Employing industrial quality management systems for quality assurance in outcome-based engineering education: A review

With the world becoming flat with fluid boundaries, engineers have to be global in their outlook and their pedigree. Due to the need for international acceptance of engineering qualification, the incorporation of Outcome-Based Education (OBE) has become common and global accreditation treaties such as the Washington Accord have been ratified. Further, it becomes important, especially for an engineering university with a global outlook preparing its students for global markets, to ensure that its graduates attain the planned outcomes. Additionally, the higher education institutions need to make sure that all the stakeholders, including students, parents, employers, and community at large, are getting a quality educational service, where quality is categorized as (1) product-based ensuring that the graduate attained the planned outcomes and skills, and (2) process-based keeping an eye on whether the process is simple, integrated, and efficient. The development of quality movements, such as Total Quality Movement (TQM), Six Sigma, etc., along with quality standards such as ISO 9001 has been instrumental in improving the quality and efficiency in the fields of management and services. Critical to the successful deployment of a quality culture is the institutionalization of an integrated Quality Management System (QMS) in which formally documented processes work according to the Vision and Mission of an institute. At the same time, commitment to Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI) to close the loop through effective feedback, would ensure that the planned outcomes are attained to the satisfaction of all the stakeholders, and that the process overall is improving consistently and continuously. The successful adoption of quality culture requires buy-in from all the stakeholders (and in particular, the senior leadership) and a rigorous training program. In this paper, we provide a review of how a QMS may work for the provision of quality higher education in a 21st-century university.