Quality in Higher Education

Outcome of a Survey on Quality Management in European Universities (Diss.)

Researchers:
A. Gandolfi, Thomas von Euw, Prof. P. Schönsleben

Partners:
ETH Zurich (Administration Services), a large number of European Universities

Financed by:
ETH Zurich (Administration Services)

This survey is part of the project NOVA POLYS I
Between November 1995 and January 1996, we conducted a wide survey among the academic institutions of five European countries: Switzerland, Italy, Germany, the Netherlands and England. In total, 590 universities were questioned. By the end of January 1996, 135 answers were returned, which sets off a return quota of 23 per cent. This rate is close the ones obtained by similar surveys in the private field. The survey was carried out by means of a seventeen questions form inquiring about the current situation of quality management. It aimed at inquiring the state of the art in knowledge and implementation of quality management in every school field (teaching, research, administration) and included topics such as implementation of standard models for quality management (e.g ISO 9000 or EFQM-model), strategic planning and customer satisfaction measurement. The results, while indicating a significant difference of approach between The Netherlands and England on one side and Switzerland, Italy and Germany on the other, also show that quality management is seriously taken into consideration in European higher education. The main findings of the survey were presented in an international conference on quality management in Jerusalem, in 1996.