External and internal quality audits in higher education

Abstract

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to analyse the maintenance of the process‐based quality assurance system in a higher education institution.Design/methodology/approachThe paper introduces the process management as the essential element of quality assurance in higher education and discusses the external quality audit of the quality assurance agency, extends the study to the quality management between the external audits and presents the procedure of internal quality audits. Finally, the results of the study are discussed and summarised. Action research methodology was adopted in this study. The paper shows that the process‐based quality assurance system makes the organisation responsive, agile and enables the achievement of strategic objectives.FindingsThe audit group must first evaluate the necessary improvements in the process. If no improvements are found, the quality deviations must be reported. The audit helps the institution take corrective actions to amend the process descriptions or maintain the processes.Originality/valueThe paper shows that the necessary processes of a higher education institution can be systematically described and audited.

The integration of quality management in higher education institutions: a systematic literature review

“…Horine & Hailey, 1995;Burkhalter, 1996). As stated by Kettunen (2012), the process approach of QM means that 'an integrated system is representative of how an organisation is structured, and how each process is related to other processes ( . .…”

Integrated Management Approaches in Higher Education

“…The analysis of the external evaluation indicates that there is still room for improvement in the process management of Finnish higher education institutions (Kettunen, 2012).…”

“…Continuous improvement is an essential element in quality assurance to learn from experience and develop the processes (Mehra & Argawal, 2003;Escrig-Tena, 2004). The process auditing is an excellent way to maintain and develop processes and make sure that processes are planned, implemented, evaluated, and improved in a systematic way following the principle of continuous improvement (Kettunen, 2012). Process management with other management approaches helped TUAS pass the quality audit by the Finnish Higher Education Evaluation Council in 2010 (Hintsanen et al, 2010).…”

“…Process management is an essential management approach to describe, maintain, and improve the quality assurance system. The previous study about quality audits indicates that the process management has not attained a notable position in most of the Finnish higher education institutions (Kettunen, 2012).…”

Relationship between Internal Quality Audit and Quality Culture toward Implementation Consistency of ISO 9000 in Private College of Sulawesi Province, Indonesia

“…As an integrated system, implementation of ISO 9000 has to be monitored and evaluated in order to know effectiveness and capability of the process, effectiveness of resource usage, performance result of product and process, and the improvement activities which have been performed consistently by audit. According to Kettunen (2012), audit will assist institution in taking corrective action to change the process description or maintain the process. Audit may determine the achieved degree of customer satisfaction (ISO 19011:2011 Guidelines for Auditing Management System, International Organization for Standardization, 2011).…”