External quality audits are now being used in universities across the world to improve quality assurance, accountability for quality education and transparency of public funding of higher education. Some countries such as Australia, New Zealand, United Kingdom, Sweden and Denmark have had external quality audits for more than a decade but there…

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 annual meeting of the ENQA (European Association for Quality Assurance in Higher Education) IQA (internal quality assurance) Group gathered some 60 participants in the premises of the Accreditation Organisation of the Netherlands and Flanders (NVAO) in The Hague in June 2009. This seminar was a successful follow-up to the first ENQA IQA…

Describes two Malaysian organizations that the government has appointed to spearhead the dissemination of the QCC (quality control circles) concept and activities: The National Productivity Center and the National Institute of Public Administration. The author also examines the basic concepts of the QCC in Malaysia. (CT)

Discusses the types of training programs the National Productivity Board (Singapore) considers essential to nurture quality control circles (QCC) and describes promotional activities organized to help QCC practitioners better understand the QCC concept. (CT)

A pilot study evaluated participation of 18 undergraduate students for one year in two Students' Quality Control Circles (SQCC) at the Faculty of Business and Management, Institut Teknologi MARA (Malaysia). Feedback from the students indicated that the SQCC was a suitable learning process and that it could be adopted as a subject. (DB)

Analysis of the typical training program provided to Japanese workers reveals a potential curriculum component that might be adopted by technology educators to teach quality control. The component focuses on the use of statistical techniques, participative problem solving, and creativity training. (CH)

Quality circles (QCs) are small volunteer groups of workers who meet weekly with a trained leader operating to a strict code of conduct. They use techniques of brainstorming, cause and effect classification, pareto analysis, and presentation to consider work-related problems and recommend solutions to management. QCs have been tried in educational…

Quality is at the top of most agendas, and improving quality is probably the most important task facing any institution. In addition, quality is difficult to define or measure. This book, the second edition of "Total Quality Management in Education," introduces the key concepts of Total Quality Management (TQM) and demonstrates how they…

This paper provides information about the development of a successful quality-assurance process in the New South Wales, Australia, school system. In 1992 the New South Wales (NSW) government announced its commitment to a program of quality-assurance reviews of schools. During that year, approximately 100 meetings were held with principals, school…