Total cost management, an innovation useful in higher education, is best implemented in the institution's support services. Total cost management is the practice of analyzing and improving an institution's financial and qualitative performance when producing a particular product or service, paying attention to the complete work process and all…

Argues that quality in faculty research does not translate directly into quality in teaching, and industrial modes of quality-assurance involving strong central management control are inappropriate for universities. The link between research and teaching is in mechanisms supporting quality. Academics know how to support quality in research; the…

The final paper in this theme issue summarizes concerns related to establishing a national quality assurance system for institutions of higher education in South Africa. Proposes a three-phase approach to establishing a national quality assurance system to include: (1) evaluation of existing institutional self-evaluation systems; (2) establishment…

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)

Outlines quality assurance schemes for distance-education technologies that are based on the ISO 9000 family of international quality-assurance standards. Argues that engineering faculties can establish such systems on the basis of and integrated with accreditation schemes. Contains 34 references. (DDR)

Discusses scholarly misconduct as a source of misinformation on the Web and describes the results of focus interviews conducted in Singapore that considered the potential impact of misinformation on the Web. Topics include motivation for publication; motivation for misconduct; improving information literacy; and possibilities for quality control.…

Considers the impact of the Internet on scholarly journals. Discusses efficiency; dissemination of information; peer review process; a quality rating system that would allow submission of an article to a family of journals of differing prestige; the revision process; lower costs; universities as publishers; and multimedia possibilities. (LRW)

This article examines the interrelations between establishment of territorial quality certification systems (Protected Designations of Origin or PDOs), diffusion of innovations through local agro-food chains, and the role of the institutions overseeing geographical designations. Empirical analysis is applied to olive oil PDOs in Spain and entails…

Nursing home medical-record documentation of daily-care occurrence may be inaccurate, and information is not documented about important quality-of-life domains. The inadequacy of medical record data creates a barrier to improving care quality, because it supports an illusion of care consistent with regulations, which reduces the motivation and…

Assessments such as ranking exercises arguably level the playing field for stakeholders. Quality assurance may remain a challenge for consumers, but "public" assessments do provide a nominal element of independence or autonomy. This article outlines, from a German perspective, the way in which research assessments are frequently subject…

Brigham Young University's Center for Instructional Design (CID) creates online courses and multimedia instructional applications for university faculty. This paper asserts that including usability testing as a part of evaluation improves the quality and effectiveness of computer-mediated instruction. The paper describes the fundamental purpose…

This paper examines some of the ways in which subject review can contribute to the scholarship of teaching. Subject review was a quality assessment process conducted under the auspices of the UK's Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education. A preliminary discussion considers the potential and pitfalls of using subject review as a basis for…

Data-driven decision-making (D3M) appears to be the new buzz phrase for this century, the information age. On the education front, teachers and administrators are engaging in data-centered dialog in grade-level meetings, lounges, hallways, and classrooms as they brainstorm toward closing the gap in student achievement. Clearly, such discussion…

When dealing with the issues of quality control and the rights of parents to direct the upbringing of their school-aged children, one of the key factors that affects parental rights is compulsory attendance laws. Put another way, insofar as parents must educate their children, whether in regular public or nonpublic schools or by homeschooling…

Higher education in South Africa has been grappling with the issue of quality assurance since the early 1990s. This paper investigates the relationships or tensions between quality, culture and change as a result of the introduction of quality assurance systems in higher education institutions in South Africa. The imperatives for the introduction…