A diverse society has created a diverse education system, which in turn requires diverse and complex mechanisms of quality control. The diversity and complexity of the industrial, service, and knowledge-based economy, with its vast variety of occupations and dynamic labor markets, heavily influences the curricular structures and academic profiles…

Increasingly, higher education institutions are using Total Quality Management (TQM) as a vehicle for delivering cost-effective programs and services. The TQM philosophy is that quality can be improved by ceaselessly improving the processes that support the institution's mission. TQM is applicable to institutional research and planning as well as…

A study of the use of performance indicators in assessing the quality of higher education investigated the potential contribution to quality control of 17 indicators. It is concluded that of the 17, only 7 have high or medium impact, while 10 have low to marginal impact. Concerns regarding government use of performance indicators intended for…

This paper describes first year implementation efforts of Southwest Texas (SWT) State University to develop a system to integrate planning, budgeting, assessment, and quality to improve the delivery of education and other services to all the institution's customers. The document addresses the common situation when an organization already has…

A college's administrative services and support units must give attention to improving quality and service just as instructional units do. Greater efficiency and productivity among noninstructional units can have a significant impact on institutional feasibility. Cost reduction is most effective when there is a common understanding of core…

Understanding the principles underlying the Total Quality Management approach is essential to using it effectively in higher education. These include establishing a customer-focused mission; creating a vision; improving the process continuously; using systematic analysis; promoting participation; and recognizing the college or university as a…

An experimental program at the University of Woollongong (Australia) identified a quality management framework, developed indicators of institutional performance, created a database for user-defined information needs, and provided access to information at all institutional levels. The project explored use of performance indicators and demonstrated…

This paper describes the application of a Total Quality Management strategy called Plan-Do-Check-Act (PDCA) to the projects and activities of an institutional research office at the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. PDCA is a cycle designed to facilitate incremental continual improvement through change. The specific steps are…

Reports on a five-year ethnographic, longitudinal study of a British higher education college during a process of change in quality assurance. Identifies tensions experienced during the process and stresses the influence of context, the unpredictability of change, and the lack of simple prescriptions for managing change projects. (DB)

Three models for college and university decision-making about scarce resources are outlined: (1) shared governance, (2) corporate management, and (3) total quality management. Two underlying principles of all the models are, first, that faculty are the heart of the institution and, second, that successful institutions are governed through the…

Strategies for promoting efficient control of quality in colleges and universities are examined. It is proposed that integration of external review and institutional self-evaluation can be used to support the goals of accountability, efficiency, and institutional effectiveness. (MSE)

Benchmarking, associated with quality management philosophy currently common in higher education institutions, identifies processes considered to be the standard to emulate. A benchmark student administrative services area represents the best related processes brought together in one institution. A benchmark institution is described. It is argued…

This paper reports on applications of quality tools, developed for industrial settings, to educational management and instruction at three technical education centers. The necessary data were collected by the centers as they prepared for registration to the International Standards Organization Quality Assurance Standards. Application was made of…

A strong institutional self-study will focus on five questions: (1) Is the school meeting its declared purpose? (2) Is the study objective? (3) Does it show an intent to improve the institution? (4) Does it help enhance the institution's distinctiveness while maintaining programatic balance? and (5) Does it see self-renewal as ongoing in the…

Total Quality Management methods can build on conventional performance indicators to enhance their usefulness in monitoring and improving quality and effectiveness in higher education institutions. Experience with these methods at colleges and universities, particularly in several academic and administrative areas at Pennsylvania State University,…