A global look at quality managemenr in universities - Research Paper Example

?A Global Look At Quality Management in Universities Universities across the world have been positing themselves as “world in view of the market opportunities presented by globalization (Xavier and Alsagoff, 2013). In a global scenario, quality and perception of quality of a university is defined and determined by many internal as well as external mechanisms. It is evident that “quality judgements in terms of academic standards of excellence required by external stakeholders such as labour markets and steering hierarchies obviously exert strong pressure on universities” (Paradeise and Thoenig, 2013, p.189). In this context, quality of education has become a decisive factor while determining the management strategy for any university (Dobrzanski and Roszak, 2007, p.223). Xavier and Alsagoff (2013) have observed how universities present themselves as “world-class” to the global markets through many strategies, thereby attracting students from all over the world. Any examination of the quality of universities in global context will have to start with addressing the questions, what is defined by quality, and whether there are global standards of quality in education (Paradeise and Thoenig, 2013, p.189). Quality in the context of university education is often defined as: Expression of significant range of educational effectiveness and reflection of a new approach in which need of systematic evaluation of undertaken activities is taking essential meaning including improvement and making endeavors towards accreditation which aim to confirm that all the standards of educational effectiveness are provided” (Dobrzanski and Roszak, 2007, p.223-4). Quality of university education can also be defined in terms of financial effectiveness, academic standards, and public usefulness as well (Dobrzanski and Roszak, 2007, p.224). It is also related to the areas of: effective organization of the process of education, variety of educational offer, determining the requirement to the students, competences of the persons conducting the classes quality of the relation with lecturers and managing personnel access to the infrastructure supporting the education (Dobrzanski and Roszak, 2007, p.224). Total Quality Management (TQM) has been one of the most popular management models made use of by universities world wide (Becket and Brookes, n.d., p.43). This is an approach that ensures participation, plans long-term, aims at “customer satisfaction”, and brings benefits to all the academic and social stakeholders (Becket and Brookes, n.d., p.43). Fotopoulos and Psomas (2008) have studied TQM in the context of Greece and observed that any TQM model must have a “soft” and “hard” side, the “soft” side being a plan to address long term issues and related to “leadership, employee empowerment and culture” (p.151). The “hard” side on the other hand refers to “quality improvement tools and techniques” (Fotopoulos and Psomas, 2008, p.151). It is pointed out by Fotopoulos and Psomas (2008) that “there is no unique model for a good TQM programme and TQM is a network of interdependent elements, namely, critical factors, practices, techniques and tools” (Fotopoulos and Psomas, 2008, p.151). Yet, there have been a number of “TQM elements” identified through various research projects and they are, leadership, strategic quality planning, employee management and involvement, supplier management, customer focus, process management, continuous improvement, information and analysis, knowledge and education, and TQM tools such as “flow charts, relations diagram, scatter diagram, control charts, pareto analysis, quality function deployment, design of experiments and so on” (Fotopoulos and Psomas, 2008, p.152-3). There are widely accepted quality frame works for universities other than TQM such as European Framework for Quality Management (EFQM) and SERVQUAL that approaches the issue from the customers' “perspective” (Becket and Brookes, n.d., p.43). The dynamics of the process of attaining quality of a global dimension by universities is linked with many aspects; it is related to “how do local orders face and deal with market and hierarchy dynamics in a global world of apparently increasing standardization under pressure from soft power” (Paradeise and Thoenig, 2013, p.189). Many universities across the world have initiated a branding process by which they reinforce their presence as a global educational institution and build a world class brand image (Xavier and Alsagoff, 2013). For example, the National University of Singapore, established only less that half a century before, have remodeled itself as a “world-class” educational institution (Xavier and Alsagoff, 2013). While defining the term, world-class, the factors that are taken into account usually are: Academic excellence, academic freedom and availability of resources, including funding, good governance, and technology,” and also “excellence in research, (…) an environment of intellectual excitement, (…) provision of adequate facilities and adequate funding for for research and teaching (…) (and) high concentration of talent not only of faculty but also of students” (Xavier and Alsagoff, 2013). Some other aspects of developing international quality for a university are, “quality of teaching, diversity and internationalization” (Xavier and Alsagoff, 2013). It is an accepted fact that universities have evolved into “bureaucracies with complex management needs” (Altbach, 2011, p.20). Altbach and Salmi (2011) have suggested that the participation of academic staff and the whole academic community in decision making is one of the primary factors that help develop global excellence and quality in universities (Altbach, 2011, p.20). Another important factor involved in quality management is “academic leadership” (Altbach, 2011, p.20). It has been suggested that leaders of universities like president should be having multiple talents of a scholar and manager (Altbach, 2011, p.21). Research has shown that “the best contemporary universities have shared governance, with the academic community in control of essential academic decisions and the administrators and managers responsible for resources, facilities and other administrative matters” (Altbach, 2011, p.21). Achieving a proper balance between basic research that paves foundation for all knowledge and applied research that link universities with industry and consequently new income, is also very important (Altbach, 2011, p.21). Being “international, national and local” is the greatest challenge of quality management that universities face (Altbach, 2011, p.21). This is basically about including international concerns as part of disciplines, “engaging in research supported by national agencies”, and imparting the local communities special educational packages and opportunities (Altbach, 2011, p.21). Quality management in universities is also an attribute of sufficient funding (Altbach, 2011, p.21). Wang, Wang and Liu (2011) have pointed out that in China, an official program was launched to improve the quality of universities, an attempt that focused mainly on four areas, namely, “disciplinary and interdisciplinary programs, digital campuses, faculty, and university infrastructure” (p.34). For this, a “pool of leading scholars” were formed as part of the faculty, fundamental sciences were given more attention, interdisciplinary research was encouraged, an internationalization process was initiated in the institution (Wang, Wang and Liu, 2011, p.39). Along with this, “benchmarking and evaluation” was introduced and strictly followed (Wang, Wang and Liu, 2011, p.39). The university also made drastic changes to the “traditional” management style, gradually progressing towards “strategic management” (Wang, Wang and Liu, 2011, p.57). All these steps have helped Chinese universities to develop as global education destinations (Wang, Wang and Liu, 2011, p.58). Similarly in India, the Indian Institute of Technologies (IITs), have achieved a quality status at par with world's leading universities through competitive admission process, highly efficient and talented faculty, and huge funding support from the government (Jayaram, 2011, p.178). Materu, Obanya and Righetti (2011) have discussed the “reemergence” of university of Ibadan in Nigeria and opined that the quality of this institution mainly emerged out of highly qualified faculty, “competitive nature of student intake”, and good infrastructure and other “facilities” (p.203). Bernasconi (2011) explored the higher education scene in Chile and revealed that funding support from the government, autonomy, “strategic orientations”, strong faculty, accredited academic programs and evaluation (p.242). As Paradeise and Thoenig (2013) have pointed out, “diversity and standardization in fact coexist” on a global scale in the evolving world-class universities resulting in good quality higher education (p.216). For example, Scott, Schulz and Hawke (n.d.) have studied the Australian Technology Network (ATN) that introduced a collaborative approach in quality management of universities in Australia and shown that this network brought in standardization in many areas by way of presenting a common “framework” for quality (p.2). Combined sessions in international conferences, combined quests for “good practice in higher education quality management”, networking of universities, “benchmarking”, and “improvement strategies” formed the core elements of quality management under ATN (Scott, Schulz and Hawke, n.d., p.2). This newly emerging “quality agenda” has been determined by new changes in the educational and social scene including, inadequacy of public funding for universities, heightening “competition”, enhanced consumer awareness, public accessibility of “performance data” of universities, more stringent external monitoring, and the increased role of information and communication technology in learning (Scott, Schulz and Hawke, n.d., p.4). Shin and Harman (2009) have opined that higher education in a global scenario is facing two major challenges, namely, “massification and globalization” and that quality management has become a major challenge in this context (p.153). The study carried out by Shin and Harman (2009) has its focus in Asia-Pacific region as this region has become “the fastest growing higher education market internationally” (p.153). It is also observed that “uniformity and diversity” are equally influencing higher in the context of globalization (Shin and Harman, 2009, p.153). Budget constraints, “systemic changes” demanded by the industry and the “massification” caused by privatization have been identified as immediate issues that affects quality in higher education by Shin and Harman (2009, p.154-6). It is argued by these scholars (Shin and Harman, 2009) that to ensure quality that is expected of the higher education institutions in the current situation, the universities need to “set clear goals of internationalization” and also form a candid frame work on what should be the role of “social contributions” (p.162). Evidence-based practices have been accepted as the most popular theoretical framework in improving quality by various universities across the world (Scott, Schulz and Hawke, n.d., p.6). A dynamism that allows constant change, and ongoing scrutiny and revision of “development priorities” is also a necessity for maintaining quality (Scott, Schulz and Hawke, n.d., p.7). The ability of university education system to keep pace with the literal global outburst of new knowledge is what ultimately decides quality is maintained in university education. Participatory management and evolution could be the keys to this process. References Altbach, P.G. (2011) The past, present, and future of the research university, In P.G. Altbach and J. Salmi (Eds.), The road to academic excellence: The making of world-class research universities, The World Bank, Retrieved from www.academia.edu Becket, N. and Brookes, M. (n.d.) Quality management practice in higher education: What quality are we actually enhancing?, Journal of hospitality, leisure, sport & tourism education, 7 (1), pp.40-54. Bernasconi, A. (2011) Private and public pathways to world-class research universities: The case of Chile, In P.G. Altbach and J. Salmi (Eds.), The road to academic excellence: The making of world-class research universities, The World Bank, Retrieved from www.academia.edu Dobrzanski, L.A. and Roszak, M.T. (2007) Quality management in university education, Journal of achievements in material and manufacturing engineering, 24 (2), pp.223-226. Fotopoulos,C.B. and Psomas, E.L. (2008) The impact of “soft” and “hard” TQM elements on quality management results, International journal of quality and reliability management, 26 (2), pp.150- 163. Jayaram, N. (2011) Towards world-class status? The IIT system and IIT Bombay, In P.G. Altbach and J. Salmi (Eds.), The road to academic excellence: The making of world-class research universities, The World Bank, Retrieved from www.academia.edu Materu, P., Obanya, P. and Righetti, P. (2011) Rise, fall, and reemergence of the university of Ibadan, Nigeria, In P.G. Altbach and J. Salmi (Eds.), The road to academic excellence: The making of world-class research universities, The World Bank, Retrieved from www.academia.edu Paradeise, C. and Thoenig, J. (2013) Academic institutions in search of quality: Local orders and global standards, Organization Studies, 34 (2), 189-218. Scott, G., Schulz, L. and Hawke, I. (n.d.) A collaborative approach to quality management in universities: A case study of the Australian Technology Network, ATN Strategic Improvement Group, Retrieved from www.helsinki.fi Shin, J. C. and Harman, G. (2009) New challneges for higher education: global and Asia-Pacific perspectives, Asia Pacific educational review, 10, p.150-163. Wang, Q.H., Wang, Q. and Liu, N.C. (2011) Building world-class universities in China: Shanghai Jiao Tong university, In P.G. Altbach and J. Salmi (Eds.), The road to academic excellence: The making of world-class research universities, The World Bank, Retrieved from www.academia.edu Xavier, C.A. and Alsagoff, L. (2013) Constructing “world-class” as “global”: A case study of the National University of Singapore, Educational Research for Policy and Practice, Retrieved from http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10671- 012-9139-8#page-1 Read More