Total quality management in higher education: Panacea or placebo?

Total Quality Management is a concept that has permeated the thinking of many higher education managers very quickly within the past five years. It is a product of the market ideologies of the 1980s and the managerialism which accompanied them. Nevertheless, despite the special features of higher education as a set of activities based on the creation and dissemination of knowledge and understanding, the paper argues, largely by reference to the subsequent articles, that the main themes of TQM, continuous quality improvement, consistency of quality, staff (and student) participation, meeting customer needs, coordination, and management procedures which detect poor quality and stimulate good, all have a significant contribution to make to the development of efficient and effective mass higher education systems and institutions, whether or not they are explicitly market oriented.     

The elusive quarry: Total quality in higher education

The paper has a conceptual nature, and will depart from the literatures on performance management in general and public management in particular and confront them with the literature on higher education studies. Higher education mirrors the developments of other sectors, such as the increasing interest in performance measurement and the continuous enlargement of the basis for performance measurement, from financial, operational, and stakeholders’ towards developmental perspectives. The paper states some developments in performance management in higher education, and argues that it might be moving towards performance governance, as observed with other public services. The originality of the paper rests on an analysis of the developments in higher education in light of developments in organisational performance in general, and in the public sector in particular. It thus presents a hypothesis for further empirical testing.     

高教全面质量管理刍议

把全面质量管理这一科学管理方法移植到高教质量管理中来,论述了高教质量的全面含义,阐述了高教全面质量管理的内容特征和基本原则,设计了高教全面质量管理的评估指标体系框架。     

高等教育质量管理新进展:质量文化研究

高等教育质量已经成为高等教育领域的核心话题,各种高等教育质量管理程序和技术开始建立并推广,对保障高等教育质量起到了一定的作用。然而,欧洲的研究者提出,质量管理程序和技术最终不能解决质量的改进问题,而只有由下而上地建立高等教育质量文化,使追求和提升质量成为成员的自觉观念和行动,高等教育质量才能持续提升。围绕"质量文化"这一概念,对欧洲高等教育领域近年的质量文化研究进展进行考察,并从这些新进展中捕捉对中国高等教育质量管理的启示与意义。     

Policy and planning of physical science education in South Africa: Myths and realities

South Africa has inherited a fragmented system of science education which fails to provide adequate access to the majority of the population and poorly serves those whom it does educate. Less than 0.5% of South African students achieve university entrance qualifications in science and mathematics. Post-apartheid policies have focused on increasing investment in science education through educating more science teachers, providing more access to students to study science at schools, and supplying more science equipment to schools. Based on findings from research conducted in Kwazulu-Natal, we conclude that each of these policy initiatives can be questioned. First, Kwazulu-Natal appears to have sufficient qualified physical science teachers to meet current demand. Additional teachers may be needed to cope with expansion, but not to teach existing students. Second, apparent shortages of qualified teachers may arise because of poor deployment; many who are qualified appear to be teaching other subjects or occupying nonteaching posts. Third, rapidly expanding access appears likely to reduce, rather than increase, pass rates, and divert resources from improvements in quality. Fourth, the reasons for differences in performance and poor performance appear not to be simply associated with levels of resource provision; more likely it is the efficient and effective use of these resources which is important. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 35: 729–744, 1998.     

Access to higher education: an exploration of realities and possibilities

In this article the author describes and evaluates the development of a learning support service for dyslexic students at the Chichester Institute of Higher Education. She refers to both student and staff experience of the service in order to appraise its success and in so doing she raises significant issues relating to the creation of an inclusive educational experience for all students in higher education.     

Myths and realities of teacher health

This paper reports a series of myths and realities derived from a study designed to answer two basic questions: What is the experience of an educator who develops a health disabling condition? In what ways are these educators similar to or different from teachers who do not leave the classroom? The study of 422 educators included four groups: all teachers currently on long-term disability; all teachers on LTD within the last five years who had subsequently returned to work; a selected group of teachers who had acknowledged interest in leaving the profession, and a selected group of teachers who were identified by area administrators as satisfied with teaching as a career, and who were judged to be physically and emotionally well. Interviews and questionnaires were used. This article is restricted to reporting the highlights synthesized from the combination of the qualitative and quantitative methodologies and reported as myths and realities.     

Total quality management: Some implications for the management of distance education

Total quality management, which was initially developed as a strategic option for manufacturing industries, means adopting a philosophy of continuous improvement and of putting the customer first. However, the concept is now being widely and successfully implemented in service industries. If translated into educational terms, the philosophy is consistent with a learner‐centred approach and the pursuit of excellence, and offers a constructive and positive method for dealing with the changes occurring in the education sector. This paper examines the concept of total quality management and explores possible implications of distance education institutions adopting the approach.     

Enforcing academic rules in higher education: A total quality management approach

Two key principles of total quality management (TQM) are increasing customer satisfaction and driving out fear. Enforcing academic rules, however, frequently induces fears and lowers student satisfaction. This case study shows how TQM was used in an MBA program to prevent infractions rather than punish students. Prevention became possible only after TQM techniques revealed the causes of rule violation. Techniques included run charts, forecasting, cause and effect analysis, multiple regression, customer surveys, and breaking down barriers between departments. Follow-up shows no new rule infractions for several academic terms. Presented at the 1993 AIR Forum, Chicago, May 1993.     

高职教育教学质量的控制与管理

据有关资料统计,全国各类高等职业教育院校,已经有2000余所,在校生人数占接受高等教育学生总人数的一半以上。高职教育在规模和数量上的发展都是空前的。目前,人们最关心的是高职教育的教学质量问题。同济大学高等技术学院举办高职教育五年来,在对高职教育教学质量的控制与管理方面,作了一些有益的探索和实践。     

Challenges to successful quality management implementation in higher education institutions

This article discusses the key challenges to successful quality management implementation in higher education institutions identified by 160 colleges and universities at various stages of quality management practices. Survey findings suggest that there are five key challenges that affect the successful implementation of quality management practices in colleges and universities: organizational culture, senior leadership commitment, faculty support, implementation time, and training.Julie E. Horine, Ph.D. (The Florida State University) is Assistant Professor of Organizational Behavior in the Department of Educational Leadership at the University of Mississippi. Her areas of professional expertise include quality management and the use of the Baldrige criteria as a diagnostic tool for organizational improvement. Julie is a two-year Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award Examiner and an evaluator of the Baldrige Education Pilot Criteria. William A. Hailey, DBA (University of Kentucky), is Professor of Operations Management and Information Systems and holder of the H.E McCarty Chair in the Else School of Management at Millsaps College in Jackson, Mississippi. He is recognized as a Fellow, Certified Quality Engineer, and Certified Quality Auditor by the American Society for Quality Control. His areas of professional expertise include strategic quality planning, quality management training, and designing information systems for implementing continuous improvement principles.     

高等教育质量研究——管理的视角

质量是评价高等教育水平的尺度,管理是维持和改进高等教育质量的方法,质量管理代表了人们通过管理提升高等教育质量的努力。作为一个介于主观与客观、抽象与具体之间的特殊范畴,高等教育质量不同于企业领域的产品质量或服务质量,高等教育质量管理也不同于企业领域的全面质量管理。在普遍重视质量的新时代,质量管理绝不只是高等教育管理的时尚,而是高等教育发展的新希望,高等教育领域必须加强对于质量管理的研究,并积极付诸实践。     

Culture and quality in higher education

The growth in quality assurance worldwide raises questions about what higher education should want from its quality programmes. The paper constructs a typology of quality assurance systems (drawing a distinction between the source of the judgement and the purpose of the process) and evaluates the alternatives. It argues that Total Quality strategies are the best suited to the higher education purpose but demonstrates that there are deep, often conflicting, cultural processes that can frustrate its introduction.     

高等职业教育质量管理体系构建研究——以南京城市职业学院信息技术系为例

高等职业教育是我国高等教育中的重要形式之一,有效的质量管理体系可以保证高等职业教育的质量水平.文章以南京城市职业学院信息技术系为例,研究基于PDCA循环模式的高等职业教育质量管理体系构建的过程,研究构建“环形”模式的高职教育质量管理体系,为保障高等职业教育质量水平提供参考.     

Measuring higher education quality

Conclusion The panelists indicated that considerable progress is being made by such organizations as ACT and NCHEMS in identifying the domains of quality to be measured and particularly in devising unidimensional indicators of student progress. Few were able to cite comparable advancements in the development of multivariate techniques to assess the relation of student growth to other variables. Notable progress in achieving consensus on appropriate standards for measuring quality institutions or curricular programs within comparable institutions remains as a future task.Panelists were: William Toombs, Pennsylvania State University; Patrick Terenzini, State University of New York at Albany; Lois Torrence, University of Connecticut. Joan Stark, University of Michigan, was moderator.     

Reflections on quality education in African higher education

Abstract

Worldwide the diverse ills in society are often seen as a manifestation of the weaknesses and poor quality of the education systems practiced, especially those founded on traditional approaches – highly disciplined patriotic regimens, with a great deal of memorisation and not much room for reflecting and questioning, in contrast to the contemporary education mission which seeks to produce free citizens, citizens who are free not because of wealth or birth, but because they can call their minds their own (Nussbaum, 1998). This paper critically explores both the basics of traditional education regimens, and the contemporary education mission as espoused by some renowned intellectuals, and concludes that a sound education system ought to cultivate humanity – a citizenry that can think critically, solve problems and apply new skills and techniques in diverse contexts, a citizenry that is knowledgeable about the care and wise use of the environment.