Measuring TQM in education and training institutions
The strategic objective of the Education and Training Corporation is to focus on the various educational and training activities in the local community and to provide those services with the highest possible quality in light of the available resources, as providing these services under the approach of total quality will greatly help in facing the challenges currently imposed by the global system. new and those expected to be imposed in the future.
Many studies have indicated the integration between the efforts of those in charge of all activities in the organization with the aim of comprehensive and continuous development, provided that this is done with the highest quality and the lowest possible cost. The activities of the education institution are represented in:
efficiency activities, commitment activities, and communication activities, as shown in the following table.
When planning quality in the education and training sector, this planning should help achieve the necessary requirements to meet the needs of the current beneficiaries of educational and training services, and work on continuous improvement of those services to meet their expected needs in the future, in an effort to achieve their satisfaction and ensure their loyalty.
This planning allows ensuring the continuity of quality and reducing the cost of achieving it, which reflects positively on the financial position of the institution.
The application of TQM concepts in the services sector – including education and training institutions – helps to rationalize spending through: improving the inputs represented in students and new trainees, raw materials, educational and training aids, and study tools, and improving human resources represented in those in charge of educational and training activities and on them, and operating those inputs effectively With the aim of performing educational and training services with the best possible quality depending on the quality of machines, tools, devices, laboratories, and educational and training buildings, and working on the continuous development of service activities and those in charge of them.
Quality.. a high degree of quality
Quality means a high degree of quality or value. But regarding TQM, there is no agreed-upon definition that is generally accepted by thinkers and researchers, except that there are some definitions that showed a general perception of the concept of TQM. For example, the first attempt to define the concept of TQM was by the BQA (British Quality Organization), where it was known TQM is defined as “the management philosophy of an organization through which it realizes the realization of both consumer needs as well as the realization of project objectives together.” While the scientist John Oakland defined it as “the means by which the organization is managed to develop its effectiveness, flexibility, and competitive position on the scope of work as a whole.” From an American point of view, the definition of TQM is as follows (Total Quality Management is a philosophy, broad lines, and principles that indicate and guide the organization to achieve continuous development, which are quantitative methods in addition to human resources that improve the use of available resources as well as services, as all operations within the organization seek to achieve Satisfying the needs of current and potential consumers.
Elements of achieving total quality in education and training institutions
There are a number of ingredients that contribute to achieving total quality, including:
Efficiency related activities:
1- Efficiency of plans and policies, including:
• Plans and policies for student admission.
• Plans and policies to achieve the objectives of education and training institutions.
• Plans and policies necessary to formulate regulations governing the educational and training process.
2- Efficiency of curricula and academic courses.
3- Equipment efficiency.
4- Personal competencies, including:
• Efficiency of the teaching staff.
Students’ efficiency.
• The efficiency of the graduates.
• The efficiency of those supervising the educational and training process and the efficiency of evaluation.
Obligation related activities:
1- By maintaining and achieving the efficiency of plans and policies.
2- By maintaining and achieving the efficiency of the curriculum and academic courses.
3- By maintaining and achieving the efficiency of equipment and technologies.
4- By maintaining and achieving personal competencies.
5- By fulfilling the requirements and needs of the beneficiaries of educational and training services, by applying the laws and regulations regulating the educational and training process.
Communication related activities:
6- Continuous contact with the beneficiaries of educational and training services.
7- Contact with the labor market.
8- Contacting alumni.
9- Contact those in charge of the educational and training process.
How do we achieve total quality requirements?
Quality requirements mean the requirements related to the quality of the product or processes, i.e. the requirements related to the distinctive characteristics of the product or the characteristics of the processes or others. It is said that the quality requirements of the product (A) mean the technical specifications required for it and their values. Obviously, quality requirements cannot be met by chance. Therefore, it is necessary to establish quality management systems to achieve these requirements.
1- The necessities of applying quality management systems: The supplier (producer, distributor, service provider…etc.) needs an effective quality management system in the organization, which allows him to analyze the customer’s requirements and identify all production and assistance processes that ensure obtaining the product with the required specifications and makes all operations In addition, such a quality management system must deliver continuous improvements that lead to product and process development. The ISO9000 family of standards has made it easier for establishments to establish quality management systems by defining the characteristics that these systems should have, which facilitates the production of goods at the required level of quality and maintaining this level on a sustainable basis. The quality management system is the mechanism by which the establishment can organize its operations and manage its resources in order to achieve quality and improve it economically in all its activities.
2- The steps required to be taken to implement quality management systems: The quality management system is one of the management systems applied in the institution, which may include financial, environmental and other management systems. In pursuit of the optimal application of quality management systems, the following steps must be taken: Determine the SIA
Quality policy and quality objectives in the facility. Define the key processes that affect the achievement of quality objectives. Determine the means and standards necessary to improve the effectiveness of operations. Examining the results to determine the extent to which the effectiveness of the operations has improved. Determine means to prevent defects and reduce wastage and reboot. Continuous improvement of operations in order to improve efficiency and profitability.
How are cost elements analyzed?
Speaking of analyzing the elements of costs that ensure access to the above, they can be stated as follows:
First: Matching costs: borne by the institution in order to ensure that the quality of educational and training services matches the target quality. The matching costs can be divided into the following:
• The first type: PreventionCosts: These are optional and direct costs borne by the educational and training institution in order to avoid any costs that may result from a decrease or failure to achieve quality.
• The second type: AppraisalCosts: These are optional and direct costs incurred by the educational and training institution in order to ensure that the activities of the educational and training services have been carried out in accordance with prior planning for the targeted quality.
Second: The costs of non-conformity: It is borne by the educational and training institution as a direct or indirect result of the lack or non-conformity of the quality of educational and training services to the targeted quality, which are entirely indirect costs due to the difficulty of distinguishing them, and the difficulty of accurately determining the causal relationship between the cost of non-conformity and the achievement of comprehensive quality, as They are mandatory costs that management cannot materially influence. The costs of non-conformity are as follows:
The first type: InternalFailureCosts: They are compulsory and indirect costs, as previously mentioned, resulting from the lack or non-conformity of the quality of educational and training services to the targeted quality. However, these costs were incurred as a result of discovering the non-conformity of quality before students graduated from the educational institution. and training. It is divided into:
• InternalFailureVisibleCosts: InternalFailureVisibleCosts, including the following:• The costs of re-teaching some courses for students who failed them.• Costs of re-testing students who fail some courses.
• The costs of identifying, studying and analyzing the reasons for students’ failure in some courses.
Internal Failure Hidden Costs: InternalFailureHiddenCosts can be divided into:
Costs incurred by the Education and Training Institution, the most important of which are:
• The material and implicit costs of dismissing some students before completing their studies.
• The costs of human energy in the educational and training process and on it, and the equipment, laboratories, maintenance centers, and educational and training buildings resulting from students returning to the courses in which they failed.
Costs incurred by the beneficiaries of educational and training services, the most important of which are:
• The costs of the negative effects or behaviors that may occur on society and the environment as a result of the dismissal of some students before completing university studies.
• The opportunity cost resulting from the loss of some resources – in light of the extreme scarcity – without achieving the targeted quality of them.
• The second type: CostsExternalFailure costs: They are costs, as previously mentioned – compulsory and indirect, resulting from the lack or non-conformity of the quality of educational and training services to the targeted quality. However, these costs were incurred as a result of discovering the non-conformity of quality after graduation and the arrival of services to the beneficiaries. It is divided into:
• External failure costs visible. ExternalFailureVisibleCosts Among the most important of these costs:
• Legal and moral responsibility towards the beneficiaries as a result of deficiency or loss of quality.
• Costs of re-registration of previously dismissed students before completing university studies – in the event that this is achieved – as a result of the lack or lack of quality of educational and training services.
• The costs of retraining or rehabilitating graduates as a result of the lack of quality of educational and training services to comply with the requirements of the labor market.
The hidden costs of external failure. ExternalFailureHiddenCosts can be divided into:
Costs borne by the education and training institution, which are the costs incurred by the ineffectiveness of pre-quality plans and programs that failed to achieve the satisfaction of the beneficiaries.
Costs incurred by the beneficiaries of educational and training services, the most important of which are:
• The high rate of unemployment among graduates and the consequent negative effects and behaviors.
• The negative effects of the lack or lack of quality of products or services provided by the graduates – as a result of the lack or lack of quality of educational and training services – in their workplaces if job opportunities are available for them.
How do we measure the cost effectiveness of educational and training services?
Since the educational and training services are provided regardless of the material return of the cost borne by the state, in addition to the difficulty of measuring the expected social return of this cost, the cost efficiency of educational and training services is achieved when these services are provided at the lowest possible cost in light of the targeted quality, while the effectiveness of The cost of educational and training services when these services are provided with a quality that helps achieve the planned goals and the expected goals of the beneficiaries. To measure this effectiveness, there are many approaches, the most prominent of which can be stated as follows:
The first approach: the ineffectiveness approach. This approach assumes that effectiveness may not be measurable or that its measurement is not necessary. An example of this is taking the average cost per student as a measure of the effectiveness of educational and training services. The study finds that there may not be a direct causal relationship between the effectiveness of educational and training services and the student cost rate, and the high cost of educational and training activities may be due to other reasons without having a positive impact on the effectiveness of educational services.
education and training, and among these reasons:
• The incompetence of one, some, or all of: educational and training plans and policies, equipment, courses, those in charge of the educational and training process, or those in the evaluation process.
• Failure to comply with achieving or maintaining: educational and training plans and policies, curricula and courses, equipment and techniques used, personal competencies, or the application of laws and regulations governing the educational and training process.
• Lack of contact: with the beneficiaries, the labor market, or those in charge of the educational and training process and on it.
The second approach: the activity or workload approach. This approach is based on easily observable products, such as the number of students at the undergraduate level, the number of students per faculty member, or the teaching load per faculty member. The study finds that this approach is not sufficient to demonstrate the effectiveness of educational and training services.
The third approach: the common homogeneous unit approach. This approach requires translating the effects of each educational program in the form of homogeneous units (a monetary unit, for example). An example of this is the measurement of the present value of the costs of educational and training services – for the educational and training institution – and the benefits in light of the cost / benefit analysis, provided that this is translated in the form of cash whether its current value or its expected future value. The study finds that although it is possible to measure the cost of educational and training service activities, it is difficult to measure the benefits represented in the social return from them in monetary form.
Measuring overall quality in education
In a world where competition prevails in all economic, social and cultural fields, in addition to political and ideological conflicts, knowledge and learning remain on the honorable side of competitiveness – if its goal is the renaissance of nations, peoples and humanity – which prompted countries long ago to pay attention to varying levels of competitiveness. Quality, each in the light of its civilizational progress, and its political, economic and cultural conditions… And since quality in its comprehensive perspective is one of the basic requirements in educational institutions in general, and higher ones in particular, this study came to deal with the total quality in institutions of higher education to achieve the development of accounting measurement for them Using the latest international model for measuring and managing performance, in both the short and long term, which is the BalancedScorecard model. Some Arab institutions tended to get acquainted with this model and try to apply it. Below, the author explains the relationship between each of them.
The relationship between total quality cost management and the potential of the balanced performance approach
The entrance to the balanced measurement of performance consists of four perspectives, which work sequentially and interdependently as follows:
Learning and growth perspective. Technical performance perspective (internal operations) Customer perspective. Financial perspective.
The application of the BSC entrance in education and training institutions must include four cards as follows:
1- A card to measure the ability to learn and grow within the institution, so that this card answers a basic question, which is “What are the most important areas in which the institution should excel and be distinguished from others?”
2- A card to measure the ability of the institution through its scientific departments – to perform the educational, educational and research roles on the one hand and the societal role on the other hand, so that this card answers a basic question, which is “How can the institution maintain the progress it has achieved or how can it upgrade the process Education for greater horizons?».
3- A card to measure the satisfaction of the educational institution’s clients (students and their parents), so that the card answers a basic question, which is: “Does the institution fulfill the needs, desires, and hopes of the students and their parents?”
Perhaps one of the most important modern scientific methods is the approach to total quality management (TQM) and measuring and controlling its cost elements. Achieving and managing costs. These reasons were the motive for exploring the relationship between the elements of total quality costs (TQM) and the approach to balanced measurement of performance (BSC).
