National Conference on Emerging Business Strategies in Economic Development – Special issue - December 2016

ISSN: 2393 - 9125 www.internationaljournalssrg.org Page 4

TQM and the Higher Education in the New Era

1. Dr.G.Vincent 2.Dr.C. Mahimai Arul Ignatius Asst.Professor in Commerce Asst.Professor in Commerce

St.Joseph’s College, Trichy-2 St.Xavier College, Palayamkottai

Tamil Nadu, INDIA Tirunelveli-Tamil Nadu.Abstract

Total Quality Management (TQM) is the

latest in a parade of models, recipes, programs,

frameworks, and slogans for guiding academic

reform. It provides a tool to help ensure this quality.

The management in TQM means everyone is the

manager of their own responsibilities because

everyone in the institution, whatever their status,

position or role is. Information and technologies

have brought sea changes in education and has

therefore changed the interpretation of the term

quality. TQM advocates that everything and

everybody in the organization is involved in the

academic institutions for continuous improvement. As

it is applied to education, TQM faces new challenges

due to diversity in nature of students and educators,

large and multileveled classrooms, technological

advances and new paradigms in educational content

and delivery. Despite these issues education must

maintain quality across classrooms, schools and

institution. This paper highlights the need and

application of TQM in Higher Education.

Key Words: Total Quality Management (TQM),

Higher Education and Quality Education

Introduction Total Quality Management (TQM) is a

perception, which educational institutions can only

attain through long period of planning, by the

formulation and execution of annual quality program,

which substantially moves towards the

accomplishment of the vision. Application of TQM

concepts is one of such degree, which will go a long

way in reviving the higher education system.[1]

TQM is a philosophy which insists on the

improvement, enhancement, betterment and change,

of all the services provided to the students in

education, the improvement, betterment,

enhancement and change of every aspect of an

organization or field. It needs to bring efficiency to

every dimension whether it is teaching learning,

curriculum or infrastructure. [2] TQM is one of the

most efficient tools in the field of teaching & learning

criterion in education. The dare is to assure each

student will gain from the teaching & learning

procedure by imparting them adequate time, support,

encouragement, resources and chance to acquire and

hit the set standard of excellence in education in a

total quality environment.

Total Quality Mangement(TQM)

Total Quality Management (TQM) is a

management approach that originated in the 1950s

and has steadily become more popular since the early

1980s. Total quality is a description of the culture,

attitude and organization of a company that strives to

provide customers with products and services that

satisfy their needs. The culture requires quality in all

aspects of the company‟s operations, with processes

being done right the first time and defects and waste

eradicated from operations.

TQM Philosophy [3]

Three authorities on Total Quality

Management, namely, W. Edward Deming, J. M.

Juran, and Kaoru Ishikawa share the same view on

the primary purpose of an organization, which is to

remain in business so that it can aid community

stability, offer useful products and services that meet

customer needs, and foster the work satisfaction and

growth of organization members. Although there are

differences on a number of points, they provide a

reasonable basis for identifying the assumptions

underlying the TQM philosophy.

These assumptions are the following:[3]

1. Quality Is Less Costly Than Poor

Workmanship

2. Employees Will Naturally Try To Improve

Quality As Long As They Have Appropriate

Support

3. Serious Quality Improvement Requires

Cross-Functional Effort

4. Quality Improvement Requires the Strong

Commitment Of Top Management

ELEMENTS OF TQM [4]

To be successful implementing TQM, an

organization must concentrate on the eight key

elements:

1. Ethics

2. Integrity

3. Trust

4. Training

5. Teamwork

National Conference on Emerging Business Strategies in Economic Development – Special issue - December 2016

ISSN: 2393 - 9125 www.internationaljournalssrg.org Page 5

6. Leadership

7. Recognition

8. Communication

Quality-Education Meaning

The standard of something as measured against

other things of a similar kind; the degree of

excellence of something:[6) Education quality is a

key factor for improving the business quality, and

therefore strengthening competitive advantage.

Access to education and quality education are to be

regarded as mutually dependent and indivisible needs

and rights. Lack of education is a basic cause of

poverty. Intellectual workers are becoming a major

tool in increasing productivity, and knowledge is

becoming the main resource. According to UNICEF

the term Quality education includes: [7]

1. Quality Learners

2. Quality Learning Environment

3. Quality Process

4. Quality outcome

5.

Challenges of Higher Education in India

Regional disparities in Gross Enrolment

Ratio (GER) in higher education are large. In 2011

12 GER in higher education ranged between 8.4

percent in Jharkhand and 53 percent in Chandigarh.

Similarly, the variations among the social groups too

are considerable the Gross Enrolment Ratio in higher

education remains low at 23.6 percent (24.5% for

boys, 22.7% for girls; 18.5% for SCs and 13.3% for

STs)in 2014-15. One of the challenges faced by the

higher education sector in India is to harmonize the

expansion requirements with equity considerations.

[8] Following are the real problems of higher

education in India [5]

1. Mismatch between supply and demand

2. Mushrooming low quality , money making

institution

3. India‟s Obsession with service industry

4. Inefficient foreign education bill

5. Lack of opportunities in project based leaning

Quality Assurance In Higher Education in India

[8] –New Education Policy

Several problems including inadequate

infrastructure and facilities, large vacancies of faculty

positions, poor quality of faculty, outdated teaching

methods, declining research standards, etc. are faced

by the universities and colleges. In addition, there is

widespread geographical, gender and social

imbalances within the sector. These problems are

also a reflection of the poor quality of higher

education. As a part of quality assurance, it is now

mandatory for institutions to get accredited by NAAC

or NBAThe global ranking of universities is based on

an assessment of the institutional performance in the

areas of research and teaching, reputation of faculty

members, reputation among employers, resource

availability, share of international students and

activities, etc.

Recently, MHRD has launched the National

Institute Ranking Framework (NIRF) for ranking of

our higher education institutions covering

engineering, management, pharmacy, architecture,

universities and colleges. The following policy

initiatives will be taken:

1. An expert committee will be constituted to

study the systems of accreditation in place

internationally. It will draw from the

experiences of some of the best practices

followed by countries having well performing

systems and will suggest restructuring of

NAAC and NAB as well as redefining

methodologies, parameters and criteria.

2. Evaluation/ Accreditation details of each

institution will be available to the general

public through a dedicated website, to enable

students and other stakeholders to make

informed choices

New Education policy 2016- Recommendation of

New Higher Education Policy [8]

1) An Indian Education Service (IES) should

be established as an all India service with

officers being on permanent settlement to

the state governments but with the cadre

controlling authority vesting with the

Human Resource Development (HRD)

ministry.

2) The outlay on education should be raised to

at least 6% of GDP without further loss of

time.

3) There should be minimum eligibility

condition with 50% marks at graduate level

for entry to existing B.Ed courses. Teacher

Entrance Tests (TET) should be made

compulsory for recruitment of all teachers.

The Centre and states should jointly lay

down norms and standards for TET.

4) Compulsory licensing or certification for

teachers in government and private schools

should be made mandatory, with provision

for renewal every 10 years based on

independent external testing.

5) Pre-school education for children in the age

group of 4 to 5 years should be declared as a

right and a programme for it implemented

immediately.

6) The no detention policy must be continued

for young children until completion of class

V when the child will be 11 years old. At the

National Conference on Emerging Business Strategies in Economic Development – Special issue - December 2016

ISSN: 2393 - 9125 www.internationaljournalssrg.org Page 6

upper primary stage, the system of detention

shall be restored subject to the provision of

remedial coaching and at least two extra

chances being offered to prove his capability

to move to a higher class

7) On-demand board exams should be

introduced to offer flexibility and reduce

year end stress of students and parents. A

National Level Test open to every student

who has completed class XII from any

School Board should be designed.

8) The mid-day meal (MDM) program should

now be extended to cover students of

secondary schools. This is necessary as

levels of malnutrition and anaemia continue

to be high among adolescents.

9) UGC Act must be allowed to lapse once a

separate law is created for the management

of higher education. The University Grants

Commission (UGC) needs to be made leaner

and thinner and given the role of disbursal of

scholarships and fellowships.

10) Top 200 foreign universities should be

allowed to open campuses in India and give

the same degree which is acceptable in the

home country of the said university.

TQM IN higher education

The possible advantages of TQM in educational

institutions are very clear like:

TQM will support educational institutions

to create an upgraded service to its

customers namely the students and

employers.

The consistent improvement focus of TQM

is an essential component for satisfying the

accountability essential to educational

reform.

Executing a no-fear TQM system offers

more exciting challenge to students and

teacher

CONCLUSION

We can conclude that these eight elements are key in

ensuring the success of TQM in an organization and

that the supervisor is a huge part in developing these

elements in the work place. Without these elements,

the business entities cannot be successful TQM

implementers. It is very clear from the above

discussion that TQM without involving integrity,

ethics and trust would be a great remiss, in fact it

would be incomplete. Training is the key by which

the organization creates a TQM environment.

Leadership and teamwork go hand in hand. Lack of

communication between departments, supervisors

and employees create a burden on the whole TQM

process. Last but not the least, recognition should be

given to people who contributed to the overall

completed task. Hence, lead by example, train

employees to provide a quality product, create an

environment where there is no fear to share

knowledge, and give credit where credit is due is the

motto of a successful TQM organization.

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7722,ISSN(PRINT)2319-7714, Vol.3,Issue 6, June,2014 ,

pp-71-78. 2. Mohamed Hasan In „airat, “Total Quality Management in

Higher Education –A Review”, International Journal of

Human Resource Studies, ISSN-2162-3058,2014, Vol.4, No.3,PP-294-307.

3. Aaron Paul M.Pinedaaa,”Total Quality Management in

Educational Institutions”, Asian Journal of management science and Education,ISSN:2186-845X,ISSN:2186-

8441(Print)Vol.2,No.3, July 2013,pp31-46.

4. https://www.isixsigma.com/methodology/total-quality-management-tqm/eight-elements-tqm/

5. https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/20140709171144-

266907512-6-problems-with-the-indian-education-system?trk=pulse-det-nav_art

6. https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/quality

7. https://www.unicef.org/education/files/QualityEducation.PD

F

8. http://mhrd.gov.in/sites/upload_files/mhrd/files/nep/Inputs_D

raft_NEP_2016.pdf