Laurie Lomas

Students’ perceptions of quality in higher education

This study aims to ascertain student perceptions of a quality experience in higher education. The empirical research made use of focus groups involving a range of higher education students. The main findings are that the quality of the lecturer and the student support systems are the most influential factors in the provision of quality education.

Does the Development of Mass Education Necessarily Mean the End of Quality

Four of Harvey and Greens five definitions of quality are used as an analytical framework to examine whether the massification of higher education is bringing about the end of quality. Recent small-scale research with a sample of senior managers in higher education institutions in the UK revealed that fitness for purpose and transformation were the two most appropriate definitions of quality. Problems of measuring quality as transformation have led to difficulties in its practical application. However, the gauging of fitness for purpose and fitness of purpose through Quality Assurance Agency (QAA) subject reviews indicates that the quality of mass higher education, as measured in these terms, is not at an end.

Embedding Quality: The Challenges for Higher Education.

This paper reviews recent research, literature and the views of a small sample of senior managers and academics in English higher education institutions on the challenges associated with embedding quality. When implemented by a university, quality enhancement models such as total quality management and the European Foundation for Quality Management need to be fitted in sympathetically with the organisations culture and structures. If embedding is to occur, there needs to be a careful consideration of the opportunity costs of the various options that could bring about the necessary transformative change. The importance of transformative leadership and the creation of a conducive organisational culture are also explored, as are the major indicators of success. Senior managers and other change agents face major challenges but, by achieving the goal of embedding quality, students would receive greatly improved higher education and, as a consequence, their countrys economy and society would also prosper.

Are Students Customers? Perceptions of Academic Staff

ABSTRACT This paper examines the notion of the student as a customer in a university, focusing on the perceptions of academic staff. Changes in the higher education sector in recent years have significantly reduced the differences between universities and other types of organisation and it has been argued that students have become ‘consumers’ of higher education services. On the other hand, some senior academics believe that higher education is not just another service industry. The views on the notion of the student as a customer were elicited by means of in‐depth interviews amongst staff in three ‘new’ (post‐1992) and three older universities. Whereas the government and its agencies stress the need to consider students as customers, there is very limited support for this notion amongst academic staff. Academic discipline, rather than the type of university, appears to be influential in determining attitudes towards the notion of the student as a customer.

“How to Strike the Right Balance Between Quality Assurance and Quality Control in the Perceptions of Individual Lecturers”: A comparison of UK and Dutch higher education institutions

This paper focuses on the way lecturers observe, feel restrained by and cope with quality management systems that have been implemented in the higher education systems of the United Kingdom and the Netherlands. As two sides of the same coin, quality enhancement and quality control are of increased significance in European Higher Educaction Institutions (HEIs), particularly through the Bologna Process. We are interested in the way that both enhancement and control blend into the current systems, and we are concerned for too much dominance of control, as has been suggested in recent managerial literature. Analysis of 40 interviews in both countries among researchers and lecturers in traditional and universities of applied sciences showed many similarities. It is not so much the general idea of quality management that is being turned down by the respondents. They see the benefits quite clearly. Still, the general belief is that quality management in its current shape and character does not fit with the work of the individual academic, neither their teaching nor their research. The respondents worry for and resent the consequences of increased emphasis on quality assurance and control. The developments concerning the quality management of their HEIs are perceived in terms of quality assurance by the UK respondents. Instead, the Dutch are more occupied with finding ways to “how to deal with” such developments.

Implementing Performance Management for Headteachers in English Secondary Schools A Case Study

This article discusses performance management within the public sector and specifically analyses the impact of the new statutory headteacher performance management scheme in a sample of Kents secondary schools. Secondary headteachers in East Kent appear to have responded positively to the new scheme and are effectively establishing a performance management culture within their schools. Major improvements brought about by the performance management scheme would appear to be a closer linkage between school and staff management systems. There is some disagreement, however, about the role that performance management has had in raising standards in the classroom and also whether performance management has enhanced target setting and review procedures. The article concludes that it would be useful to re-examine the data at a later date when the performance management scheme has settled and to extend it to the primary education sector across a variety of geographical locations.

The Locus of Power in UK Universities: Its Impact on Educational Development Centres.

This article identifies the increasing demands on United Kingdom universities brought about by the expanded government agenda and the entry of higher numbers of more diverse students. It analyses the changes in organizational structures and cultures and identifies a centralizing tendency in terms of power to meet these demands. There is a focus on directors of educational development centres to explore how they have responded to the challenge of implementing their universities’ teaching and learning strategies in a changing and uncertain environment. There is an examination of how they identify the locus of power, their priorities, the leadership skills they employ and the coalitions they build.

Managers, researchers, teachers and dabblers: enabling a research culture in nursing departments in higher education institutions

This small-scale study investigates the research activity of individuals employed as nurse educators in higher education. Four distinct interpretations of their role emerged from the work they chose to do. Managers, researchers, teachers and dabblers had different views on the importance of scholarly activity in higher education. All groups appreciated the value of research for evidence-based practice. However, the different situations often limited their opportunity for research inquiry and the type of activities they committed to undertake. A research culture appears to be essential for all four groups; teachers to inform their curriculum delivery, researchers to be fully appreciated for their contribution to the advancement of professional nursing knowledge and dabblers to encourage and support their research initiatives. Managers are fully aware of the importance of research to curriculum development and implementation, yet are often overburdened with operational and administrative tasks and so have the most difficulty in finding time for research. It is argued that senior management should consider a radical rethink of the multifaceted nature of a nurse educators role in higher education institutions in order to promote and nurture a culture that is conducive to their research activity.

Collegial or Managerial? Academics' Conceptions of Quality in English and Finnish Universities.

Two specific forms of quality are identified: Type I, which has a managerial focus and stresses fitness for purpose and accountability, and Type II, which is collegial and concerned with enhancement. Through an analysis of the literature on quality in higher education and small-scale empirical research with a sample of academic staff, this article compares conceptions of quality assurance in the English and Finnish higher education systems. The authors highlight the similarities and differences in the two countries and possible reasons for them. Over time the blend of managerial and collegial approaches to quality has come to favour the former but much more so in England than in Finland, which continues to prefer a largely enhancement-led agenda. Both are signatories to the Bologna Declaration, and the implications for other European countries of convergence in quality assurance systems by 2011 through this Declaration are considered.

Quality management in higher education: A comparative study of the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and Finland

This chapter examines lecturers’ perceptions of the balance between quality assurance and quality enhancement in three case study higher education institutions in different European countries. Where quality initiatives emphasised assurance rather than enhancement, this was taken to indicate a significant limitation on a lecturer’s autonomy in the quality management process. In-depth interviews using a semi-structured schedule were conducted with 20 randomly selected academic staff in each of the three higher education institutions. The results from the interviews demonstrated a very wide range of views among the interviewees. However, generally, it was found that there was a high level of disappointment with only limited transformation of teaching and learning through quality enhancement. This sense of disappointment was particularly acute in the UK and Dutch institutions where many interviewees expressed concern that quality assurance approaches tended to dominate. In the Finnish higher education institutions, there was a more positive attitude towards quality initiatives with a far higher proportion of interviewees considering that lecturers had significant control over the quality management process and they felt that there was an appropriate balance of quality assurance and quality enhancement.