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Article information:
To cite this document: Juha Kettunen, (2012),"External and internal quality audits in higher education", The TQM Journal, Vol. 24
Iss: 6 pp. 518 - 528
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TQM
24,6
External and internal quality
audits in higher education
Juha Kettunen
Turku University of Applied Sciences, Turku, Finland
518
Received 29 May 2011 Abstract
Revised 21 July 2011 Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to analyse the maintenance of the process-based quality
Accepted 29 September assurance system in a higher education institution.
2011 Design/methodology/approach – The 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.
Findings – The 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/value – The paper shows that the necessary processes of a higher education institution
can be systematically described and audited.
Keywords Finland, Higher education, Process management, Auditing, Quality assurance
Paper type Case study
1. Introduction
The recent literature on quality assurance in higher education is focused on the
planning and auditing of quality assurance systems, but the literature describing the
maintenance of the quality assurance system after obtaining the desired certificate is
meagre (Costes et al., 2008). Water (2000) defines maintenance as the control of the
quality management which can be seen as the control system itself. Autonomous
higher education institutions (HEIs) have an obligation to plan and implement their
quality assurance systems. They typically include dissimilar descriptions of processes.
The maintenance of the processes is an essential activity that can be carried out in
a systematic manner.
External quality assurance in the European higher education systems has
developed tremendously in recent years. The main purpose of the quality assurance
agencies is to support the development of the quality of HEIs. The quality assurance
agencies have formally been recognised by public authorities in the European higher
education area as agencies with responsibilities for external quality assurance
(Costes et al., 2008). These agencies regularly perform external quality assurance as
a core function.
Each HEI is responsible for the design and implementation of its own quality
assurance system. Certified systems, such as the ISO-norms, speak of external and
internal auditing (ISO 19011, 2002; Hernandez, 2010). Because HEIs typically have
The TQM Journal no standardized quality assurance systems, they rather have value-added auditing
Vol. 24 No. 6, 2012
pp. 518-528 (Dereli et al., 2007) to give assistance to the institution and the quality assurance
r Emerald Group Publishing Limited
1754-2731
agency. The auditing can be seen as part of the maintenance of the system. In an ideal
DOI 10.1108/17542731211270089 case, the maintenance system is designed at the moment of implementation of the
quality assurance system or when the maintenance of a particular part has been Quality audits in
started, but the maintenance should be designed not later than after the external audit higher education
based on the recommendations of the audit group.
The purpose of this study is to analyse the internal and external auditing of
processes to maintain the quality assurance system of an HEI. Process management is
integral to the quality assurance system of the organisation ( Jeston and Nelis, 2006,
2008). The internal process auditing requires management, personnel and the target 519
unit of the institution to continuously improve the processes or amend education,
research and development and support services when corrective actions are needed.
This study emphasises that HEIs should adopt procedures to maintain and develop
their quality culture between the external evaluations.
The purpose of institutional quality assurance is to ensure that the defined
objectives can be achieved (Kettunen, 2008, 2011b). Quality, therefore, is the verified
achievement of objectives. The quality assurance system produces information about
how the institution and the extent to which its administrative units have succeeded
in their activities. The information is used to improve the activities and ensure that
the processes are reasonable and can be controlled. The quality assurance system
communicates the outcomes and activities of the institution to the management,
personnel, students and external stakeholders. The system enhances public confidence
in the quality of education and other activities.
The quality audit establishes the qualitative objectives set by the HEI for its own
activities, and evaluates the procedures and processes that the HEI uses to maintain
the quality of its education and other activities. Its purpose is to evaluate whether the
quality assurance of the HEI works as intended, whether the quality assurance system
produces useful and relevant information for the improvement of its operations and
whether it results in effective improvement measures (Finnish Higher Education
Evaluation Council, 2008).
The study is organised as follows. Section 2 introduces the process management as
the essential element of quality assurance in higher education. Section 3 discusses the
external quality audit of the quality assurance agency. Section 4 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 in the concluding section.
Management
group Contributes Coordinates
the action plan the improved
of auditing process
Rector
Supervises Approves Approves Approves
the action plan the action plan the improved the audit
of auditing of auditing process report
Quality
manager Prepares Prepares Prepares
Plans
the action plan the improved the audit
the auditing
of auditing process report
Target
unit Summary
Audit visits
meeting of audit
Process
owner
Improves
the process
5. Conclusions
HEIs have an obligation to plan and implement their quality assurance systems, but
the autonomous institutions typically have no specifications as regards the structure
and contents of the system. That allows HEIs to develop the systems and procedures
that are consistent with their own strategic and operational objectives and
requirements. The autonomy allows the use of external support to audit the quality
assurance systems and to select the internal procedures of quality assurance.
This study found the evidence of the process management as a mechanism to
describe, maintain and improve the quality assurance system of an HEI. The systematic
procedure of external audits and internal process audits to maintain processes promote
the continuous improvement of the institution. If the processes are not known, they
cannot be managed in a systematic way. The process descriptions evolve through
collaborative planning, implementation, auditing and continuous improvement.
According to the evidence, the weaknesses found in the external audits of the
quality assurance systems are mainly related to process management. The process
management has not yet attained a strong position in higher education even though it
is widely used by private companies. The most prominent weaknesses of the quality
assurance can be found in education, but there are challenges also in the outreach and
TQM engagement of the institutions in their region, and in personnel recruitment, research
24,6 and development.
The process descriptions typically cover the core processes of the institution
including education, research and development. Even though most HEIs have some
type of process description, the comprehensiveness and elaborateness of processes
are still serious challenges. The experiences from the TUAS show that all the processes
526 of the institution can be systematically described and audited so that they can be
maintained and continuously improved.
The internal quality audit may observe necessary improvements in the processes
or quality deviations. The primary focus of the internal quality audit should be
process management and process improvements. If process improvements are found,
the process owner should plan and describe the process with the process team. If
no process improvements are found, the audit of quality deviations is on a steady
foundation. If the actual process deviates substantially from the process description,
the manager and organisational unit should take corrective action.
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TQM About the author
Juha Kettunen is the Rector of the Turku University of Applied Sciences in Finland and
24,6 Adjunct Professor of the University of Jyväskylä in Finland. He was previously the Director
of the Vantaa Institute for Continuing Education of the University of Helsinki and Director of the
Advanced Management Education Centre of the University of Jyväskylä. He holds a PhD
from the University of Bristol in the UK, a DSc (Economics and Business Administration)
528 from the University of Jyväskylä in Finland and a DSc (Technology) from the University of
Oulu in Finland.