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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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
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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