering the qu ality dimension of Higher Education in detail we
need to identify the primary users of service in higher education. As the
educational process involves many stakeholders - students, parents,
teachers, government enterprise - amongst which students are the m ost
important stakeholders and are involved in different roles: they are the
product of the process, the internal customer of the delivery of the course
material. However, it is generally accepted that students are the primary
customers and other prospect ive customers are such as alumni, parents,
employers, employee, government, industry, and society may be
considered as secondary customers (Ramaiyah et al, 2007)
Hence it becomes necessary to identify the quality dimensions from the
stand point of student s being the primary customers. Developing a service
quality model to measure the students’ perception quality is very complex
and tedious task because the service quality dimensions cover many areas.
Also, researchers agree that there is no single dimensio n which can be
applicable for all service sectors (Carman, 1990; Brown et al 1993; Cronin
and Taylor, 1994). So, in the literature the most frequently mentioned
authors and their dimensions, as for higher education, as in other sectors,
are:
 Parasuraman et al (1991) initially developed ten dimensions (research
in 1985: reliability, responsiveness, competence, access, courtesy,
communication, credibility, security, understanding the customer,
tangibles) and later reduced it into five dimensions (research in 1988:
tangibles, reliability, responsiveness, assurance, empathy). munotes.in

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34 Understanding The Process Of Quality Management In Higher Education  In paper in 1988 Gronroos had identified six criteria of good
perceived service quality: professionalism and skill, attitudes and
behaviour, access and flexibility, reliability and trustwor thiness,
recovery, reputation and credibility, and in paper in 1990 he stated
that the quality dimension can be classified into three groups:
technical quality, functional quality and corporate image.
 Lehtinen and Lehtinen (1991) also identified three area s of the
quality: physical quality, interactive and corporate quality.
 According to Carney (1994) variables of college’s image are: student
qualification (academic), student qualities (personal), faculty -student
interaction, quality instruction (faculty), variety of courses, academic
reputation, class size, career preparation, athletic programs, student
activities (social life), community service, facilities and equipment,
location, physical appearance (campus), on campus residence,
friendly, caring atmosph ere, religious atmosphere, safe campus,
cost/financial aid.
 Athiyaman (1997) used eight characteristics to examine university
education services: teaching students well, availability of staff for
students consultation, library services, computing facilitie s,
recreational facilities, class sizes, level and difficulty of subject
content and student workload.
 Lee et al (2000) explained that the two of the quality experience
variables ‘overall impression of the school’ and ‘overall impression of
the education q uality’ are the determinant variables in predicting the
overall satisfaction.
 Brooks (2005) recommended the following criteria to assess a quality
of a university: reputation, faculty research productivity and student
educational experiences and outcomes w hich include program
effectiveness, student satisfaction, student outcome.
 Sangeeta et al (2004) noted five factors/ constructs: competence,
attitude, content, delivery, reliability.
 In his empirical research, Hadikoemoro (2002) identified following
five d imensions: academic services, readiness and attentiveness, fair
and impartial, tangible and general attitudes.
 Owlia and Aspinwall (1996), recommended six dimensions as
follows: tangibles, competence, attitude, content, delivery and
reliability.
Analyzing the listed dimensions, authors have come to the following
conclusions (Ramaiyah et al, 2007) :
1. There are significant similarities and also differences in the
dimensions of service quality developed and used by various
researchers. munotes.in

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35 Quality Management In Higher Education 2. Each of the developed dime nsions is unique, therefore that supports
the hypothesis that there are no single set of dimension of service
quality which are applicable and suitable for all types of service
quality research.
3. Service quality dimension varies according to customers, re search
objectives, institutions, situation, environment and time.
4. All the chosen dimensions for each of the studies are tailor made to
meet different customers perceptions and expectations
5. Items used to explain each dimension varies according to research
objective and customer group
6. All dimensions used are acceptable and correct with qualitative and
quantitative justifications
7. None if the dimensions are applicable for all types of service quality
research without making necessary modifications
8. The best way to identify the dimensions of service quality is by asking
the customers
9. It is not possible to study all the dimensions of service quality under
one survey
Garvin (1988) lists nine dimensions of quality as performance, features,
reliability, conformance, durability, service, response, aesthetics and
perceived quality which are given in table -1.1
Table -3.2.1 Dimensions of Quality Dimension Definition Performance Primary operating characteristics of a product Features Secondary characteristics of product that supplement its basic functioning. Reliability Probability of product’s failure-free over specified time period. Conformance Degree to which product’s physical and performance characteristics meet design specification. Durability Measure of useful product life. Serviceability Ease, speed, courteousness, and competence of repair. Aesthetics How product looks, feels, sounds, tastes, or smells, as a matter of personal preferences. Perceived Quality Quality based on image, brand name, or advertising rather than product attributes, as subjectively assessed.
He indicated that these dimensions can be used to evaluate the quality of
products and services. munotes.in

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36 Understanding The Process Of Quality Management In Higher Education 3.2.2 What is meant by Quality Dimensions in Higher Education? :
Brysland and Curry (2001) conside red quality as a measure of students’
satisfaction, which entails providing intangible service in a satisfactory
manner and adding value to the customer.
The dimensions of quality of education in the total quality management
(TQM) are grouped into three c ategories as 1) product dimensions, 2)
software dimensions and 3) service dimensions. The specifications of
these dimensions with necessary alteration are applicable to all levels of
education by Owlia and Aspinwall (1996).
1) Product Dimension of Quality in Higher Education: product is the
visible and tangible and is commonly understood as the parameter to
assess the quality of the education system. Owlia and Aspinwall presents
six dimensions to judge the quality of product in education which are as
follo ws-performance, features, reliability, conformance, durability,
serviceability.
Table 3.2.2A Product Dimensions of Quality in Education Dimensions Definition in education Performance Primary knowledge / skills required for
students Features Secondary / supplementary knowledge and skills Reliability The extent to which knowledge / skills learned is correct, accurate, and up to date Conformance The degree to which an institutional programme / courses meets established standards, plans and promises. Durability Depth of learning Serviceability How well an institution handles customers’ complaints?
2) Software Dimension of Quality in Higher Education: software is
intangible product and is considered more consistent with education in
general and educ ation in particular. Owlia and Aspinwall presents nine
dimensions for the same as -Correctness, Reliability, Efficiency, Integrity,
Usability, Maintainability, Testability, Expandability, Portability,
reusability and interoperability.
Table 3.2.2B: Software Dimensions of Quality in Education Dimensions Definitions in education Correctness The extent to which a programme / course complies with the specified requirements munotes.in

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37 Quality Management In Higher Education Reliability The degree to which knowledge / skills learned is correct, accurate, and up to date Efficiency The degree to which knowledge / skills learned is applicable to the future career of students Integrity The extent to which personal information is secure from unauthorized access Usability The ease of learning and the degree of communicative in classroom Maintainability How well an institution handles customers’ complaints? Testability How far examinations represent a subject
of study? Expandability Flexibility Portability The degree to which knowledge / skills
learned is applica ble to other fields.
3) Service Dimension of quality in Higher Education: services, unlike
products or software, cannot be stored and are perishable. They are more
akin to the process. In education, service essentially refer to the
educational processes. Owlia and Aspinwall have made comprehensive
list of service dimension of Quality Higher Education as -Reliability,
Responsiveness, Understanding Customers, Access, Competence,
Courtesy, Communication, Credibility, Security, Tangible, Performa nce,
Complete ness, Flexibility, Redress.
Table 3.2.2C Service dimensions of Quality in Education Dimensions Definition in education Reliability The degree to which education is correct, accurate and up to date. How well an institution keeps its promises? The degree of consistency in educational process. Responsiveness Willingness and readiness of staff to help students Understanding customers Understanding students and their needs Access The extent to which staff are available for guidance and advice. Competence The theoretical and practical knowledge of staff as well as other presentation skill Courtesy Emotive and positive attitude towards students Communication How well teachers and students communicate in the classroom? Credibility The degree of trustworthiness of the institution munotes.in

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38 Understanding The Process Of Quality Management In Higher Education Security Confidentially of information Tangible State. Sufficiency and availability of equipment and facilities. Performance Primary knowledge/ skills required for students Completeness Supplementary knowledge and skills , use of computers Flexibility The extent to which knowledge / skills learned are applicable to other fields Redress How well an institution handles customers’ complaints and solved problems?
After analyzing all three approaches to quality in education Owlia and
Aspinwall (1996) tried to present a conceptual framework for quality
education with six dimensions as tangibles, competence, attitude, content,
delivery and reliability, these dimensions are indicative of the areas that
should concern to ensure quality in education.
Table -3.2.2D - Quality dimensions in Education Dimensions Characteristics Tangibles Sufficient equipment / facilities; modern equipments / facilities; Ease of access; Visually appealing environment; Support services Competence Sufficient academic staff; Theoretical Knowledge, Qualifications; Practical knowledge; Up-to-date: Teaching expertise; communication Attitude Understanding student’s needs; Willingness to help; Availability for Guidance and Advice Content Relevance of curriculum to the future jobs of students; Effectiveness; Containing Primary knowledge and skills; Completeness, use of computers; Communication skill and team working; Flexibility of knowledge, cross disciplinary. Delivery Effective presentation; Sequencing, Timeless; Consistency; Fairness of examinations; Feedback from students; Encouraging students. Reliability Trustworthiness; Giving valid award; keeping promises, matching to the goals; handling complaints, solving problems.
3.2.3 General Quality Dimensions:
Gro¨ nroos (2000) presents a compilation of seven criteria of service
quality perceived as good. He claims that these criteria are an integration
of available studies and conceptual work. munotes.in

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39 Quality Management In Higher Education (1) Professionalism and skills: The service provider has the knowledge
and skills required to solve the customer’s problem.
(2) Attitudes and behavior: The service employees are concerned about
the customers and their problems.
(3) Accessibility and flexibility: It is easy to get access to the service and
the provider is p repared to adjust to the demands and wishes of the
customers.
(4) Reliability and trustworthiness: Customers can rely on the service
provider to keep promises and perform with the best interest of the
customers at heart.
(5) Service recovery: Whenever s omething goes wrong, the service
provider will take action to find a new, acceptable solution.
(6) Serviscape: The physical surrounding and other aspects of the
environment support a positive experience.
(7) Reputation and credibility: The service provi der can be trusted,
gives adequate value for money and stands for values, which can be
shared by the customer. Although, these general quality dimensions
and criteria have an important value for conceptual understanding of
services, they may not be suffici ent, as it is important to study quality
in each specific situation (Lagrosen, 2001). Consequently, it is often
valuable to complement the general quality dimensions with specific
quality dimensions that are developed for the particular situation that
one faces.
3.3 QUALITY IMPROVEMENT PROCESS - 3.3.1 Program Educational objectives (PEO) :
Program Educational Objectives are the broad statements that describe the
career and professional accomplishments that the program is preparing
graduates to achieve. Studen t outcomes are statements that describe what
students are expected to know or be able to do by the time they complete
an academic program. PEOs differ from student outcomes in at least four
ways:
i) Degree of Specificity.
ii) Role of Constituents.
iii) Purpose of Ass essment.
iv) Cycles of Data Collection.
Degree of specificity: Graduates of the program go into a variety of
career/work environments: graduate school, industry, business,
entrepreneurial activities, military, etc. The context within which
graduates will mani fest the learning outcomes (what they learned by the munotes.in

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40 Understanding The Process Of Quality Management In Higher Education time of graduation) will vary widely. That is, there is no one common
environment for graduates of the program to demonstrate the objectives.
As a result, to define the program educational objectives in narrow ways is
counterproductive to the process. Program educational objectives are, by
their nature, broadly stated and should not be narrowly defined. In
contrast, student outcomes are, for the most part, the result of shared
experiences of students. Exc ept for a limited number of elective courses,
all students experience the same curriculum. In order to understand
whether these outcomes have been met, it is critical to develop measurable
performance indicators which identify the performance(s) required t o meet
the outcome. The achievement of the performance indicators should be
confirmable through evidence.
Role of constituents: Program constituents (or “stakeholders”) are those
who have a vested interest in the success of the program. The role of
consti tuents in determining and reviewing objectives is essential to
programs meeting their needs. Although one could argue that students,
parents, community, etc. are program constituents, for the process of
establishing the objectives, the program generally lo oks to employers,
alumni, faculty, and perhaps graduate schools when determining what
graduates of the program will need in order to be successful in their
careers (program educational objectives). For student outcomes, the
faculty are the primary stakehol ders to determine the outcomes that will
enable students to achieve the objectives after graduation and how those
outcomes will be integrated into the curricular and co -curricular activities.
Although some accrediting agencies might mandate specific outcom es,
programs need to be sure that the outcomes of their program represent the
program and institutional mission as well. The faculty “own” the
curriculum. That is not to say that program advisory boards could not have
a meaningful role in the development o f curriculum; however, ultimately
it is the faculty responsibility to define the outcomes in ways that are
measurable and to design curriculum to attain the outcomes that finally
support achievement of the objectives.
Purpose of assessment: Program educati onal objectives are developed
with input from the program’s constituents. The purpose of involving
constituents is to determine if the current program educational objectives
continue to be relevant to the profession and the program. The assessment
of stude nt outcomes at the program level is to determine whether the
students are achieving the outcomes and to identify the strengths and
weaknesses in their learning that will serve as a source of action for
program improvement.
Cycles of data collection: Data collection for determining the currency of
objectives may take place less frequently (e.g., only every three years)
than outcomes assessment depending on the cycles that have been
developed by the program and the rate at which a discipline is changing.
Student outcomes, however, should be assessed on a more frequent,
continuous cycle. That does NOT mean that data must be collected on
every outcome each year. However, it is important that programs develop
a systematic process for data collection that smooths the process out over munotes.in

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41 Quality Management In Higher Education time. Focusing on a limited number of outcomes each academic year will
enable a program to have two - or three -cycles of data collection,
evaluation and improvements for a six -year accreditation cycle. This
means that data do not need to be collected on every student for every
outcome and that not all faculty need to be involved in the data collection
process in any given year. Understanding the needs of constituents to
promote graduate success (program educational objectives) and prepa ring
students with the knowledge and skills to meet those needs (student
outcomes) are foundational to the continuous improvement process. Both
require assessment and evaluation in a systematic process. Understanding
the differences will help to develop pr ocesses that work best for the
program.
3.3.2 Program Objectives (PO) :
Program objectives establish criteria and standards against which
performance of the program can be determined. You will need to identify
the goals and objectives of the program compone nt or intervention you
plan to evaluate. Logic models are a useful tool that can help you do this.
Objectives are the Statements describing the results to be achieved, and
the manner in which they will be achieved. You usually need multiple
objectives to a ddress a single goal.
Objectives should be:
• Specific: includes the “who”, “what”, and “where”. Use only one
action verb to avoid issues with measuring success.
• Measurable: focuses on “how much” change is expected.
• Achievable: realistic given prog ram resources and planned
implementation.
• Relevant: relates directly to program/activity goals.
• Time -bound: focuses on “when” the objective will be achieved.
Objectives can be process or outcome oriented :
Process objectives describe the activities/ services/strategies that will be
delivered as part of implementing the program. Process objectives, by
their nature, are usually short -term.
Outcome objectives specify the intended effect of the program in the
target population or end result of a program. The outcome objective
focuses on what your target population(s) will know or will be able to do
as a result of your program/activity
Outcome objectives can be classified as short -term, intermediate, or long -
term. Well -written and clearly defined objectives will help you monitor
your progress toward achieving your program goals. Short -term outcome
objectives are the initial expected changes in your target population(s)
after implementing certain activities or interventions (e.g., changes in munotes.in

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42 Understanding The Process Of Quality Management In Higher Education knowledge, skills , and attitudes). Intermediate outcome objectives are
those interim results that provide a sense of progress toward reaching the
long-term objectives (e.g., changes in behavior, norms, and policy). Long -
term objectives are achieved only after the program h as been in place for
some time (e.g., changes in mortality, morbidity, quality of life). Note:
Objectives are different from listing program activities. Objectives are
statements that describe the results to be achieved and help monitor
progress towards pr ogram goals. Activities are the actual events that take
place as part of the program.
3.3.3 Course Objectives (CO) :
A course objective describes what a faculty member will cover in a
course. They are generally less broad that goals and broader than student
learning outcomes. Examples of objectives include:
• Students will gain an understanding of the historical origins of art
history.
• Student will read and analyze seminal works in 20th Century Indian
literature.
• Students will study the various maj or regulatory agencies
3.3.4 Strategies for quality improvement in Education:
With regard to quality improvement in education Downey has suggested
Quality Fit Framework according to which strategy building for total
quality management in education involves three basic aspects which are as
follows:
i) Stating clearly the purpose and mission of the organization.
ii) Ensuring proper structural characteristics with system thinking.
iii) Establishing strong relationship among stakeholders.
For an institution which strives f or Quality improvement it is an essential
element that the goal and mission of the institution is clearly understood.
In this context four quality premises need to be addressed: focus on the
customer, shared mission and vision, constancy of purpose and con tinuous
improvement. We shall discuss each premise as follows -
i. Customers and their needs: Be it any institution customer is always
considered as a very important entity that needs our careful attention.
They cannot be considered as an interruption in our w ork. And
especially in any educational institution it is the students who are the
customers of the teachers, and teachers are the customers of the
school authorities. Students are the most important customers so it
should be our priority to work for meetin g their needs. In order to
serve the students effectively, we need to know them thoroughly. munotes.in

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43 Quality Management In Higher Education As Kano suggested - enhancing the quality of the organization (and
educational institution) (Lillramk and Kano, 1989). He opines that
quality is defined by customers ’ expectations and excitement.
Students’ joyful experience and excitement and Teachers’ feeling of
satisfaction and happiness in their work enables to sustain quality in
our education system.
ii. Shared mission and vision: In order to have quality improve ment in
the higher education system every institution must have its mission
and vision to achieve. The mission statement should be such that it
clearly states about the customers and the suppliers.Shared vision is
more important in the sense that it binds all stakeholders
togetheraround a common identity and sense of destiny (Senge et al.,
2000).
iii. Constancy of purpose: Deming (1982) in the first of his famous 14
pointsadvocated creating constancy of purpose toward the mission of
the organization(school system). After the mission statements are
finalized in an organization, itis important to reflect the statements in
our action or plans. Keeping themission aliveismore difficultthan
creatinga mission statement. It helps in focusing the energy of staff
mem bers. Having a sense of mission or constancy of purpose means
each member of the staff is passionate about the aim of the
organization and a commitment to ensuring that decision.
3.4 CONTEMPORARY BENEFITS ON HIGHER EDUCATION QUALITY MANAGEMENT 3.4.1 Contem porary Perspectives:
There are various general contemporary perspectives from which the
professionals view Quality Management from:
 Functional Perspective
 Marketing Perspective
 Operations Perspective
 Engineering Perspective
 Production Perspective
 Supply chain Perspective
Finding the way to Quality is neither easy nor smooth hard work and
struggle for quite a good period of hard work. Managers must reach out
and listen to anyone with ideas inside and outside the organization.
According to Foster (2017) the key to achieving total Quality Management
lays in empowering employees with the authority and responsibility to
improve manufacturing processes throughout the organization, however,
before an organization could empower its employees it needs to equip munotes.in

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44 Understanding The Process Of Quality Management In Higher Education them with right quality tools for specific jobs. Academic institutions need
to have intellectual experts, people who have correct qualifications for the
correct jobs, so that the right person is placed for the right place and for
the right task.
Management sho uld get involved in the process of reaching out in order to
learn from energy source they could. Dahlgaard and Kanji (2009) argued
that for an organization to have an effective Quality Management
programme it should formulate and implement staff developmen t policies,
continuous on job re -training. Armed with teams of trained an empowered
employees the organization would be able to produce goods and services
of higher quality. Management must set target levels of education and
skills required of each and eve ry job description and adhere to the policy
no matter what comes. Issues of Quality Management must not be left to
rank and file workers only, the organization’s top - management and chief
executives must be compelled to be involved (Foster, 2017). quality
Management programmes often fail because of lack of commitment by top
management.
3.4.2 Contemporary benefits on Higher Education Quality
Management :
Quality Management is a very important factor for the long -term success
of each Higher Education Institut ion. There cannot be any over emphasis
on the links between Quality Management and organizational
performance. A HEI receives a distinctive competitive advantage over
other institutions with respect to Quality Management in the Educational
Sector. Reputati on of the institution can also be gained or lost over the
level of quality management in an organization, that is, if an
organization’s Quality Management process is poor the position and
popularity is lost and conversely if its quality management is good, the
position and popularity is gained.
Quality is therefore a competitive priority for any serious organization.
Any higher learning institution’s survival and growth depends only upon
the Quality Management. Quality Management focuses on meeting
consumer ’s needs, meeting the competition, improving continuously and
extending these concerns to all phases of the educational sector. All the
educational managers of the contemporary world especially in the field of
higher education need to understand that for a successful organization
student’s satisfaction is the pre -requisite, they also must understand that
the real price of poor quality is unsatisfied students and ultimately the
death of an organization. Present environment is the business environment
in whic h the organizations need to pay attention to Quality Management
so as to be successful, be it business sector or the Higher Education
Sector.
Thus, a standard operating procedure (SOP) has to be followed. Another
key feature of Higher Education Institution s for being successful is that
the managers need to clearly understand the different concepts of Quality
Management, so that they are able to design and execute a Quality munotes.in

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45 Quality Management In Higher Education Management programme effectively. As the primary focus of Quality
Management is to me et the educational requirements of the students and
strive to exceed their expectations, thus Quality Management should be
the main focus.
3.4.3 Benefits of the Quality Management Process :
Quality Management poses a number of benefits to an organization that
practices it in good faith. Some of the benefits include the following:
 It helps an organization achieve greater consistency in tasks and
activities that are involved in the production of products and services,
 It increases efficiency in processes, reduces wastage and improves the
use of time and other resources,
 It helps improve customer satisfaction,
 It enables businesses to market their business effectively and exploit
new markets,
 It makes it easier for business to integrate new employees and thus
helps businesses manage growth more seamlessly, and
 It enables a business to continuously improves their products,
processes and systems.
3.5 LET US SUM UP This unit covers the description about dimensions of quality in higher
education, various educationists h ave defined and described as to what are
the dimensions of quality in higher education and how these dimensions
differed from time to time. Under the sub -unit quality improvement
process is described along with Program Educational Objectives, Program
Outco mes and Course Outcomes. The last sub -unit covers the
contemporary benefits on Higher Education and the Quality Management
Process.
3.6 UNIT END EXERCISE 1. What is meant by Quality Dimensions in Higher Education?
2. Describe the Contemporary benefits on Higher Education Quality
Management?
3. State the benefits of Quality Management Process?
3.7 REFERENCES  Deming, W.E. (1991, March). A system ofprofound knowledge. Paper
presented at the Quality Seminar, Santa Clara, California.
 Downey, C.J. (1992, September). Can the Lone Ranger join the dream
team? Quality Network News, AASA,Arlington, Vancouver. munotes.in

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46 Understanding The Process Of Quality Management In Higher Education  Downey, C.l, Frase, L.E., and Peters J.J. (1994). The quality
education challenge. California: Corwin Press.
 Fostering Quality Teaching in Higher Education: Policies an d
Practices . Sept 2012
 Naik, J.P.(1'7/ 5). Equality, quality and quantity: The elusive triangle
in Indian education. New Delhi: Allied Publishers. Strategies for
Quality Improvement
 Owlia, M.S. andAspinwall, E.M. (1996). A framework forthe
dimension of q uality in higher education. Quality Assurance in
Education, 4~2), 12 -20.
 Parasuraman, A., Zeithaml, Y.A. and Berry, L.L. (1985). A
conceptual model of service quality and its implications for future
research. Journal of Marketing, 49, Fall, 41 -50
 https://www.gbnews.ch/what -is-your-definition -of -quality/
 https://marketbusinessnews.com/financial -glossary/qual ity/
 https://www.right -to-educationorg/sites/right -to-
education.org/files/resource -attachments/UNICEF -Defining -quality -
education -2000
 https://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&as_sdt=0%2C5 &q=the+pr
ocess+of+quality+management+in+education&btnG=#d=gs_qabs&u
=%23p%3Df9v3bLfthpEJ
 https://1lib.in/s/Proces s%20of%20quality%20management%20in%20
education
https ://www.researchgate.net/publication/312438495_Implementing_
Total_Quality_Management_in_Education_Compatibility_and_Chall
enges
 https://reader.elsevier.com/reader/sd/pii/S1877042811007609?token=
8727ADAB3AD5901952D69A654DDEB89 93028D2B12ED8E2B8B
1C65079B57003CCEFA83B527FAFFF53D5FE302B29769BF7&ori
ginRegion=eu -west-1&originCreation=20211117012144
 https://books.google.co.in/books?hl=en&lr=&id=L2hSZOdmcA8C&o
i=fnd&pg=PR3&dq=info:rMa75N2F6egJ:scholar.google.com/&ots=5
zF0MvVUFG&sig=GMdZ07gYOGj6b1 l9ReH7rPnA -
do&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q&f=false
 https://1lib.in/s/Process%20of%20quality%20management%20in%20
educa tion
 https://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&as_sdt=0%2C5&q=the+pr
ocess+of+ quality+management+in+education&btnG=#d=gs_qabs&u
=%23p%3Df9v3bLfthpEJ

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47
MODULE II
4
QUALITY MANAGEMENT MODELS IN
HIGHER EDUCATION INSTITUTIONS
Unit Structure
4.0 Objectives
4.1 Introduction
4.2 An overview
4.3 Total Quality Management
4.4 Malcom Bridge award, Six Sigma
4.5 ISO 9000 series
4.6 Let Us Sum Up
4.7 Unit End Exercise
4.8 References
4.0 OBJECTIVES This unit focuses on :
 Total Quality Management
 Importance of Total of Quality Management
 Malcom Bridge award and Six Sigma
 Characteristics of ISO 9000
4.1 INTRODUCTION The higher education has been experiencing very significant changes in
the higher education system in the developing world. The constant change
and increasing competitiveness resulting from globalization in the 21st
century lead to new demands in higher education and thus, made it
inevitable to qu estion the quality at universities (Özer, Gür, &Küçükcan,
2010). In today’s world, there are important responsibilities of the higher
education institutions in terms of quality that represents value to people
and continuous development. In regards to the f unction of higher
education, United Nations Education, Science and Culture Organization
(UNESCO) stated in their declaration in 1996 that universities are
institutions that function in social development, financial growth,
supporting the production of comp etitive goods and services, shaping and
maintaining cultural identity, protecting social relations, fighting against
poverty and supporting peace culture (Demirsoy, 2011). munotes.in

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48 Quality Management Models In Higher Education Institutions Even though, there is no clear definition of quality in higher education,
there is a general pattern and model on how to measure quality in higher
education. In general terms, quality assurance, the term that earned an
important place in higher education institutions in recent years, can be
defined as systematically monitoring and assess ing various dimensions of
a project/service/institution in order to determine whether it meets the
quality standards (Özer et al., 2010). Quality assurance system is
organized in a way that it will involve the administration, all facilities and
stakeholder s of the organization and provides an inner control mechanism
in relation to the quality of education and all other activities of higher
education institutions.
4.2 AN OVERVIEW The issue of quality and quality assurance of higher education has gained
so much attention and interest not only from the business sector but also
there is considerable interest to the concept of quality among academies of
HEIs and experts of external bodies as accreditation agencies. The reason
for such interest relates to curren t globalization and knowledge -based
economy, where quality graduates build the backbone of the nation’s
economy and contribute to its development.
The concept of “quality” has changed in the 21st century. According to
Rosen ( 2015 ), it is not compliance and focus is on R&D. From
perspectives of higher education, it is rather an effort of organization
management to harmonise the whole system in a way, where departments,
divisio ns, faculties, chairs as well as university and faculty administration,
teaching staff strive for achievement of organizational missions and goals
in the context of quality assurance of education in harmonized, relaxed
working environment. In the context o f higher education, quality is student
and employers’ satisfaction with the quality of educational services.In the
context of research on how higher education institutions react to internal
and external changing trends and policies, how they position thems elves
on unstable domestic and global markets, as well as how potential
stakeholders (students, employers) are attracted, it is of utmost importance
to focus on institutional theory.
According to institutionalists, higher education institutions have played a
crucial role in building the backbone of society, economy, government and
science (Heinz -Dieter Meyer and Powell, 2018 ).There is limited
availability of research literatu re on the application of institutionalism in
higher education to effective internal quality management. Literature in
management states that quality improvements is provided when the
relationship between managers and employees (in our case, university
admi nistrators and potential stakeholders as well as faculty staff) is based
on trust and confidence, where everyone feels their contribution to the
whole decision -making process, where leaders generate an environment in
which group members are engaged in achi eving organization’s mission
and objectives. Continuous improvement of quality in higher education
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49 Quality Management In Higher Education educational programmes, in making favourable working conditions for
faculty, as well as i n building a mutual and effective bridge between
university administration and faculty members.
4.3 TOTAL QUALITY MANAGEMENT 4.3.1 Concept of Total Quality Management :
A core definition of total quality management (TQM) describes a
management approach to long-term success through customer satisfaction.
In a TQM effort, all members of an organization participate in improving
processes, products, services, and the culture in which they work. Total
quality management is a structured approach to overall organ izational
management. The focus of the process is to improve the quality of an
organization's outputs, including goods and services, through the continual
improvement of internal practices.
 Total quality management (TQM) is an ongoing process of detecting
and reducing or eliminating errors.
 It is used to streamline management, improve student service, and
ensure that employees are trained.
 The focus is to improve the quality of an organization's outputs,
including goods and services, through the continual improvement of
internal practices.
 Total quality management aims to hold all parties involved in the
process accountable for the overall quality of the final product or
service.
4.3.2 Primary Elements of TQM :
TQM can be defined as a management system for a customer -focused
organization that involves all employees in continual improvement. It uses
strategy, data, and effective communications to integrate the quality
discipline into the culture and activities of the organization. W. Edwards
Deming, Joseph M. Juran, and Armand V. Feigenbaum jointly developed
the concept of total quality management. Total Quality management
originated in the manufacturing sector, but can be applied to almost all
organizations. Total quality management ensures that every single
employee is working towards the improvement of work culture, processes,
services, systems and so on to ensure long term success.
4.3.3 Principles of TQM :
There are the 8 principles of total quality management:
 Student -focused: The students ultimately deter mine the level of
quality. No matter what an organization does to foster quality
improvement —training employees, integrating quality into the design
process, or upgrading computers or software —the students determine
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50 Quality Management Models In Higher Education Institutions  Total employee involvement: All employees participate in working
toward common goals. Total employee commitment can only be
obtained after fear has been driven from the workplace, when
empo werment has occurred, and when management has provided the
proper environment. High -performance work systems integrate
continuous improvement efforts with normal academic operations.
 Process -centred: A fundamental part of TQM is a focus on process
thinking. A process is a series of steps that take inputs from
stakeholders (internal or external) and transforms them into outputs
that are delivered to stakeholders (internal or external). The steps
required to carry out the process are defined, and performance
measures are continuously monitored in order to detect unexpected
variation.
 Integrated system: Although an organization may consist of many
different functional specialties often org anized into vertically
structured departments, it is the horizontal processes interconnecting
these functions that are the focus of TQM.
o Micro -processes add up to larger processes, and all processes
aggregate into the business processes required for defini ng and
implementing strategy. Everyone must understand the vision, mission,
and guiding principles as well as the quality policies, objectives, and
critical processes of the organization.
o Every organization has a unique work culture, and it is virtually
impossible to achieve excellence in its products and services unless a
good quality culture has been fostered. Thus, an integrated system
brings improvement elements in an attempt to continually improve
and exceed the expectations of students, employees, an d other
stakeholders.
 Strategic and systematic approach: A critical part of the
management of quality is the strategic and systematic approach to
achieving an organization’s vision, mission, and goals. This process,
called strategic planning or strategic m anagement, includes the
formulation of a strategic plan that integrates quality as a core
component.
 Continual improvement: A large aspect of TQM is continual
process improvement . Continual improvement drives an organization
to be both analytical and creative in finding ways to become more
competitive and more effective at meeting stakeholder expectations.
 Fact -based decisio n making: In order to know how well an
organization is performing, data on performance measures are
necessary. TQM requires that an organization continually collect and
analyse data in order to improve decision making accuracy, achieve
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51 Quality Management In Higher Education  Communications: During times of organizational change, as well as
part of day -to-day operation, effective communications play a large
part in maintaining morale and in motivating employees at all levels.
Communications in volve strategies, method, and timeliness.
Total Quality management can be divided into four categories:
 Plan
 Do
 Check
 Act
Also referred to as PDCA cycle.
Planning Phase :
Planning is the most crucial phase of total quality management. In this
phase employee s have to come up with their problems and queries which
need to be addressed. They need to come up with the various challenges
they face in their day to day operations and also analyze the problem’s
root cause. Employees are required to do necessary resear ch and collect
relevant data which would help them find solutions to all the problems.
Doing Phase :
In the doing phase, employees develop a solution for the problems defined
in planning phase. Strategies are devised and implemented to overcome
the challeng es faced by employees. The effectiveness of solutions and
strategies is also measured in this stage.
Checking Phase :
Checking phase is the stage where people actually do a comparison
analysis of before and after data to confirm the effectiveness of the
processes and measure the results.
Acting Phase :
In this phase employees document their results and prepare themselves to
address other problems.
4.3.3 Importance of Quality Management :
“Quality management” ensures superior quality products and services.
Qual ity of a product can be measured in terms of performance, reliability
and durability. Quality is a crucial parameter which differentiates an
organization from its competitors. Quality management tools ensure
changes in the systems and processes which event ually result in superior
quality products and services. Quality management methods such as Total
Quality management or Six Sigma have a common goal - to deliver a high
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52 Quality Management Models In Higher Education Institutions products whi ch not only meet but also exceed customer satisfaction.
Customers need to be satisfied with your brand. Business marketers are
successful only when they emphasize on quality rather than quantity.
Quality products ensure that you survive the cut throat comp etition with a
smile.
Quality Management ensures increased revenues and higher productivity
for the organization. Remember, if an organization is earning, employees
are also earning. Employees are frustrated only when their salaries or other
payments are n ot released on time. Quality management processes make
the organization a better place to work.Remove unnecessary processes
which merely waste employee’s time and do not contribute much to the
organization’s productivity. Quality management enables employe es to
deliver more work in less time.Quality management helps organizations to
reduce waste and inventory. It enables employees to work closely with
suppliers and incorporate “Just in Time” Philosophy.Quality management
ensures close coordination between e mployees of an organization. It
inculcates a strong feeling of team work in the employees.
4.4 SIX SIGMA AND MALCOM BRIDGE AWARD Six Sigma certification is a verification of an individual's command of a
well-regarded method of professional skills developme nt. Certifications
for Six Sigma training are awarded in levels using a belt classification
system similar to the one used in karate training.
Six Sigma (6σ) is a set of techniques and tools for process improvement. It
was introduced by American engineer B ill Smith while working at
Motorola in 1986. A six sigma process is one in which 99.99966% of all
opportunities to produce some feature of a part are statistically expected to
be free of defects.
4.4.1 What is the Six Sigma concept? :
Six Sigma is a statist ical- and data -driven process that works by reviewing
limit mistakes or defects. It emphasizes cycle -time improvements while
reducing manufacturing defects to no more than 3.4 occurrences per
million units or events.
The etymology is based on the Greek sym bol "sigma" or "σ," a statistical
term for measuring process deviation from the process mean or target.
"Six Sigma" comes from the bell curve used in statistics, where one Sigma
symbolizes a single standard deviation from the mean.
The six steps of Six Sig ma includes Define, Measure, Analyse Improve,
Control, improve (DMAIC) - The Six Sigma methodology for finding and
fixing defects in a process. Define, Measure, Analyse, Design, Verify
(DMADV)

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53 Quality Management In Higher Education 4.4.2 Characteristics of Six Sigma :
Six Sigma is a creative and flexible series of methodologies aimed at
improving organizational process quality and effectiveness. It provides
tools for companies to enhance the potential of their bus iness processes.
This increase in efficiency and decrease in process variance helps
minimize errors and boost profits, employee productivity, and product or
service quality.
Characteristics of Six Sigma :
 Statistical Quality Control. ...
 Methodical Approac h. ...
 Fact and Data -Based Approach. ...
 Project and Objective -Based Focus. ...
 Customer Focus. ...
 Teamwork Approach to Quality Management.
Statistical Quality Control:
Six Sigma is explicitly derived from the Greek alphabet from the Greek
letter σ (Sigma), denoting the Standard Deviation in Statistics. Standard
Deviation is used to quantify variance and is an essential method in terms
of the output’s quality to measure n on-conformance.
Methodical Approach :
In theory, Six Sigma is not merely a quality management technique. It
features a well -defined methodical application approach in DMAIC and
DMADV that can increase output quality. DMAIC is an acronym for
Design -Measure -Analyse -Improve -Control. The alternative method
DMADV stands for Design -Measure -Analyse -Design -Verify.
Fact and Data -Based Approach :
The scientific bas is of the technique is demonstrated by the statistical and
systematic aspects of Six Sigma. This accentuates an essential feature of
Six Sigma that is focused on facts and data.
Project and Objective -Based Focus :
For an organization’s project customized to its specifications and
demands, the Six Sigma process is applied. In order to get the best results,
the procedure is flexible to fit the requirements and circumstances in
which a project operates.
In addition, Six Sigma is also objective -based. In the Six Sigma method,
the management needs some incentive to invest. It is aimed at enhancing
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54 Quality Management Models In Higher Education Institutions Customer Focus :
For the Six Sigma approach, the customer focus is fundamental. The
criteria for quality enhancement and c ontrol standards are based on the
explicit requirements for customers.
Teamwork Approach to Quality Management :
The process of Six Sigma allows organizations to coordinate when it’s
about regulating and enhancing quality. In the Quality Management team,
depending on an individual’s role, Six Sigma requires a lot of training.
4.4.3 Six Sigma Methodologies :
Six Sigma offers two main types of improvement processes. One is
DMAIC, and another one is DMADV. So these two processes are
appropriate for two different situations. Define, Measure, Analyse,
Improve, and control are the five steps in the DMAIC Process, and this
process is used for improving an existing process. If you have a process,
and you want to improve that process, i.e., you want to bring the proces s’s
performance to the Six Sigma level, and for this case, you will be using
the DMAIC process.
If you want to design a new process, and you want to create in such a way
that this new process leads to 6 sigma performance, then, in this case, you
will use t he method called DMADV. So DMADV is used for all new
processes, not the existing processes. This methodology is also called
DFSS, or Design for Six Sigma. And the five steps in this process are
Define, Measure, Analyse, Design, and Verify.As you can see, t he first
three steps are common in both these processes, and the difference lies in
the bottom two processes.
DMAIC Methodology :
There are five stages of DMAIC project me thodology :
 Define: The team defines the problem statement during this process
 Measure: The team maps the current method of the identified
problem statement here, collects information, recognizes and
understands the root cause of the issue
 Analyze: To redu ce the flaws & waste of the current process, the
team analyses the data & process
 Improve: When the data & procedure is evaluated, the team uses the
improvement suggestions to work on the defects
 Control: In the final step, the team will document how they will pass
on the process changes to the workers working within the process
DMADV Methodology:
There are five stages of DMADV project methodology: munotes.in

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55 Quality Management In Higher Education  Define: The project objectives and deliverables are defined here
 Measure: Once the goals are identified, the t eam will measure the
critical to its deliverable factors
 Analyse: The teams will evaluate various process options here that
will best meet the deliverables needed
 Design: Here, the team documents the detailed process that meets the
deliverables
 Verify: Here, the team verifies the targets & results achieved through
the newly designed process
Thus Six Sigma is a problem -solving, high -performance approach to
examine the causes of process variance and evaluate acceptable solutions,
which is increasingly common in today’s world. To maximize
productivity, Six Sigma’s implementation decreases company variability
and waste .
4.4.4 The Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award (MB NQA) :
Malcolm Baldrige National Award is an award that recognizes US
organizations in: Business, Healthcare, Education and Non -profit sectors.
MBNQA is administered by NIST (National Institute of Standards and
Technology). The award is named after Malcolm Baldrige who served as
US Secretary of State and laid emphasis on Quality and Service and
Excellence during his serving period. The award is being issued from the
year of 1987.
Following are the categories of businesses included for evaluation.
1. Manufacturi ng
2. Service Companies
3. Small Business
4. Education
5. Healthcare
6. Non-profit organizations
The education and healthcare categories were added in 1999, while the
government and non -profit categories were added in 2007.The MBNQA
award is named after the late Secretar y of Commerce Malcolm Baldrige, a
proponent of quality management. The U.S. Commerce Department’s
National Institute of Standards and Technology manages the award, and
ASQ administers it.
The Seven MBNQA Criteria Categories Organizations that apply for the
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56 Quality Management Models In Higher Education Institutions selected based on achievement and improvement in seven areas, known as
the Baldrige Criteria for Performance Excellence: It includes:
 Leadership : How upper management leads the organization, and how
the organization leads within the community.
 Strategy: How the organization establishes and plans to implement
strategic directions.
 Customers: How the organization builds and maint ains strong,
lasting relationships with customers.
 Measurement, analysis, and knowledge management: How the
organization uses data to support key processes and manage
performance.
 Workforce: How the organization empowers and involves its
workforce.
 Operati ons: How the organization designs, manages, and improves
key processes.
 Results: How the organization performs in terms of customer
satisfaction , finances, human resources, supplier an d partner
performance, operations, governance and social responsibility , and
how the organization compares to its competito rs.
1. Leadership: Contesting organizations are evaluated on how the top
management provides focus& direction, sets goals and enables the
organization to achieve them.
2. Strategic Planning: Contesting organizations are evaluated on how
plans and strategies are arrived and implemented for mission
accomplishment and adhering the vision and organizational goal.
3. Customer Focus: Contesting organizations are evaluated on how
Customer requirements and satisfaction drivers are understood,
focused and improved along with maintaining relationship with
customers.
4. Measurement, Analysis and Knowledge Management: Contesting
organizations are evaluated on how the data is measured, used for
improvement purposes, how support functions are managed, and how
the knowledge, skills an d business experience are utilized and focused
toward continual improvement.
5. Human Resource Focus: Contesting organizations are evaluated on
how workforce is utilized, managed and empowered how problems
are dealt.
6. Process Management: Contesting organizatio ns are evaluated on
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57 Quality Management In Higher Education 7. Business & Performance Results: Contesting organizations are
evaluated on how the metrics are framed to review goal
accomplishment, process efficiency and customer satisfaction, and
how performance is benchmarked, and compliance of standards.
4.5 ISO 9000 SERIES ISO 9000 is defined as a set of international standards on quality
management and quality assurance developed to help companies
effectively document the quality system elements needed to maintain an
efficient quality system. They are not specific to any one industry and can
be applied to organizations of any size. I SO 9000 is often used to refer to a
family of three standards: ISO 9000:2005 - Fundamentals and vocabulary.
ISO 9001:2015 - Requirements. ISO 9004:2000 - Guidelines for
performance improvement.
ISO 9000 is a family of internationally accepted standards that are used to
measure the quality management syste m (QMS) followed by an
organization.
4.5.1 The Purpose of the ISO 9000 Standard :
The main purpose of the ISO 9000 standard is to provide a time -tested
framework to help companies establish and follow a systematic approach
for managing organizational proces ses for rendering consistent quality.
How is ISO 9000 Related to ISO 9001?
ISO 9000 is often used to refer to a family of three standards:
ISO 9000:2005 - Fundamentals and vocabulary
ISO 9001:2015 - Requirements
ISO 9004:2000 - Guidelines for performance i mprovement
ISO 9000 explains the principles of the quality management system while
ISO 9001 defines the requirements that an organization has to meet to gain
certification.
ISO 9000 contains various definitions and terminologies that are integral
to deve loping a proper understanding of the quality management concepts
used by ISO 9001. ISO 9001:2015 has five main sections:
 Quality Management System
 Management Responsibility
 Resource Management
 Product Realization
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58 Quality Management Models In Higher Education Institutions The 2008 revision introduces a concept known as the process model. This
means that you need to define what your organization does by:
 Developing a process model of your organization’s activities
 Understanding how those processes inter -relate
 Deciding who owns these processes and ensure they are trained and
competent
 Monitoring and improving the system by auditing and measuring
customer satisfaction, etc.
4.5.2 ISO 9000 Principles :
The principles of ISO 9000 are integral to almost every business. They
include:
 Ensuring a focus on customer satisfaction
 Developing leadership that drives the purpose of the organization
 Involving all people within the organization
 Adopting the process approach to managing activities and resources
 Applying a system based approach to m anage interrelated processes
 Continual improvement (to meet customer expectations and ISO 9001
requirements)
 Using data to drive decision making
These principles are not elements against which an organization can be
directly assessed or certified but thei r influence will impact upon the
implementation of the requirements.
4.5.3 The Advantages of Implementing ISO 9000 :
Benefits include the creation and continual improvement of effective and
efficient operating process, reducing waste, increasing productivit y, better
marketing, and above all else — increasing customer satisfaction and
retention.
It widens the scope of business opportunities — enabling you to increase
market share and overall competitiveness.
ISO represents an accepted minimum management stand ard for a well -
managed organization. Whether you operate internationally or want to
expand locally, ISO approval will demonstrate your commitment to
quality.
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59 Quality Management In Higher Education 5 Ways ISO 9001 Improves Quality;
1. Leadership Involvement
2. Quality Policy, Objectives, and Planning
3. Risk Based Thinking
4. Corrective and Preventative Actions
5. Continual Improvement
It has been proven time and time again, that using the ISO 9001
framework improves the quality of what an o rganization produces.
1. Leadership Involvement :
The most recent version of ISO 9001 puts a renewed emphasis on the role
leadership takes when implementing a quality management system. It
requires Top Management within an organization to take on the
respon sibilities of leading the front by taking accountability for how
effective the system is.
Having the commitment of Top Management in a transition period is
essential for putting ISO 9001 into action in your organization. If everyone
is not on board it coul d sow seeds of doubt going down the line to other
employees in the company. If your leaders do not believe in the change,
how can everyone else?
Passionate and dedicated leadership is a cornerstone to improving overall
quality. When they take an active rol e in the process it motivates others to
do the same. With ISO 9001 in place there are set procedures and
everyone knows their place within the system. This begins with the
commitment of everyone at the very top levels of management.
2. Quality Policy, Obje ctives, and Planning :
Implementing ISO 9001 in your organization comes along with
requirements of documentation. Perhaps the most important of these
documents are your Quality Policy and Quality Objectives.
The Quality Policy is a simple but effective tool that defines what quality
means for your company. There is no set way to define quality for all
businesses. The Quality Policy of the organization should be unique to
your organization and build upon the values you already hold.
The Quality Objectives sho uld align with the Quality Policy and be
actively measurable for success. They can be anything from decreasing
delivery time to reducing waste or reducing dropout rate or increasing the
enrolment rate, passing percentage etc. They should stay in line with the
definition you outlined in your Quality Policy and make sense for your
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60 Quality Management Models In Higher Education Institutions With these documents one have set a structure for the quality management
system to work in. By communicating your policy and objectives
throughout your organization you keep everyone at all levels on the same
page when it comes to what is needed of them. Every single employee
should know and understand the Quality Policy and how it applies to
them.
On top of that, a regular review and update of both your Quality Policy
and Quality Objectives leads to finding ways to constantly improve upon
the current system. The more you pay attention to what quality means to
your business and your customers, the more effectively you can put it into
action.
While planning out objectives, you are likely to learn a number of things
about your system. You will be able to find out what is going to be done
and what resources you'll need to get it done. You'll see who will be
responsible for what parts of meeting your objectives. You will know
when the objectives will be completed and how they will be evaluated
when they are.
The requirement to maintain these documents by ISO 9001 undoubtedly
leads to a very quality oriented mind -set within your organization. When
everyone understands and is foc used on what needs to be done to sustain
top quality you can be assured that quality will be the outcome.
3. Risk Based Thinking :
ISO 9001 requires your organization to employ considerations for risks
and opportunities in your quality management system. Th is approach can
help to prevent things from going wrong and find ways to improve that
might not have been obvious from the start.
When you use risk based thinking you are actively trying to prevent
problems within your system before they arise. This way of thinking will
assure that your system functions as it should, prevent or reduce negative
effects, and continually improve your system.
Risk based thinking is not only the act of looking for risks that should be
attended to, but also finding opportunities to improve upon things that
could be doing better. By identifying opportunities, you could establish
new partnerships or create new products.
By being required to take a risk based approach you have a proactive
culture in your organization for discovering risks and opportunities. This
leads to more consistency in creating quality products and services, which
leads to greater confidence among the stakeholders and satisfaction .
4. Corrective and Preventative Actions :
While there will be issues that occur in y our quality management system,
ISO 9001 includes requirements that help to keep these issues to a
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61 Quality Management In Higher Education finding issues, it is possible to correct them as quickly as possible or even
prevent them .
ISO 9001 outlines three specific types of problem solving:
1. Corrections are an action to eliminate a nonconformity
2. Corrective Actions are actions that eliminate the cause of a
nonconformity so it does not recur or occur elsewhere
3. Preventative Actions are actions that eliminate the cause of a potential
nonconformity
By implementing ISO 9001 you will have a greater focus on correcting
issues and keeping them from happening again in the future. You will
control and eliminate future damage within your system b efore it can get
out of hand.ISO 9001 requires that corrective and preventative actions are
documented and kept as records . With this emphasis placed on problem
solving it's easy to see how ISO 9001 can keep your quality management
system running like a well -oiled machine. That way you can consistently
provide quality products or services to your customers .
5. Continual Improvement :
ISO 9001 puts a heavy focus on constantly improving your quality
management system to meet requirements and even plan for the future.
There are many useful ways you can improve upon your system in a way
that provides evidence th at things are always moving forward.
By keeping clear records on processes and their outputs you will have a
good understanding of how your quality management system is
functioning. ISO 9001 requires regular management reviews to go over
these outputs and identify opportunities for improvement in the system.
A system can be improved by employing new technologies or launching
new teaching, learning and evaluation strategies. It's important to always
be anticipating future needs and innovating ways to meet th ese needs to
keep yourstudents or stakeholders satisfied.
With such a strong emphasis placed upon improvement and a structure to
constantly move forward it is impossible not to maintain the best quality
for your products and services. ISO 9001 keeps your l eadership on task to
keep things fresh and maintain this quality no matter what.
Other Benefits of ISO 9001 :
 Decision making based on clear evidence
 Improved efficiency and productivity
 Higher employee morale
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62 Quality Management Models In Higher Education Institutions  Cost reduction
 Greater customer satisfaction
With the addition of ISO 9001 certification you are held to a certain
standard and must meet requirements that keep quality at th e forefront of
everyone's mind. But quality isn't the only benefit that comes out of this
certification.
Evidence Based Decision Making :
Everyone wants to make the best decisions for their organization. Under
ISO 9001 you are required to have evidence for the need of a change
before implementing it. It is also easier to test changes in a smaller
environment before placing them in the bigger system.
When you make decisions based on collected data rather than just
suspicion, you are less likely to waste time, money, and resources on trial
and error changes. Having evidence in hand gives you the confidence that
change needs to be made so that you know without a shadow of a doubt
whatever you are doing will be cost effective and only improve your
system.
On top of decision making, by monitoring every part of the process so
closely you will have concrete data of how your system is improving.
Increased Efficiency and Production :
A quality management system is meant to be an efficient system that
keeps your producti on process running smoothly. While it's entirely
possible to have an efficient system without being ISO 9001 certified, the
addition of the standard can aid in keeping it that way.
Because ISO 9001 outlines specific requirements for certification, you are
held to the standard that it sets out. If you don't keep up with all of the
requirements you could risk losing your certification altogether. But
having these guidelines in place certainly helps your organization keep
focus on efficiency.
Once you have you r quality management system set up under the ISO
9001 standard you will find that keeping it to that standard will be easy.
The requirements help to keep all of your documentation in order as well
as aid in identifying areas that need to be improved.
ISO 9 001 creates a system that is easy for anyone to run. Everything is
already set in place for them, so you don't have to worry about new
management coming in. There is easy access to all documents and
everyone knows their place in the process. Losing on piec e of the puzzle
won't result in the collapse of the entire system.

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63 Quality Management In Higher Education Employee Morale :
The importance of leadership commitment translates into a higher morale
for all employees working within the system. When their management is
passionate and communicates that passion to them, they will be more
excited to be part of the change.
ISO 9001 places defined roles and responsibilities for all employees in the
production process, which makes them feel more comfortable and
confident in their work. It also provides a structure for training and
ensures companywide involvement so that all employees feel included in
the system.When your employees are happy they do better work which
leads to greater efficiency.
Objective Proof of Quality:
Having a certification in ISO 900 1 is a sort of badge of honour that shows
your organization is committed to quality. It also proves that your
company is regularly evaluated by an independent party to ensure you are
meeting the requirements of the standard.
Because your customers know you are held to this standard they are likely
to be more confident in the quality of your products. Most people are
happier to put their trust in a company that holds themselves to a high
standard and can show proof that they meet that standard.
4.6 LET US SU M UP The issue of quality and quality assurance of higher education has gained
so much attention and interest not only from the business sector but also
there is considerable interest to the concept of quality among academies of
HEIs and experts of extern al bodies as accreditation agencies.
Total quality management is a structured approach to overall
organizational management. The focus of the process is to improve the
quality of an organization's outputs, including goods and services, through
the continua l improvement of internal practices.
Six Sigma is a statistical - and data -driven process that works by reviewing
limit mistakes or defects. It emphasizes cycle -time improvements while
reducing manufacturing defects to no more than 3.4 occurrences per
million units or events.
ISO 9000 is defined as a set of international standards on quality
management and quality assurance developed to help companies
effectively document the quality system elements needed to maintain an
efficient quality system. They are n ot specific to any one industry and can
be applied to organizations of any size.
4.7 UNIT END EXERCISE 1. Define the concept of Total Quality Management munotes.in

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64 Quality Management Models In Higher Education Institutions 2. State the importance of Total of Quality Management
3. Describe Malcom Bridge award and Six Sigma
4. Explain the characteristics of ISO 9000
5. What is the Six Sigma concept?
6. Elaborate the purpose of Six sigma
4.8 REFERENCES  Quality Management Implementation in Higher Education: Practices,
Models, and Case Studies (Advances in Higher Education and
Professional Develop ment) 1st Edition, Michael Sony (Author,
Editor), KochuTherisaKaringada (Editor), Neeta Baporikar (Editor),
IGIGlobal; 1st edition (August 2, 2019)
 Total Quality Management in Higher Education: An Evaluation
Model for Practitioners Paperback – July 1, 2009 , Fatma Mizikaci
, LAP Lambert Academic Publishing (July 1, 2009)
 https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/23311975.2020.17492
17
 https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1100957.pdf
 https://asq.org/quality -resources/total -quality -management
 https://www.managementstudyguide.com/total -quality -
management.htm
 https://www.whatissixsigma.net/baldrige -award/
 https://www.lpmu.upj.ac.id/userfiles/files/01 _%20M1 -
Designing_Effective_QMS -TrainIQA_compressed.pdf




*****
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65
5
HIGHER EDUCATION QUALITY
IMPROVEMENT STRATEGIES
Unit structure
5.0 Objectives
5.1 Introduction
5.2 An overview
5.3 Professional Integrity for Educational Quality in Management
Sciences
5.4 Quality Management and Academic Leadership
5.5 Best Practice s in Higher Education for Quality Management –
Identification, Implementation, Institutionalization,
Internationalization and Dissemination
5.6 Let Us Sum Up
5.7 Unit End Exercise
5.8 References
5.0 OBJECTIVES This unit focuses on:
 Define the concept o f Professional Integrity
 Explain the importance of Professional Integrity for Educational
Quality in Management Sciences
 Illustrate the strategies to maintain Professional integrity
 State the importance of professional integrity at the workplace
 Explain t he characteristics of Quality Management and Academic
Leadership
 Identify the Best Practices in Higher Education for Quality
Management
5.1 INTRODUCTION Higher education is known to take place after secondary school education
and is delivered in higher ins titutions of learning which include
universities (Jongbloed, Enders, & Salerno, 2008), colleges (Brubacher,
2017) and institutes of technology (Altbach, 2015). Higher education
improvement strategies have become very necessary as key stakeholders
globally expect improvement of outcomes in higher education which is in
line with total quality management in education (Sallis, 2014; Sherr &
Lozier, 1991). According to Fishman, Ludgate and Tutak (2017) college munotes.in

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66 Higher Education Quality Improvement Strategies graduation is an uncertainty to some undergraduates due to their inability
to cope with the higher education system and this has led to an increase in
dropout rates of students who desire higher education qualifications. This
concern further stresses the need for continuous educational change with a
focus o f improving teaching and enhancing student learning as required by
universities (D'Andrea & Gosling, 2005), in an ever evolving society. To
achieve the critical outcomes of improved teaching and enhanced learning
in universities, the role of human designat ed participants in the initiation,
implementation, continuation and outcome of change in education
(Ellsworth, 2001; Fullan, 1982) cannot be overemphasised.
Higher education improvement strategies are required to achieve
stakeholders’ expectation of higher education. It is important to add that
decision makers in higher institutions are beginning to promote
educational practices that will lead to the realisation of their institutional
objectives and the attainment of the highest level of accountability to
stakeholders (Rice & Taylor, 2003), and higher education improvement
strategies are some of the steps taken to position higher institutions in the
right direction of accomplishments and quality service delivery. There are
several higher education improvemen t strategies in existence. This chapter
focuses on critically analysing higher education improvement strategies
for teaching (Wright, 1995) and learning in higher education. Some of the
strategies considered in this chapter are strategies for improving stu dent
retention (Bowles & Brindle, 2017; Crosling, Heagney, & Thomas, 2009;
Gazza & Hunker, 2014), strategies for improving graduation
rates(Schargel &Smink, 2014) and strategies for improving laboratory
teaching(Gibbs & Jenkins, 2014) among other higher ed ucation improving
strategies for teaching and learning in higher education
5.2 AN OVERVIEW Higher education faces a new era as a result of changes in the way people
view colleges and universities. Expectations for better performance in
terms of teaching and producing competent college graduates are
increasing. One model for higher education is the success of many
companies that have bettered their overall performance and products using
"total quality management" (TQM). TQM is primarily concerned with
increasing customer satisfaction through an integrated framework that
examines the relationships between various system wide elements and
makes data -driven decisions to reduce errors and waste in processes. To
do this, managers must create an environment in wh ich employees take
joy and pride in their work and are empowered to make changes. The
concept of TQM is very well practiced in academia as a strategic tool to
academic excellence.

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67 Quality Management In Higher Education 5.3 PROFESSIONAL INTEGRITY FOR EDUCATIONAL QUALITY IN MANAGEMENT SCIENCE S 5.3.1 Co ncept of Professional Integrity:
Personal integrity is directly related to professional integrity. Personal
integrity and professional integrity are generally interdependent and
compatible. Professional integrity is related to, but different from personal
integrity. Professional integrity is an attribute although philosophically the
term integrity relates to general character. Professional integrity derives its
substance from the fundamental goals or mission of the profession
(McDowell D. 2010) Pr ofessional integrity is sustained on the principle of
moral integrity and ethical principles centred in transparency, honesty,
sincerity, moral consciousness, loyalty, truthiness and reality in the
functions performed adhered to legality. Professional inte grity is the set of
principles and commitments to improve the results of the manager’s
activities, to maximize autonomy, to create relationships characterized by
integrity, the ethical practice, social justice and team work.
Different aspects of professio nal integrity are derived from the basic
functions of each profession. The professional integrity includes the role -
specific obligations and responsibilities of a particular profession. Well -
established professions often spell out and stand on the role -specific
principles of professional integrity. Professional integrity derives its
substance from the mission and fundamental goals of the profession.
Professional integrity is based on value integrity first, service before self,
and excellence in all that we do. When a professional commit himself
/herself to “integrity first” is that he or she understands the importance of
both personal integrity and professional integrity, and through his/her
efforts to keep them compatible, he or she best provides the crucia l
professional functions and activities to the society. Firms develop
cooperative strategies stressing personal integrity in a more competitive
environment (Solomon, 1999). A clash between personal integrity and
professional integrity leads to integrity di lemmas which are present in
some situations such as for example a professional refuse to participate on
moral grounds because it is not morally obligatory even though it is
legally permitted. In any professional role it may be possible to live up to
high s tandards of competence and conduct but not to sustain professional
integrity outside the professional realm and context by living entirely
different, opposed, conflicting or contradictory moral values in private
life. It reveals a direct conflict between p ersonal integrity and professional
integrity. Culpable incompetence is clearly violation of professional
integrity. At the times when professional integrity is most valuable, there
is an excuse to avoid the obligation to be in integrity. To be in professio nal
integrity when it is most valuable to others, means to bear the costs.
Professional integrity may be sacrificed to avoid some costs imposed on
others, such as to protect institutional reputation. Based on integrity, it is
build the personal reputation, and also as an extension the institutional
reputation, when these are liberated according to the integrity criteria. The
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68 Higher Education Quality Improvement Strategies management. With violations of the public trust by actions of authority are
serious breaches of professional integrity. When the stakes are so high in a
profession, the breach of professional integrity could be devastating to
society. Major challenges to professional integrity are the misuse of
science, research and evidence i n policymaking (McDowell, D. 2010).
The concept of professional integrity is separated from normative concepts
to understand it as a “purely positive phenomenon that plays a
foundational role” in economic performance. The issue of competence is
directly r elevant to professional integrity. The duties of competent
professionals can be carried out by professional practices, functions and
actions constrained by moral, ethical and legal restraints on professional
integrity. “Ethical implies conformity with an e laborated, ideal code of
moral principles, sometimes, specifically, with the code of a particular
profession” (Webster’s New World Dictionary). The codes of conduct
support the profession’s conception of professional integrity. A code of
professional ethic s allows to norm a more ethical and humanistic
professional practice and the commitment with individuals and society, the
actions that must be guided not only by the speculation but for the
necessity to act with justice, responsibility, discretion, honesty , etc. Von
Kimakowitz, Pirson, Spitzech, Dierksmeier, and Amann (2010) present
some business cases and analyze that their success in the context of global
competitive environment managed as an integrated and responsive
generation of social benefits rather than maximum business profits
supported by a humanistic management approach.
A myopic vision of professional integrity and ethic is reduced to a
catalogue of things that are good and that are bad, and that there are not
considered under a wider vision as the set of principles that serve to the
human beings to achieve perfection and plenitude which is an arduous
task. Changes on environment and the actual life can originate the loss of a
clear vision of the limits between the honest and what is not, where i t
finishes the dignity and where begins the non -dignity and what are the
moral principles that must rule professional behavior. Professional
integrity is formed by social responsibility and some other social elements
that professionals inherit to maintain high standards of competence and
conduct in the entire full range of professional activities and not just for
themselves. Professional integrity has as an effect a major consistency of
one person on himself/herself and produces greater social cohesion.
Honest members of society strengthen the links of the structure and make
advancements toward the own end, the common good. Professional
integrity involves competences shared by all members of the profession
and joint responsibilities for conduct. Integrity in communication is the
pillar in trusting interpersonal networks building as a condition for the
cooperation among human beings.
Professional integrity is the practice of maintaining appropriate ethical
behavior. It is the practice of showing strong adheren ce to moral and
ethical principles and values such as honesty, honour, dependability and
trustworthiness. People who behave with professional integrity generally munotes.in

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69 Quality Management In Higher Education uphold a moral standard of conduct, both in professional as well as
personal endeavours.
These standards govern how professionals conduct themselves, their work
ethic and their communication practices. Professional integrity is what
gives employees a reason to trust that leaders will place professional
standards over their own self -interests.
Hones ty is the basis for maintaining integrity. Being loyal to a company,
producing the results expected of you and being trustworthy and reliable
are all qualities that characterize someone who has professional integrity.
5.3.2 Why professional integrity in th e workplace is important? :
Integrity is one of the most important attributes in a leader. Here are a few
reasons why:
Employee satisfaction :
Employees are typically happier working for someone who they believe is
trustworthy and dependable, someone who wou ld never ask them to
compromise their own principles. Integrity in a supervisor has been linked
to job satisfaction and engagement, employee health and even life
satisfaction.
Reputation :
For people to trust you —both in - and outside of your organization —you
need to behave with integrity. Investors need to trust you to consider
investing in your business. Vendors need to trust that you will pay for
goods and services. Maintaining professional integrity will allow you to
build a strong reputation that will increase the trust and comfort others
have in doing business with you.
Clearer focus :
Consistently behaving with professional integrity means you have the
energy to focus on what is important rather than wasting energy covering
up bad practice.
Stronger re lations :
The most effective way to create a culture of integrity and ethical behavior
is to behave with professional integrity.
5.3.3 Strategies to maintain Professional integrity :
There are different strategies to maintain your own professional integrity
and encourage an entire culture of ethical behavior in the workplace.
1. Treat everyone the same.
2. Reward honesty.
3. Admit your mistakes. munotes.in

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70 Higher Education Quality Improvement Strategies 4. Encourage teams to speak freely.
5. Conduct self -assessments.
6. Keep your commitments.
7. Put in maximum effort.
1. Treat everyone the same:
Integrity is about honesty, wholeness and being the same person in all
situations and with all people. Treat supervisors, co -workers and even the
intern with the same level of professionalism and respect, regardless of
their level of seniority. The same applies to customers.
2. Reward honesty:
Create a culture of integrity by encouraging others to be honest with you,
even when they make costly mistakes. Reward honesty publicly and
repeatedly until everyone on your team understands that it’s always safe —
and always the best idea —to be honest with you.
3. Admit your mistakes:
Everyone makes mistakes and no one, from customers to employees,
expects everyone to be perfect all the time. The key to behaving with
professional integrity is admitting mistakes and ap ologizing when you’re
wrong. You must also demonstrate your regret through your actions and
demeanour.
4. Encourage teams to speak freely:
Encourage the professionals to work in team to come up with fresh and
creative approaches to their academic tasks. Incu lcate group activities,
assignments and team discussions regarding new ideas should be honest
and critical, yet respectful and open -minded of other perspectives.
Encourage the team to speak freely as well as give and receive
constructive criticism to impro ve ideas.
5. Conduct self -assessments:
Periodically evaluate whether you are behaving with professional
integrity. Evaluate whether you are heavily influenced by stronger
personalities, pressured by your boss or tempted by easy money. You
could even ask a tru sted co -worker their objective viewpoint. Make a non -
judgemental inventory of your own integrity and determine whether you
need to take action based on potential areas of self -improvement.
6. Keep your commitments:
If you want to develop a reputation as being someone who delivers on
their promises, make a habit of always keeping your word. This means
that yes needs to mean yes and no means no, without excuses or a change
of conditions. This also means being on time —or even early —when you munotes.in

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71 Quality Management In Higher Education say you will be. It me ans demonstrating respect for others’ time and
notifying them right away if you’ll be late.
7. Put in maximum effort:
Putting all of your focus and effort into something to reach a goal is a
character trait that others admire. It demonstrates a strong work et hic and a
commitment to results for the betterment of the organization. Giving your
work your maximum effort every day and being unwilling to give in to
distractions speaks volumes about your integrity
5.4 QUALITY MANAGEMENT AND ACADEMIC LEADERSHIP The win d blowing around the world in higher education institutions has
raised global concerns about a need to ensure that higher education
institutions are well managed and responding to the quality needs of
students, parents, employers and governments. The world is changing so
are higher education institutions. The changing nature of higher education
institutions also calls for educational administrators, human resources
departments and heads of departments as well as program coordinators to
ensure that the insti tutions also respond to the dynamic nature of our
institutions. The changes taking place in higher education institutions in
the recent times raise concerns about the issue of quality management and
how academic leadership should respond to the changes whi le ensuring
that quality is well managed in the higher education institutions. The
increasing demand for higher education by many people in several
countries has put pressure on higher education institutions to introduce
new programs and courses while othe rs have mounted courses that could
be studied on part time basis, through distance and online, as well as
blended and even through sandwich mode. These initiatives have made
providers of higher education to help meet the growing demand so as to
allow those working but need higher education to take advantage.
However, the widening of participation through the introduction of
different programs and different study modes cannot be compromised with
quality delivery.
Paradoxically, promoting and managing quality cannot happen in a
vacuum but needs effective academic leadership to help institutions
navigate through such turbulence of change. Higher education institutions
in many parts of the world are ‘undergoing profound and rapid changes
which force educational systems to respond to ensure that the quality of
life’ in our societies is improved (Maguad & Krone, 2012, p. 10).
Institutions are responding to the changes to ensure that there is proper
accountability, transparency and value for money for those who inve st in
higher education. Some countries response to the challenges facing higher
education institutions by cutting down non -basic services, introduce part
time work instead of full time, outsourcing some positions such as
security, cleaners and laundry staf f, among others. It is worth to note that
there should be academic leaders to give direction to institutions and munotes.in

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72 Higher Education Quality Improvement Strategies ensure there is effective management of any quality management initiative
to enable the institutions achieve their objectives.
The training of skilful and knowledgeable workforce by higher education
institutions to meet national development needs will be very difficult as
far as creation of competitive edge for quality enhancement in higher
education is concerned (Khan, 2008).
What is Academic L eadership :
The leadership that is provided by senior academic and administrative
leaders with the particular focus on creating conduce environment for
personal academy growth and institution development within the
institutions of higher learning.
Academic leadership is the name given to leadership in an academic
setting or organization as a special subdivision of overall leadership.
Academic leadership is a leadership that includes such roles as creating
vision and mission based on science and research dat a for the
organization, setting up creative ideas, doing and providing teamwork.
An individual who serves as a leader to create and support the vision and
mission of the organization, providing direction and oversight for units
within the institution.
Academic leadership is a broad capability and function across a higher
education institution, reflected in leadership in governance, both corporate
and academic, and in operations.
Reiss Medwed says that educational leaders should practice critical
thinking, empathy, collaboration, and flexibility in a variety of work
environments —and with a variety of people —in order to engage, lead, and
effect change in a meaningful way.
5.5 BEST PRACTICES IN HIGHER EDUCATION FOR QUALITY MANAGEMENT – IDENTIFICATION,
IMPLEME NTATION, INSTITUTIONALIZATION,
INTERNATIONALIZATION AND DISSEMINATION The best practice benchmarking approach is an inductive approach to
quality management in higher education institutions with a focus on
practice and continuous improvement. The five -stage approach will help
institutions of higher education to play their role effectively in quality
sustenance and enhancement. The best as an ideal should be the vision of
every higher education institution in the country. Stakeholders can
contribute differe ntly for the realization of this goal by the institutions.
Policy makers in education have an important responsibility of creating an
enabling policy framework for effective functioning of the institutions.
The management should ensure proper infrastructur e and effective
governance systems. Teachers have a critical role in building
competencies of learners through best pedagogic practices. Finally, munotes.in

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73 Quality Management In Higher Education students, for whom the whole system is designed, should desire and
demand the best.
The successful application of the best practices approach depends on our
ability to adopt
The following five -stage strategy i.e.
1. Identification of best practices
2. Implementation of best practices
3. Institutionalization of best practices
4. Internalization of best practice s
5. Dissemination of best practices
The approach can be described as “Four I and D Model”. Let us briefly
elaborate the key elements of the approach.
5.5.1 Identification of best practices :
The identification of best practices depends on many variables s uch as
institutional goals, pedagogic requirements, global concerns, local
contexts, nature of learners, competencies of staff, infrastructure facilities
and governance requirements. All these should be kept in mind while
identifying the best practices. Pe ter Drucker rightly observes that there is
an incongruence between how we teach and how students learn. All these
add to the complexity of choice of best practices. What might be
considered as ‘best practices’ are limited in a number of ways. Firstly,
what we consider to be the ‘best’ education practice depends on our own
limited knowledge, perspectives, contexts, interests and values. The
interests and values on which the practices are premised may be contested
by others. In that case, many of the assumpti ons on which the practices are
premised will not hold. Secondly, ‘best practices’ are contingent, context
dependent and defy generic description. If these practices are to be useful
at all, we need to identify the ones that can be so restated as to be clea rly
seen to contribute to value addition to the institution or the stakeholders.
Only then can they become context -free and less subjective. This requires
a predominantly ‘fitness for purpose’ judgement and one cannot write an
ideal typification of ‘best p ractices’ applicable to all contexts. The input
factors, the process factors and output factors should be taken into account
in identifying the criteria of best practices. The criteria of economy,
efficiency and effectiveness may also be used in identifyin g them. Another
way of identifying the best practices is the inductive approach. The
practitioners may be asked to describe their best practices and the criteria
they have applied in their identification, justifying their choices logically.
From this, one can discuss the benchmarks of the best practices as
perceived by them.
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74 Higher Education Quality Improvement Strategies The International Network of Quality Assurance Agencies in Higher
Education (INQAAHE) suggested some guidelines for the identification
and application of good practices. The best prac tices should
 be dynamic and revisited periodically;
 recognize diversity and cultural and historical contexts;
 not lead to dominance of one specific view or approach; and
 promote quality of performance.
These principles should be interpreted and applied app ropriately to
different contexts, while identifying the practices.
5.5.2 Implementation of best practices :
However, difficult it may be, all of us engaged in the educational activities
have some gut feeling of what best practices are. The implementation is
the Achilles heel. Academic world generally suffers from two limitations.
Firstly, we are fond of debates and discussion and consider words as
wisdom. Aristotle deprecated this tendency long back and considered
action as virtue. He rightly observed: “Virt ue is an activity nota capacity”.
Mahatma Gandhi’s logic was his action. We have to move from notions of
words as wisdom to action as wisdom. Jacob Bronowski wrote in The
Ascent of Man :“We have to understand that the world can only be
grasped by action, no t by contemplation. The most powerful drive in the
ascent of man is his pleasure in his own skill”. Secondly, when it comes to
action all -pervading cynicism hinders the pro -active role. There are some
genuine limitations in the application of best practice s, but many are
imaginary. Instead of finding solutions to problems, sometimes our
‘academic eminence’ may lead us to find problems in every solution. The
implementation strategies include planning, resource mobilization,
capacity building, monitoring and evaluation. The implementation
approach focuses more on performance than on promises. Here quality is
considered as attention to details. Total Quality Management is an
approach of implementation which focuses on quality of all aspects of
operations with t he participation of everyone in the organization.
Management pundits propose many approaches of implementation
strategies like management by objectives, management by results etc.
Mahatma Gandhi very aptly captured the spirit of action and the spirit of
leading by example when he said, “we must be the change that we wish to
see in the world”.
5.5.3 Institutionalization of best practices :
Institutionalization is the process of making the best practices an integral
part of the institutional working. The NAAC has organized the National
Conference on Best Practices in Higher Education at Goa on 26th and 27th
July 2004 in which around ninety heads of colleges and universities
participated and shared their experiences of application of best practices.
During the d eliberations of the conference for two days two major points munotes.in

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75 Quality Management In Higher Education relevant to the present discussion had emerged. Firstly, many best
practices are institution -specific and individual managed. In most cases,
that individual happens to be the leader or head of th e institution. Leaders
as innovators have been the change agents in many institutions, mobilizing
and ensuring the wide -spread support of the campus community for the
best practices. While this approach has resulted in commendable
improvement in the qualit y of institutions, continuance and sustainability
of those practices depends mainly on individual initiative and runs the risk
of disruption or half -hearted pursuit if and when the individual is
displaced for any reason. If, however, such a practice is for malized in the
sense in which exams are made a formal requirement, individual identity
will then be superseded by the anonymity of the function. In other words,
through institutionalization this risk can be circumvented. Secondly, many
best practices seem to require extra effort and it is good that many HEIs
have been doing it successfully. But to sustain that effort it has to become
an integrated part of the functioning of the institution, gradually.
Institutionalization is an effort to make it more instit ution centric than
leader or individual centric and also to make the best practices as a normal
practice.
5.5.4 Internalization of best practices :
What we described as institutionalization in the context of institutions may
be considered as internalization when it refers to individuals in the
institution. Internalization refers to making things a part of one’s nature by
conscious learning and assimilation. Internalization of best practices
means making excellence an integral part of one’s habit and nature.
Aristotle rightly observed that: “We are what we repeatedly do.
Excellence then is not an act but a habit”. Such internalization may also be
looked upon as making permanent the principle and essence of the best
practices as part of the characteristic perfo rmance of an institution. The
aggregate of such internalized best practices principally goes to make what
we loosely call the ‘ethos’ or ‘tradition’ of an individual institution. The
instrumental view looks at quality as a strategy. But the intrinsic view
looks at quality as a value. Quality in many respects is an attitude of mind.
There is a strong feeling among many that quality education is resource
specific. The advocacy for quality education is countered many times by
resource specific arguments. These arguments are only partially valid. Our
experience shows that attitudes play a more critical role in quality
assurance. Internalization is an attitude formation conducive to sustaining
quality higher education.
5.5.5 Dissemination of best practices :
Educa tion is a social process. The institutions not only have the social
responsibility of application of best practices, but also an equal social
responsibility of dissemination of these practices for wider application in
the system. Many higher education inst itutions do not attempt certain
practices due to lack of information about the feasibility and adaptability
of the best practices. It is observed that the best practices are the borrowed
practices. We must learn and benefit from each other’s experience. Ev en munotes.in

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76 Higher Education Quality Improvement Strategies within an institution, at times there are communication gaps which affect
the expected outcome of the practice. It also makes building on experience
and reviewing the practice difficult. Effective use of recording and
reviewing is essential to develop c onviction in the system for a particular
practice. Institutions may have to evolve suitable strategies like database
of good practices, review forums, recording evidences
for success etc. to discuss within and among institutions. The NAAC is
advocating eve ry institution to establish Internal Quality Assurance Cell,
with one of the functions of recording and dissemination of best practices
followed by that institution. The recording of practices is also a means of
quality improvement. The NAAC has recently p ublished the report of the
National Conference on Best Practices in Higher Education in which 60
best practices followed by different higher education institutions were
discussed. The then President of India, Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, in his
address at the c oncluding day programme of the NAAC decennial
celebrations held at Bangalore on 5th November 2004 advocated the
recording of best practices for wider dissemination under the title “Great
Institutions of Higher learning: Accredited Universities and Colleges in
India”. The NAAC has brought out publications accordingly with the Peer
Team Reports of the select best institutions accredited with higher
grading.
5.6 LET US SUM UP Higher education faces a new era as a result of changes in the way people
view colle ges and universities. Expectations for better performance in
terms of teaching and producing competent college graduates are
increasing. One model for higher education is the success of many
companies that have bettered their overall performance and produc ts using
"total quality management" (TQM).
Professional integrity is the practice of maintaining appropriate ethical
behavior. It is the practice of showing strong adherence to moral and
ethical principles and values such as honesty, honour, dependability and
trustworthiness. People who behave with professional integrity generally
uphold a moral standard of conduct, both in professional as well as
personal endeavours.
These standards govern how professionals conduct themselves, their work
ethic and their co mmunication practices. Professional integrity is what
gives employees a reason to trust that leaders will place professional
standards over their own self -interests.
Honesty is the basis for maintaining integrity. Being loyal to a company,
producing the re sults expected of you and being trustworthy and reliable
are all qualities that characterize someone who has professional integrity.
5.7 UNIT END EXERCISE  Define Professional Integrity munotes.in

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77 Quality Management In Higher Education  State the importance of Professional Integrity for Educational Quality
in Management Sciences
 Describe Quality Management and Academic Leadership
 Elaborate Best Practices in Higher Education for Quality Management
5.8 REFERENCES  Segesten (2013; https://www.insidehighered.com/blogs/university -
venus/what -makesacademic -leader)
 Leaming, D. R. (1998). Academic leadership: A practical guide to
chairing the department. Bolton, MA: Anker Publishing.
 Best Practices in Higher Education for Quality Management, Printed
at Jwalamukhi Job Press, Bangalore -4, NAAC -
Pub/BPHE(Reprint)/06 -2005/4 000
 Quality Management Implementation in Higher Education: Practices,
Models, and Case Studies (Advances in Higher Education and
Professional Development) 1st Edition, Michael Sony (Author,
Editor), Kochu Therisa Karingada (Editor), Neeta Baporikar (Editor),
IGIGlobal; 1st edition (August 2, 2019)
 Total Quality Management in Higher Education: An Evaluation
Model for Practitioners Paperback – July 1, 2009 , Fatma Mizikaci
, LAP Lambert Academic Publishing (July 1, 2009)
 https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/23311975.2020.17492
17
 https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1100957.pdf
 https://asq.org/quality -resources/total -quality -management
 https://www.managementstudyguide.com/total -quality -
management.htm
 https://www.whatissixsigma.net/baldrige -award/
 https://www.lpmu.upj.ac.id/userfiles/files/01_%20M1 -
Designing_Effective_QMS -TrainIQA_compressed.pdf


*****
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78
6
CHALLENGES IN QUALITY
MANAGEMENT IN HIGHER EDUCATION
Unit Structure
6.0 Objectives
6.1 Introduction
6.2 Antecedents of higher education service quality
6.2.1Culture
6.2.2 Leadership
6.2.3 Commitment and job satisfaction
6.3 Assessing service quali ty within the educational environment.
6.4 Role of research, and Collaboration in Quality Management in Higher
Education
6.5 Let us Sum -up
6.6 Unit End Exercise
6.7 References
6.0 OBJECTIVES This chapter introduces Antecedents of higher education servi ce quality
related to culture, Leadership,Commit ment and job satisfaction. This
chapter also focus on Role of research, and Collaboration in Quality
Management in Higher Education.
This unit focuses on :
 Antecedents of higher education service quality
 effect of culture ,Leadership
 job satisfaction
 role of research and collaboration in Quality management
 service quality within the educational environment in higher
Education
6.1 INTRODUCTION Education is training of the senses to be repetitive and sensitive, of the
mind to control of the senses, of intelligence to be discriminative to give
right direction and of the body to be able to host the self ,part of the total
consciousness. munotes.in

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79 Quality Management In Higher Education The Chhandyogya Upanishad called upon quality in all actions. In the
Bhagvat Gi ta, Lord Krishna told Arjuna,’Yogaha karmasu kaushalam’, or
that quality at work itself is sadhana or the way to unite with God.`
Quality education focuses on the identification of the propensities of each
individual and nurturing such propensities for th e holistic development of
individuals. Mirambika, a school set up by the Aurobindo Ashram, is an
outstanding example; every student creates his or her own curriculum. The
school that nurtures and helps each child to optimize more his/her
potential, instead of converting all students into uniform industrial
products, is the one that offers quality in education.
Since last few years, there have been significant changes in the scenario of
the higher education in India. A number of private universities have
rapidly growing in every city of India and the trend continues. There are
large options to pursue any undergraduate, postgraduate or even doctoral
course, the students are spoilt for choices. The higher education sector has
undergone major changes througho ut the world which has led to increased
competition for institutions in this sector. In today‘s changing global
environment, every service institution is searching for innovative ways to
achieve competitive advantage, and improve efficiency.This chapter
introducesCulture, leadership, commitment and job satisfaction as
antecedents of higher education service quality.
6.2 ANTECEDENTS OF HIGHER EDUCATION SERVICE QUALITY In the last two decades Indian education system has witnessed remarkable
transformation. However, employability and skill development remain
major areas to focus on. Various disruptive innovations in education has
created opportunities in the field of education and social development.
Skill based and application oriented education has become need of time.
A marketing approach, examining students’ perceptions of service quality
in the context of higher education, will contribute to improve service
functions, attract and retain students. The metaphor about consumers in
marketing is that ‘the cu stomer is king’. However, its analogy that ‘the
student is king’ in higher education services marketing may not be true
Students are often considered as the finished products of educational
enterprises. The product analogy is also inappropriate in that a s tudent
become a skilled human resource with personal and social values, and
ethics, and self -esteem. Thus Education institutions were expected not
only to disseminate knowledge, but inculcate values ,research abilities
and ethics so as to develop nation.
The antecedent approach starts from customers. However, customer –
specific antecedent to service quality has received only a little attention.
The customer –specific antecedent approach helps by explaining the
formation of service quality in customers’ cogni tion antecedents to
perceived service quality are information and past experience. There are
three aspects of perceived service quality, namely, academic,
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80 Challenges In Quality Management In Higher Education Academic service quality refers to those service attributes that are
relevant to teaching quality and ability, course development and teacher –
student relationships.
Administrative service quality refers to those service attributes that are
relevant to skills and abilities of the administrative and supporting staff,
and the ir relationships with students.
Facilities service quality refers to those service attributes that are
required to create a good higher education environment.Service quality
dimensions that contributes to student satisfaction in higher education
Satisfacti on is a psychological state of happiness received in a transaction.
Satisfaction is idiosyncratic. As a result, students express varying levels of
satisfaction for the same experience that they experience.
6.2.1 Culture :
Culture is that the customs, belie fs and therefore the way of living shared
by a specific society/community/country. It refers to the values and norms
shared by a particular group of individuals. once we relate culture to
pedagogy it directly affect to students development. Every student i s
exclusive in interacting with the globe around them, and what they invoke
and receive from others and therefore the environment shapes how they
think and behave. Students growing up in numerous cultures receive
specific inputs from their environment. For that reason, there’s an
unlimited array of cultural differences in children’s beliefs and behavior.
Thus culture play vital role in students all -round development. Our
country India has huge cultural diversity. A culturally responsive
classroom is one whe re the scholars feel respected and safe to find out and
participate. it's an area where they develop a way of pride and self -esteem.
So it's an enormous challenge to manage Quality in Education . the
subsequent are few representative ways within which cult ural education
may affect to quality education
 Curriculum design: the foremost crucial challenge to construct
curriculum. In education, students with diverse backgrounds and
cultures are often marginalized because they're exposed to a
curriculum with one predominant cultural bias. It doesn't cater to the
culture that they are conscious of and are a component of this why it
is important to create a curriculum that features diverse perspectives.
In NEP2020 also concentrate on cross -curricular pedagogical
approach
 Teacher education: Teachers are the foremost important aspects of
culture -based learning as they must work towards motivating students
to realize not only academically, but also socially, culturally,
psychologically and spiritually. It should affect personal bias while in
teaching learning .Thus teacher -education programs should include
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81 Quality Management In Higher Education  Learning assessment: “one-size-fits-all” approaches to assessing
student learning could disadvantage for college kids differen t cultural
backgrounds. Generally speaking, proponents of multicultural
education tend to advocate that students from different cultural
backgrounds should be held to the same high expectations as other
students. Diverse culture results in interruption in teaching thanks to
dialect change. Students from diverse background and culture are less
adaptive to the fashionable education system. The second level is that
the level of being cultured. Culture represents an integrated
personality that's well rounded, e mits warmth and follows human
values. It’s manifested within the way a private treats himself or
herself, other groups of people, animals, plants, places, objects and
also the like. it's the totality of the person. for instance, a well -dressed
one who unhe sitatingly litters a railway platform or airport with
cigarette butts is also qualified but not necessarily cultured. Acharya
Vinoba Bhave's concept of prakriti (nature), vikriti (deformity or
distortion) and sanskriti (culture) represents this idea fine. the aim of
education is to culture the individual -develop the sanskriti.
6.2.2 Leadership :
A leader is 'someone who acts as a guide' (New Webster's Comprehensive
Dictionary of English Languages). Accordingly, the principal -the leader of
a school or a colle ge-is a guide for quality transformation.
The role of leadership in quality management forms the backbone of any
improvement strategy. Leaders provide a unity of purpose, and also give
the direction of the organisation. As such, the responsibility of leade rs
consists of making and maintaining the interior environment. During this
environment, staff are ready to become completely involved in achieving
the organisation’s goals and aims. Good leadership is crucial to enhance
quality across the organisation, be cause the leading force that sets
objectives and assists employees to implement these objectives.
Leadership has to undertake a fundamental role within the development of
organizational systems to get and sustain cultural change in schools.
School principa ls are confronted with a range of issues as they supply
leadership and organization to their schools.
Authority and power: ‘Authority’ and ‘Power’ are two concepts related to
Leadership. ‘Authority’ flows from official position (designated leaders)
and ‘Power’ flow from personal qualities of influencing others (ascribed
leaders).Authority and power, in an organization setting, are not black and
white situation. The Leadership does not usually follow hierarchy .It goes
more or less by whether someone is acce ptable a an academic leader of the
group.
Leadership is specialise in vision, empowerment, and reaching goals. . In
this way, leadership come to play a decisive role within the transformation
of attitudes, and management has got to adopt the appropriate h uman
resource practices so as to facilitate changes towards enhanced service
quality . Some challenges in leadership is as follows munotes.in

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82 Challenges In Quality Management In Higher Education  Develop challenging objectives and targets: principal or leader of
any organization through goal setting, leaders are able to foster
constant growth and development across the organisation, by
continually improving the standards of goals within each department.
To realize this goal is incredibly difficult to leader because it is in
continue process. Teach, train and coach employ ees –NEP2020 is
now accepted everywhere in India. plenty of major changes were
recommended during this policy. It is managements or leaders
responsibility to coach the teacher, make arrangement of various
training programme. For quality management it's nec essary to up -to-
date every employee.
 Visioning : Institution building must be guided by a future vision. The
vision should be comprehensive and indicative of the road ahead. It
must be shared, if not collective, so that everyone is involved in
organizationa l creativity, like the passionate working of several
creative artists on a mural or collage. Thus visioning for better future
is another challenge for good leadership.
 Encouraging risk -taking : Leadership for building quality institution
involves the abili ty to take risks -calculated risks. Innovations upset
dynamic equilibrium in institutions; hence it brings in resistance. One
of the challenges of a quality management leader is driving out the
fear by creating an environment for risk -taking. The leaders sh ould
encourage employee, 'Do not worry! I am there to take care of the
problems. Go ahead and innovate,' Thus leader can transforms an
institution into effective learning organization.
 Empowering colleagues : Quality being a continuous journey
involving e veryone, the leader of a quality institution invests in
capacity building and staff empowerment. On one hand, the leader
invests in carefully chosen and focused training programmes for the
staff; on the other, he fosters a culture of equality through
colle agueship in contradistinction to the hierarchical management in
ordinary institutions. Training in technical skills and promoting
collegiality by involving all in organizational decision -making should
be important investments in empowering colleagues. For this
purposeit is necessary to include efficient staff as well as a good
motivator leader.
 Removing roadblocks : An entrepreneur leader identifies the
roadblocks and bottlenecks and tears them down to facilitate the
movement for those who innovate. It is a difficult skill. First, it
requires perceptiveness to understand the problem that others face or
the courage to explore such problems. Second, it needs a proactive
mindset to facilitate others.
 Handling Student Discipline: school administrators manage the
daily issue of student discipline. Discipline in classroom, outside in
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83 Quality Management In Higher Education Leadership is all about influencing -motivating and inspiring people to
create vision Land achieve it. Vision can be total quali ty. Total quality
management (TQM) is a never -ending journey. It is a tryst with quality. It
is a passion, a pride (Peters and Austin, 1985), indeed an obsession. It is a
journey involving all, with a focus on the perceners. The challenge in
building a qua lity institution is in creating the passion, the obsession, and
the tryst with quality involving all in the organization.
6.2.3 Commitment and Job satisfaction :
Organization commitment plays an important role in any organization as
employees much satisfied and committed naturally work better in
organization and improve the productivity of the organizations. According
to Jaros (1997), organizational commitment is an important part of an
employee’s psychological state because employees who experience high
organizational commitment are theorized to engage in behaviour such as
citizenship activities and high job performance that are believed to be
beneficial to the organization. Organizational commitment is a
psychological state that binds the individual to orga nization in which they
work (Allen & Mayer, 1991)Commitment to the organization is the
strength of involvement with an organization (Brown 1969; Hall and
Schneider 1972; Moday et al. 1979).
The teacher is the central element in the educational system holdi ng
various important responsibilities. The overall performance of schools
depends upon their teachers and ultimately their level of commitment and
job satisfaction. Teacher’s organizational commitment reflects a
multidimensional psychological attachment of a teacher to a particular
school in which he or she belongs. Firestone and Rosenblum (1988)
defined teacher organizational commitment as teachers’ positive and
affective attachment to a particular school. Firestone and Rosenblum
(1998), further, referred to teachers commitment as the commitment to
students, commitment to teaching profession, and commitment to a
particular school.
Commitment and motivation -There may be a grammatical difference
between commitment and motivation. For practical purposes, commi tment
implies affiliation and attachment to work or profession. This depends on
the perception of the worthwhileness of the work one is engaged in.
Although many teachers may have joined the profession by default or as a
last choice, many others chose this profession because they thought it was
worthwhile, and they continue to show their affiliation to all that they do.
First key to developing commitment is to inculcate the sense of
worthwhileness in what the employee does. There is the famous parable of
the three stonecutters in a temple complex. When questioned what they
were doing, each responded differently.
• I'm breaking stones.'
• I'm making a sculpture.'
• I'm constructing a temple.' munotes.in

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84 Challenges In Quality Management In Higher Education Pride in what they were doing. Recently, a dedicated social acti vist while
conducting a staff development programme for primary school teachers
asked them, 'Why do you teach?' After a lot of debate and discussion, they
discovered that they teach because they have the responsibility of
developing the right citizens for the country. In their own statements,
teachers hardly ever realized that they were engaged in such worthwhile
work. In another instance, a professor was conducting technical sessions in
a refresher programme for senior IAS officers. He did well. As a token of
appreciation, two participating officers asked the professor why did he not
join the IAS, which is by far the most important profession. The professor
politely responded, I work in the mother profession -teaching. We produce
engineers, doctors, lawyers, industrialists, ministers, bureaucrats, and what
not. I am in the best profession under the sun. Indeed, next to God with her
grace. I would have joined another profession if I could not make it to
teaching.' This displayed a strong sense of worthwhilenes s in teaching.
Some of the factors such as role stress, empowerment, job insecurity and
employability, and distribution of leadership have been shown to be
connected to a worker's sense of organizational commitment.Teacher’s
organizational commitment can b e high and low. High committed teachers
are much less likely to leave their work of teaching and they are also less
likely to be absent from school, while low committed teachers are often
absent from school to engage more attractive activities such as head ing for
urban area to caring family.
Affective commitment :
Affective Commitment is defined as the employee's positive emotional
attachment to the organization. Meyer and Allen pegged AC as the
"desire" component of organizational commitment. An employee wh o is
affectively committed strongly identifies with the goals of the organization
and desires to remain a part of the organization. This employee commits to
the organization because he/she "wants to".
Continuance commitment :
Continuance commitment is that the "need" component or the gains versus
losses of working in a company. Investments, are the gains and losses
which will occur should a personal stay or leave a company. An individual
may decide to the organization because he/she perceives a high cost of
losing organizational membership
Things like economic costs (such as pension accruals) and social costs
(friendship ties with co -workers) would be costs of losing organizational
membership. But an individual doesn't see the positive costs as enough to
rema in with a company they have to also take into consideration the
supply of alternatives (such as another organization), disrupt personal
relationships, and other "side bets" that may be incurred from leaving their
organization. The matter with this can be t hat these "side bets" don't occur
directly but that they "accumulate with age and tenure".
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85 Quality Management In Higher Education Normative commitment :
Normative Commitment, which is one's desire to stay in the organization
because of tasks and work obligation, dedication, or morale. Normally,
this commitment is encouraged by individual culture and work ethics,
making one feels obliged to keep staying in the organization. This
commitment is different than the other two commitments because this
commitment does not relate to the purpose or missio n of the organization,
but purely because of the values being carried along by the personnel
From this above discussion, a commitment means an employee’s loyalty
towards its organization is referred as organizational commitment. There
are other variables as well which are connected to the same concept of
organizational commitment, like; desire to maintain membership, degree
of goal and value congruency with the organization, and willingness to
exert effort on behalf of the organization.Committed employees
potentially find their performance facilitated by receiving timely, clear and
accurate information from their superiors.Moreover, organizational
commitment is an antecedent of organiational citizenship behavior that in
turn significantly influences employe e performance
Organizational commitment is determined by a number of factors,
including personal and organizational factors .Following are some Factors
affecting to commitment -
Salary and Rewards :
The salary, benefits and other rewards available in organiz ation Salary is
most important factor that the employee feels recognized by the
organization.
Career Progression :
The availability of promotion opportunities, the clarity of career paths and
the speed of promotion.
Personal Growth :
The availability and qu ality of training and the commitment of the
organisation to identify training needs and to provide appropriate support.
Cooperation :
Relationships with colleagues and team members and whether there is a
sense of community.
Some of the factors such as role stress, empowerment, job insecurity
andemployability, and distribution of leadership have been shown to be
connected to a worker's senseof organizational commitment.This reveals
that teachers commitment is a very crucial issue in the implementation of
vision, goals, and mission of the education sector .
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86 Challenges In Quality Management In Higher Education Job satisfaction :
One of the most crucial concepts of behavior in organization is discussion
of job satisfaction.Job satisfaction is one of the important elements to
measure employees’ feelings about their job and has significant effects on
the development of organizations and employees themselves .It always
been introduced implications for how to the satisfaction and dissatisfaction
and it was considered as one of the crucial factors in the success or failu re
of a job.Job satisfaction is a collection of compatible and incompatible
feelings that employees view to their jobs and in fact job satisfaction can
be defined as pleasant and positive state of job evaluation or job
experience.
Job satisfaction is commo nly defined as the extent to which employees
like their work. One of the most widely used definitions in organizational
research is that of Edwin A. Locke (1976), who defines job satisfaction as
"a pleasurable or positive emotional state resulting from the appraisal of
one's job or job experiences" (p. 1304). Others have defined it as simply
how content an individual is with his or her job; whether he or she likes
the job.Maslow's theory for a long time was central base of the
management theory. This focus o n the individual application level
satisfying their needs, especially with regard to the individual's working
life, helping us to better understand employees' needs and motivations. Job
satisfaction is level of a positive feeling of employees.Luthans (1992 )
pointed out five contributing factors to job satisfaction, namely (a)
working conditions, wage, managerial policies and strategies, quality of
working environment, and different trends regarding working
environment. Amongst others, the wage is of the mos t influencing factor
to job satisfaction because of the employee’s basic need of working is to
increase his or her wealth.
Job satisfaction depends on several different factors such as satisfaction
with pay, promotion opportunities, job security, relations hip with co -
workers and supervisors, etc.
Factors affecting the level of job satisfaction are:
1. Working Environment : They need an environment which is healthy
and safe and which caters to both personal comforts and facilitates
doing a good job. If the wo rking conditions are good (clean, attractive
surroundings), the employee will find it easier to carry out their jobs.
2. Fair Policies and Practice : Individuals who perceive that promotion
decisions are made in a fair and just manner are likely to experie nce
satisfaction from their jobs. Very often employees are demotivated
and dissatisfied with their jobs because unfair policies and practices
prevail at their place of work.
3. Appreciation : Even for the smaller job that does one seek to have an
appreciati on, from colleagues, boss, and seniors. When one gets
acknowledged in front of everyone, it gives up a boost to their morale. munotes.in

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87 Quality Management In Higher Education When appreciation leads to encouragement, the ultimate result is
reflected in the efficiency of work automatically.
4. Promotion : Promotional opportunities seem to have a varying effect
on job satisfaction. This is because promotions take some different
forms and have a variety of accompanying rewards.
5. Initiation and Leadership : If an employee is given an equal number
of opportun ities to show their talent, take the lead and initiate then the
chances of having a higher level of job satisfaction is more.Suppose in
an organization; no employee is asked to give suggestions, nobody is
bothered to inform them of the decision.
6. Safety and Security : These days companies are taking endless
measures in order to see that an employee is catered to a different
kind of facilities like health care and medical checkups. In this
pandemic situation it’s a need to having medical insurance. There ar e
a few institutions that also provide insurance policies at a lower rate.
Hence, this aspect of safety and security plays a major role. If an
employee didn’t feel safe and secured at the organization that he or
she works in, the level of job satisfaction is ultimately going to fall.
7. Responsibilities : This suggests that when an employee is given a
bigger responsibility it makes him or her conscious about the fact that
the employers think him or her as a capable and trustworthy
candidate .
8. Creativity in Job: Job satisfaction is always higher wherever
creativity is involved. The creative freedom gives a sense of
fulfillment whenever any project is complete.
9. Personal Interest and Hobbies : People who pursue their hobbies and
interest as their career, gai n the highest level of satisfaction in
whatever they do at their workplace. This is because their job is not a
job for them, but a way of getting closer to their interest and making
money. Whatever, they will be more than just to have a promotion.
10 Feedb ack: Not receiving feedback on their work can be quite
discouraging for most people. Effective feedback will help the team
members know where they are and how they can improve. In the case
of negative feedback, it’s not enough to simply point out what is
wrong. One should explain the reason something they did isn’t
working, and how it might be corrected.
For each working personal job satisfaction has a different meaning. There
are different factors that influence the level of job satisfaction. The ones
that are listed above are the most common ones. It is vital for an employee
to have a satisfaction level derived from the job that he or she is doing.
Check your progress:
 How culture is effect on Quality Education? munotes.in

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88 Challenges In Quality Management In Higher Education  What are different challenges in Leadership?
 Which factors affecting commitment?
 Define job satisfaction? And what are different aspects of it.
6.3 ASSESSING SERVICE QUALITY WITHIN THE EDUCATIONAL ENVIRONMENT . Service quality is one of the most important determinants of customer
satisfaction and it has been related to customer satisfaction and service
delight (Ahrholdt, Gudergan, and Ringle 2017 ) as relevant antecedents of
customer loyalty in different service contexts . service quality is a
judgment about overall excellence of services, and it is more descriptive
and factual.In the educational context, quality assessment is widely
debated and accepted as relevant given the current competitiveness
requirements that deman d greater transparency and responsibility to
society.
Quality is way tougher and complicated to define in the service sector,
which is usually named as Service Quality. Within the current
socioeconomic context, the service sector has become progressively m ore
important. Continuous improvement of customer service is essential to
successful development of business in today’s competitive, dynamic and
complicated business environment. From the past three decades measuring
service quality in educational activity , attained greater concentration
thanks to high competition among the institutes evolved globally. Here,
the education sector is treated as service sector and students are treated as
the customers. Andtherefore the government, entrepreneurs, parents,
stude nts, industry and society are considered as the secondary customers
of education .The academic staff and other employees may also be
considered service recipients.Hill (1995) stated that students play a key
role within the pedagogy service and that they sh ould be regarded as
primary customers of upper education services. The institutions also strive
to provide quality of education and recognition for the institutional
contributions to draw in more number of scholars. Higher education
institutions are compet ing uncompromisingly to realize competitive
advantage through service quality. Service Quality plays an important role
within the success of upper education sector. Today quality management
and assessment of service quality is extremely important for an
organization to sustain during this cutthroat competition world. During
this scenario there are number of studies took place, various models and
scales are developed extensively to live service quality to maximum extent
in educational activity.
Service quali ty: Concept :
Service quality concept is defined by many authors in different
perspectives and difficult to consensus the definition. Lewis & Booms
(1983) defined service quality as a measure of how well the service
matches customer expectations. Gronroos ( 1984) identified two service munotes.in

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89 Quality Management In Higher Education quality dimensions namely functional quality and technical quality. The
functional quality involves performance in which service delivered and
technical quality the actual outcome of delivered service.The concept
service qualit y is mainly based on the perception of the customers. When
service provider came to an understanding how the customer evaluation
and assessing the service, it become easy to manage the expectations and
to influence them in an effective manner.The managemen t of quality
needs a different approach when it comes to the services sector. Among all
the service sectors, higher education needs a special emphasis on
evaluating the issues related to quality of services and its
measurement.The importance of service qua lity in higher education has
been gradually realized and the role of service quality in higher education
has attracted increased attention in the last two decades. Higher education
institutions must determine their needs and demands, as students are
stake holders and customers in this setting, and customer satisfaction is
attached to service quality.The development of higher education service
quality was attached to the organization’s ability to ensure an overall
climate and culture for change through its v arious decision -making and
operating systems and human resource activities.
Service Quality Dimensions :
 Assurance : Refers to the ability of faculty and staff to provide trust
and confidence to students. According to Parasuraman et
al.(1988)assurance is kno wn as the level of the service delivered to
customers that is believable and can be trusted.
 Empathy : The empathy dimension of service quality is defined as
showing care and provides individualized attention to students. A
good academic environment in a hi gher learning institution is not only
to establish a good teaching and learning culture for sharing of
knowledge but also to be able to involve in the student’s personal
development as well as academic matters by giving care and advice.
 Reliability : It is defined as the level of the knowledge and
information learnt is accurate (Yong, 2000; Garvin, 1987). The
reliability dimension of service quality is defined to which extent the
correct, accurate and up -to-date knowledge and information are
fulfilling and a lso perform the services promised to students.
 Responsiveness : Defined as the level of services provided is able to
help customer promptly (Yong, 2000). It involves the willingness to
provide prompt or favorable services by the faculty and staff to
student s.
 Tangibles : The tangibles dimension of service quality refers to the
tangible condition and facilities in higher learning institutions. It is
important for setting up a clear transmission of knowledge in the
learning and teaching process with the presenc e of equipment and
facilities like well -equipped laboratories; adequate stocked library
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90 Challenges In Quality Management In Higher Education comprehensive information system and also the support facilities like
sports and recreation center s.
Improvements in service quality at higher education institutions can have a
direct bearing on the students’ performance within the institution and in so
doing contribute to improving their overall quality of qualifications
obtained. Thus service qualit y can improve performance or encourage
performance by the student.
Check your progress:
 What is Service Quality?
 What are different dimensions of service quality?
6.4 ROLE OF RESEARCH, AND COLLABORATION IN QUALITY MANAGEMENT IN HIGHER EDUCATION Research is one of the two major functions of a university the other being
teaching. In the established universities, faculty members are expected to
demonstrate a commitment to research, and most departments have
important on -going research projects sponsored by dif ferent funding
agencies. Some departments in the colleges, which conduct postgraduate
programmes, are also undertaking research though to a limited extent. The
general understanding is that research contributes to excellence in
teaching, as it keeps the te acher updated in knowledge, and should,
therefore, be considered as being a primary function of teachers.'Research
activity include articles in newspapers and magazines, preliminary
findings of surveys and results of routine testing and analysis.. It has t o be
understood that research leads to the generation of new and meaningful
data, to the development of new ideas, hypotheses and concepts, and to
novel and relevant interpretations. The University Funding Council of UK,
for its Research Assessment Exercis e (RAE), conducted in 1989, defined
research as follows: "Research for the purpose of the Council's review, is
to be understood as original investigation, undertaken in order to gain
knowledge and understanding. In the humanities it includes scholarship
that leads to new or substantially improved insights, in science and
technology it includes the use of existing knowledge in experimental
development to produce new or substantially improved materials, devices,
products and processes, including design and co nstruction. It excludes
routine testing and analysis if materials, components and processes -for
maintenance of national standards as distinct from the development of new
analytical techniques" (Jones, 1989).
Importance of Research in Quality Management in Higher Education :
Whatever type of educational research you are pursuing in Quality
management in Higher Education , though, recall that the purpose of
educational research is to improve educational practice. Having an
understanding of educational research and conducting high quality munotes.in

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91 Quality Management In Higher Education educational research can have the following benefits for educational
practice:
 Provide instruction that maximizes students' learning.
 Understand and support the developmental needs of pupils.
 Develop an educational environment that supports students'
motivation.
 Provide solutions to educational problems.
 Research plays a crucial role in knowledge advancement across
different fields of study.
 It provides answers to practical educational challenges using scientific
methods.
 Findi ngs from educational research; especially applied research, are
instrumental in policy reformulation.
 Identify problems /challenges in field of Quality management in
Higher Education. In addition, suggest remedies for the same.
Therefore, develop a resea rch study that can have a significant impact on
improving the teaching -learning situation.Research in the established and
reputed departments, revolves around individuals and groups, and there is
a harmonious interaction between mature and fresh minds. Sha ring of
information, free discussions and cooperation are the characteristics of a
good department.
Research is one of the two basic functions of a university, and every effort
must be made to achieve excellence. It is the responsibility of university
mana gers to provide adequate research facilities to its faculty and also
help in creating a proper ethos. The nature of research to be encouraged
depends upon a number of factors, including the traditions of the
university and the expectations of society. Howe ver, there has to be a
conscious effort to cultivate excellence and this implies proper evaluation
and introspection.
Check your progress:
 Define Research in quality management in Higher Education.
 Illustrate Importance of Research
6.5 LET US SUM -UP In thi s unit, we learn different challenges in higher education. In Quality
Management culture play important role.These include the complex
interrelatedness of the daily life challenges facing students regarding the
forming and the importance of intercultural r elations, which is impacted
by gender, the presence of tradition custom, and languages spoken. We munotes.in

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92 Challenges In Quality Management In Higher Education also discussed Leadership and its challenges. Job satisfaction and
commitment is major factor in Quality management. This chapter focus on
service quality.It is evident from the studies that the service quality
dimensions vary across industries, county and culture. For identifying
various factor and to overcome on it, Research play vital role in quality
management in higher education.
6.6 UNIT END EXERCISE  What is culture ? How it affect to quality management in Higher
education? Suggest implication on it.
 "Modern quality management requires customer
satisfaction”, Explain, with examples, why it is important for quality
management.
 What is Job satis faction ? Expla in, with examples, why this is
important for quality management.
 What is difference in job commitment and job satisfaction?
 Why Quality service is important in higher education?
 What is research in quality management in higher education ? What is
role of re search in it?
6.7 REFERENCES  Hemalata, T., &Ruhela, S.P. (1997). Educational Management -
Innovative global patterns. New Delhi: Regency Publication
 Mukhopadhaya, M. (2000): Total Quality in Education, NIEPA, New
Delhi.
 Mukherjee, P.N. (2010). Total Qualit y Management, New Delhi: PHI
Learning Pvt.ltd. Pathan, S.
 Richard D. Freedman (1982) - Management Education, John
Waliaand sons, New York.
 Ahmed et al., (2000). Does service quality affect students‟
performance? Evidence from institutes of higher learning. African
Journal of Business Management, 4(12), 2527 - 2533.
 Angell, R.J., Heffernan, T.W. and Megicks, P. (2008), Service quality
in postgraduate education, Quality Assurance in Education, Vol. 16
No. 3, pp. 236 -54
 Hooijberg, R. & Choi, J. (2000), Which le adership roles matter to
whom? An examination of rater effects on perceptions of
effectiveness, Leadership Quarterly, Vol.11, No.3, pp. 341 –364 munotes.in

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93 Quality Management In Higher Education  Peter Meusburger , Michael Heffernan Laura
Suarsan(2017)Geographies of the University, published by the
register ed company Springer International PublishingISSN 1877 -9220
Knowledge and Space ISBN 978 -3-319-75592 -2 ISBN 978 -3-319-
75593 -9 (eBook) https://doi.org/10.1007/978 -3-319-75593 -9
 Phadke, K. S. (2011). C onsequences of service quality linkage –An
insight from an empirical investigation in higher education.Indian
Journal of Marketing, Volume 41, No.8, August, ISSN 0973 -8703.
 Mukhopadhaya, M. (2000): Total Quality in Education, NIEPA, New
Delhi.
 M.Sreerama R aju1 , Dr.N.Udaya Bhaskar(2018),Service Quality in
Higher Education – A Critical Review
 ‘A melting pot of cultures’ –challenges in social adaptation and
interactions amo ngst international medical students | BMC Medical
Education | Full Text (biomedcentral.com)
 Higher Education Leadership Challenges | Maryville Online
 Importance of Culture -Based Education (sarvalokaa.org)



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