Quality Management in Higher Education. The principles of quality management
were originally developed in the USA in the nineteen-fifties, were adopted with ...
Quality Management in Higher Education The principles of quality management were originally developed in the USA in the nineteen-fifties, were adopted with significant worldwide commercial success by the manufacturing sector in Japan in the nineteen-sixties and, as a consequence, were adopted by manufacturers in the USA during the nineteen-seventies and eighties (Sallis, 1996; Srikanthan and Dalrymple, 2003; Lagrosen, Hashemi and Leitner, 2004; Travers, 2007). Following their success in the manufacturing industries, quality management systems have since been adopted globally across many other sectors including government services, the military, community services, health and education. The higher education sector at both government and institution level has been progressively introducing quality management systems over the last two decades (Srikanthan and Dalrymple, 2003; Haug, 2003; Materu, 2007; Brookes and Becket, 2007), most notably in the USA and Europe, but also in the Middle and Near East, Africa, China, South East Asia, the UK, Australia and New Zealand. This has led to a significant level of debate within institutions and between academics on the relevance of such systems to higher education. Opponents have focused on concerns about restrictions to academic freedoms, risk averse processes that may stifle innovation and the emergence of managerialism, or the burgeoning of administrative control, whereas proponents have pointed to the benefits of effective change management, continuous improvement cycles, higher academic standards, increased staff and student satisfaction and forward planning (see the commentaries by Harvey and Green, 1993; Biggs, 2001; Lomas, 2001; Srikanthan and Dalrymple, 2002; Vidovich, 2002; Hodson and Thomas, 2003; Cruikshank, 2003; Chua, 2004; Vidovich, 2004; Hoecht, 2006; Mizikaci, 2009; Williams, 2009; Reid, 2009). Although the debate has been vigorous amongst and within providers, governments have almost universally embraced quality management as a regulatory tool for higher education provision in their jurisdictions. Twenty-nine national higher education quality regulatory agencies have been established in Europe and the UK alone over the last decade1. Similar agencies have been established in nearly every country that has higher education providers. The Australian Universities Quality Agency (AUQA) was established by the Ministerial Council on Education, Training and Youth Affairs (MCEETYA) in March 20002. The proliferation of national quality agencies is attributed to the changes worldwide in the universities in the nineteen-eighties and nineties from elitist institutions to providers of mass education (Eriksen, 1995; Lomas, 2001; Chevallier, 2002; Randall, 2002; Naidoo, 2003; Srikanthan and Dalrymple, 2003; Williams, 2009). This led to a large increase in student numbers (which nearly doubled in the UK in the nineties, for example), significant changes to student cohorts and the requirement from governments that higher education providers be more accountable for the quality of the education offered and the outcomes for students (Campbell and Wende, 2000; Vidovich, 2002 and
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European Association for Quality Assurance in Higher Education: http://www.enqa.eu/ Australian Universities Quality Agency: http://www.auqa.edu.au/
2004; Marginson, 2002; Chevallier, 2002; Hodson and Thomas, 2003; Naidoo, 2003; Srikanthan and Dalrymple, 2003; Karmel, 2004; Freedman, 2006; Williams, 2009). National quality agencies continue to progressively introduce regulatory frameworks that require higher education providers to more extensively embed quality management principles in their systems. The future for higher education worldwide includes increased regulation through external assessment processes that target institutional quality management systems. In Australia, the national regulator audits the quality systems of higher education providers. In 2005, UTAS underwent its first national quality audit. One of the key recommendations from the audit report3 was that UTAS should develop an articulated quality system. The debate on whether quality management systems are suitable for higher education providers, in Australia or elsewhere with national regulation of the sector, has therefore become moot to the extent that they are here to stay for the foreseeable future. Rather, the central question for providers is how best to develop such a system (Yorke, 1999; Newman and Courturier, 2002; Srikanthan and Dalrymple, 2003; Hodson and Thomas, 2003; Cruikshank, 2003; Hoecht, 2006). To see information on the quality system at UTAS go to http://www.dvc.utas.edu.au/quality References Biggs, J. TQM in higher education – a review. The International Journal of Quality & Reliability Management, Vol. 14, Iss. 5; p.527. 1997. Bogue, E. and Bingham Hall, K. Quality and Accountability in Higher Education. Praeger. Westport. 2003. Bou-Llusar, J.; Escrig-Tena, A.; Roca-Puig, R.; Beltran-Martin, I. An empirical assessment of the EFQM excellence Model: Evaluation as a TQM framework relative to the MBNQA Model. Journal of Operations Management, 29, pp.1-22. 2009. Brookes, M. & Becket, N. Quality management in higher education: A review of international issues and practice. International Journal of Quality Standards, 1(1), pp. 85– 121. 2007. Campbell, C and Wende, M. International Initiatives and Trends in Quality Assurance for European Higher Education. The European Network for Quality Assurance in Higher Education. Helsinki. 2000. Centre for Integral Excellence, Sheffield-Hallam University. EFQM Excellence Model Higher Education Version 2003. Sheffield. 2003. Chevallier, T. Higher education and its clients: Institutional responses to changes in demand and environment. Higher Education 33: 303-308. 2002. 3
http://www.auqa.edu.au/qualityaudit/universities/
Chua, C. Perception of Quality in Higher Education. Proceedings of the Australian Universities Quality forum. 2004. Cruikshank, M. Total Quality Management in the higher education sector: a literature review from an international and Australian perspective. TQM & Business Excellence, Vol. 14. No. 10, 1159-1167. December 2003. Eriksen, S. TQM and the transformation from an elite to a mass system of higher education in the UK. Quality Assurance in Education, Vol. 3, Iss. 1; p.14. 1995. Ferreira, M. A framework for continuous improvement in the South African Higher Education Sector. University of Pretoria. 2003. Freedman, J. Prospects for Higher Education. Continuing Higher Education Review, Volume 70, 8-24. Fall 2006. Harvey, L. and Green, D. Defining Quality. Assessment & Evaluation in Higher education, Vol. 18, No. 1. 1993. Haug, G. Quality Assurance/Accreditation in the Emerging European Higher Education Area: a possible scenario for the future. European Journal of Education, Vol. 38. No. 3. 2003. Hodson, P. and Thomas, H. Quality Assurance in Higher Education: Fit for the new millennium or simply year 2000 compliant? Higher Education 45: 375-387. 2003. Hoecht, A. Quality assurance in UK higher education: Issues of trust, control, professional autonomy and accountability. Higher Education, 51, 541-563. 2006. Karmel, P. Higher education at the crossroads: Response to an Australian ministerial discussion paper. Higher Education 45: 1-8. 2003. Lagrosen, S., Sayyed-Hashemi, R. and Leitner, L. Examination of the dimensions of quality in higher education. Quality Assurance in Education; Vol. 12, Iss. 2; p.61. 2004. Lomas, L. Does the development of mass education necessarily mean the end of quality? The Sixth QHE Seminar, Birmingham, 25-26 May. 2001. Lomas, L. Embedding Quality: the challenges for higher education. Quality Assurance in Education, Vol.12, Iss. 4; p.157. 2004. Marginson, S. Nation-building universities in a global environment: The case of Australia. Higher Education 43: 409-428. 2002. Materu, Peter. Higher Education Quality Assurance in Sub-Saharan Africa: Status, Challenges, Opportunities, and Promising Practices. The World Bank, Washington DC. 2007. Mizikaci, M. Total Quality Management in Higher Education. LAP Lambert Academic Publishing AG & Co. KG. Koln. 2009. Naidoo, R. Repositioning Higher Education as a Global Commodity: opportunities and challenges for future sociology of education work. British Journal of Sociology of Education, Vol. 24, No. 2. 2003. Newman, F and Couturier, L. Trading Public Good in the Higher Education Market. The
Observatory on borderless higher education. London. 2002. Owlia, M. and Aspinwall, E. TQM in Higher Education – a review. The International Journal of Quality and Reliability Management, Vol. 14, Iss. 5; p. 527. 1997. Randall, J. Quality Assurance: Meeting the Needs of the User. Higher Education Quarterly, 0951-5224 Volume 56, No 2, pp 188-203. April 2002. Rosa, M.; Saraiva, P.; Diz, H. Defining Strategic and Excellence Bases for the Development of Portuguese Higher Education. European Journal of Education, Vol. 40, No. 2. 2005. Sallis, E. Total Quality Management in Education. Kogan Page Limited. London. 1996. Sorensen, C., Furst-Bowe, J and Moen D. Quality and Performance Excellence in Higher Education. Anker Publishing Company. Bolton, Massachusetts. 2009. Srikanthan, G. and Dalrymple, J. Developing a Holistic Model for Quality in Higher Education. Centre for Management Quality Research, Business Faculty, RMIT University, Melbourne. 2002. Srikanthan, G. and Dalrymple, J. Developing alternative perspectives for quality in higher education. The International Journal of Education Management; 17,2/3; p.126. 2003. Travers, M. The New Bureaucracy. The Policy Press. Bristol. 2007. Vidovic, L. Quality assurance in Australian higher education: Globilisation and ‘steering at a distance’. Higher Education 43: 391-408. 2002. Vidovic, L. Global-national-local dynamics in policy processes: a case of ‘quality’ policy in higher education. British Journal of Sociology of Education, Vol. 25, No. 3. July 2004. Williams. P. The result of intelligent effort? Two decades in the quality assurance of higher education. Institute of Education, University of London. London. 2009. York, M. Assuring quality and standards in globilised higher education. Quality Assurance in Education, Vol. 7, Iss. 1, p.14. 1999.
