Excellence, equity and efficiency are key drivers for improvement in Scotland's education sector, including educational psychology. This paper discusses and evaluates the decisions taken by one Scottish Educational Psychology Service towards achieving the key outcomes of excellence, equity and efficiency through a redesign of their service…

This paper proposed a valid and reliable perceived quality assessment framework of administrative services in Higher Education Institutions (HEI) in the Brazilian context. The method was in two main stages: (i) map a set of quality attributes and dimensions for administrative services in HEI, (ii) build and test the perceived quality assessment…

This paper aims to elaborate on the use of Six Sigma and Kaizen in policing services. Two case examples are discussed, followed by a review of the key implications obtained from the projects. In optimising the quality of policing services to the community, the police agencies in the UAE are faced with numerous challenges. This paper aims to…

The training and licencing of aircraft maintenance engineers fulfils a crucial protective function since it is they who perform and supervise aircraft maintenance and certify that planes are safe afterwards. In Australia, prior to training reform, a trades-based system of aircraft maintenance engineer training existed in an orderly relation with…

"New" school inspections are essential parts of "evidence-based governance" concepts and have been implemented by many European countries as a major strategy to assure and improve the effectiveness and quality of their education systems. However, national inspection systems vary in their composition and in their contextual…

With decentralisation becoming increasingly widespread across Europe, evaluation and accountability are becoming key issues in ensuring quality provision for all (Altrichter & Maag Merki, 2010; Eurydice, 2004). In Europe, the dominant arrangement for educational accountability is school inspections. The purpose of this research is to identify…

India and China are two fast growing economies of the world and need large skill based manpower to sustain the economic growth. The existing formal higher educational system in these countries will not be able to meet the demand of the economy. The paper will try (i) to compare the development of economy and distance education in India and China…

During the last couple of years the Norwegian media have on several occasions highlighted failings in the Child Welfare Services, and in particular the failure of finding good foster carers for children and young people who need it. An additional discussion has been the use of private actors in the care market, a discussion that to some extent…

The paper draws on the underpinnings of SERVQUAL (a Service Quality measurement model) and explores three key aspects of service standards as adopted by an Engineering School in Singapore: customer orientation, course design/delivery and support services. Qualitative methodology was employed and data were collected by means of structured in-depth…

This article reviews a possibility to assess university studies as a service. University studies have to be of high quality both in their content and in the administrative level. Therefore, quality of studies as a service is an important constituent part of study quality assurance. When assessing quality of university studies as a service, it is…

Higher education systems worldwide are currently facing a trio of competing challenges: increasing access and absorbing demand; promoting and safeguarding quality; and reducing and minimising costs to students, taxpayers and other investors. The growth of private (profit and not-for-profit) educational provision worldwide, in addition to other…

It might not have been quite what he had in mind when he said it, but Aristotle was right: good quality assurance must be a habit embedded at every level within higher education, not an isolated occurrence. But even good habits can become mere routine, in danger of being emptied of their original purpose and meaning. Periodically, review and…

The question of the manner in which universities have organised themselves to embed the "quality" agenda in Scotland is addressed in this paper by considering whether the seemingly different structures generated are in fact sophisticated and efficient forms of resource allocation, or organic and emergent structures with only local…

Purpose: The aim of this paper is to identify the quality determinants for education services provided by higher education institutions (HEIs) in Greece and to measure their relative importance from the students' points of view. Design/methodology/approach: A multi-criteria decision-making methodology was used for assessing the relative importance…

Both the public and private higher education sectors in Oman are undergoing rapid change in the number and type of local and foreign degrees offered. The Sultanate is developing a comprehensive quality assurance system to ensure the educational appropriateness of all degrees awarded in Oman. This paper examines the collaboration between the…