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Striving for excellence in qualityof university education and learning

October 25, 2016

Juhani Anttila, AcademicianThe International Academy for Quality (IAQ)Helsinki, Finland

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under the Creative Commons 4.0 License https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

(Mention the origin)

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И.А. Ильина, "Спасение в качестве”:"... русскому народу есть только один исход и одно спасение -возвращение к качеству и его культуре”“… значит прежде всего готовить себя самого к качественному служениюРодине; готовить свой характер, свой разум, свое чувство, свою волевуюидею.”Журнал Русский колокол, 1928 г

Medal of Ivan Ilyin, Russian Philosopher: The Highest Award of the Russian Organization for Quality

I. A. Ilyin, “Salvation through Quality”:“…to Russian people there is only oneoutcome and one salvation - returning toquality and its culture”“… first of all we must prepare ourselves forquality service to our native land; prepare ourcharacter, reason, and feelings with a strong-will idea.”Russian Bell Magazine, 1928

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Quality is challenging the countryand all organizations and persons

http://mirq.ucoz.ru/publ/18-1-0-53

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Universities support regional social cohesion, economic growth and future competitiveness.This means increasing demands for skills and competences and requires to respond in newways.

Universities’ three merged responsibilities:(a) Highest level of education for citizenship and expertise (including teachers)(b) Academic research and disseminating research results(c) Partnership with the surrounding society for training, research and development

projects with public and private organizations.

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Universities have a special status with regard to quality

Quality is imperative in all educational institutions but it is especially emphasized in aconsistent way in universities’ all activities.

Quality of university activities is an extensive multidimensional challenge. Universities aremulti-faculty entities, and especially services to the companies and other organizations ofthe society set severe quality requirements.

Universities should be pioneers or at least ‘Primus inter pares’ also in quality approach.This actually means striving for excellence.

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The quality imperative is of great consensus in education,but the professional concepts of quality are unclear

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Quality is considered in the education sector from manydifferent and significant viewpoints, but the definition ofthe concept itself has left unclear.

“Notwithstanding the consensus about the need toprovide access to education of ‘good quality’, there ismuch less agreement about what the term actuallymeans in practice.”• The report refers to Adams (1993) who identifies

about fifty different definitions for educationalquality.

• The basic international general standard definitionsof concepts quality, quality management, qualityimprovement and quality assurance have not beenexploited professionally.

• General quality management principles are notapplied.

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Striving for excellencein the overall organizational performance

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Financialmeasures (data)

Non-financialmeasures (data)

Operational processes

Stakeholder-focused

performance

Operationalperformance- processes

- workforce

Financial andmarketplaceperformance

Overall performance of an organization

PERFORMANCEEXCELLENCE!

Productperformance

- goods - services

}References:• Own targets• Competitors’ performance• World class level

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Challenges to universities’ quality include:- Basic concepts of quality, quality management, quality improvement and quality assurance arenot well-known although they are widely used in all other kind of organizations globally and eveninternationally standardized.- Quality approaches in universities are in general based on old-fashioned formal qualityassurance systems and external control for conformity (E.g. ref. to the Bologna process).- Many universities have not specific quality related education programs or research activity.- Many universities do not have well established general managerial practices and culture thatdoes not support effective integration of quality into the management processes.- How to behavior in competitive situations, is not familiar to universities.- How to introduce new creatíve and collaborative educational structures and processes withimproved quality? (E.g. the concept of Design Factory)- How to be flexible enough to respond when in general jobs and socio-economic factors areradically changing in the society now and in the near future due to the fourth industrial revolution.- Universities are societal institutions, and their operation and development depend on decisionsof those in power in the society.- Ontological and epistemological bases of teaching/learning and quality are not linked with thequality realization and evaluation.- Prevailing academic evaluation culture of student and university scoring is not aligned with thequality related evaluations.- Benchmarking with organizations outside the educational sector could provide new ideas for thedevelopment of universities but is not generally practiced.

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Challenges to quality in universities

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13Factories

5Continents

What are the quality challenges of the Design Factories?

Design Factory

Business, technology and arts incorporated

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Universitycorporation

Strategicoperationalunits

Operationalprocesses

Individualsor teams

Infrastructure model of a university for acomprehensive quality integration

Plan DoControl and assure

Improve

C U L T U R A L / N O R M A T I V E

S T R A T E G I C

O P E R A T I O N A L

H U M A N

O UTPUTS

STAKEHOLDERS

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Skills andcapabilities

Awareness andsensibilities

Attitudes,interests,

and beliefs(1) Guiding principles

(3) Managementinfrastructure

(including qualitymanagement)

(2) Theory, methods,and tools

An educational organization as a learning organization

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Performance excellence

Domain of action (operational activity)

Domain of change

”Pumpeffect”

(Ref.: P. Senge, Learning organization)

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An organization’squality approach

Performance Excellence: Satisfaction of all stakeholders

General national and international

quality trendsGreat

teachers

Benchmarkingand world class best practices

IS0 9000 standardizationand business

excellence models

Organizational quality approach towards excellencebased on the best international knowledge

Stake-holders

Recognized knowledge basisfor any organization’s qualityrealization:

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The standard ISO 21001* will consider the performance evaluation (to be carried out bythe organization itself) from many different viewpoints and methodologies including:

• Monitoring, measurement, analysis and evaluation• Internal audit• Management review• Self-assessment

Performance evaluation

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The evaluations may have different scopes and purposes. The most important purposes are:• Quality improvement: Increasing the ability to fulfill quality requirements• Quality assurance: Providing confidence among the interested parties that quality

requirements will be fulfilled

* ISO 21001 Educational organizations management systems. Requirements

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Perfect

Interlinked process operationsand achieved organizational results

Ove

rall

orga

niza

tiona

l qu

ality

per

form

ance

3

1

6

8

4

5

7

0% 100%

2

0%10

0%

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Striving for excellence in a fact-based way

Managerial questions for reflecting theorganizational quality improvement towardsexcellence:1. How to consider interlinked processes asenablers producing organizational results?2. How to evaluate the the overallorganizational quality performance?3. What is the current situation ofperformance?4. What is the current situation of the bestcompetitors of the sector?5. What is the World Class level of performance(Level of the best organization of all sectors inthe world)?6. What is the strategic target for thedevelopment of the organizational quality?7. What is the expected level of the bestcompetitors in the future?8. What measures and how should they beimplemented in processes in order to achievethe target?

Good-for-nothing

{

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Performance perspectives for striving for excellence,e.g. for the self-assessment

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Processes

(1) Approach: The planned actions,including process plans, measuresand deployment of requirements

(2) Deployment: Executing the plannedapproach in practice

(3) Learning: Capturing new knowledge,including new innovations

(4) Integration: Embedding the approachin organization's strategies and themanagement operational processesand activities.

Results

(1) Level: Levels of the achieved results(2) Trends: Sustainability and the rate of

improvement of the performance resultsover time

(3) Comparisons: Performance relative toappropriate comparisons or benchmarks

(4) Integration: Achieving the results in abalanced and comprehensive manneraccording to organization's strategicobjectives and anticipating the futuredevelopment.

Self-assessment of the processes and results separately 0 … 100%according to the scoring criteria

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Transition phases in organizational learning (*)

(*) Ref.: Adams & al

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1. IMMOBILISATIONShock - Mismatch betweenexpectations and reality

2. DENIALDefensiveness - Retreatinto false competence.Denial of needto change

3. INCOMPETENCEAnger, frustration and confusion - Awareness that change is necessary but unsure what to do.

4. ACCEPTANCE OF REALITYSadness - Letting go to pastattitudes and behavior.Excitement - At prospect ofimproved performance

5. TESTINGTrying new approachesand coping with risk offailure (trepidation)

6. SEARCH FOR MEANINGCuriosity - Trying tounderstand how and whynew behaviors are better.

7. INTEGRATIONConfidence - New attitudesand behavior becamepart of behavioralrepertoire

Perceivableperformance

Time Conflicts, decay, succumbing

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Conclusions: Striving for excellence in quality ofuniversity education and learning

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Quality is a general professional discipline with more that 100 years modern successfulevolution. Now its recognized and standardized concepts, principles and practices areapplied globally in organizations of all business sectors.• High quality or excellence does not happen by itself, it needs realization and intent to

design and implement according the organization’s strategic and operationalrequirements.

Universities are challenged to:• Be aligned with the same general quality thinking that is applied widely in the society.• Act as advanced role models in quality implementation also outside their business

sector Being a role model requires strive for excellence in universities’ own

development of quality integration with all of their activities.• Scientifically and educationally contribute to the development and disseminating

quality philosophy and methodologies widely in the society.