Quality is most often defined 'fitness for purpose' related to the needs of the user/customer (Juran 1988), which indicates that quality depends upon a subject's view of what is the purpose of that phenomenon. In education the customer is not easily identified. The government pays, the immediate user is the student, secondary users are employers etc. Quality, thus, is a value judgement interpreted by different stakeholders, government, teachers, administrators, students, employers etc. On the other hand, to assure and assess quality we must have a clear notion of what it is. Another definition could be could be that the 'product comply with defined requirements'. Consequently, purpose and requirements, then, should be defined by the significant stakeholders. Birnbaum (1989) has stressed this diversity and pointed out three dimensions of quality in higher education: the meritocratic (the institution's conformity to professional and scholarly norms with the academic profession as reference group), the social (the degree to which the institutions satisfies the needs of important collective constituents) and the individualistic (the contribution the institution makes to the personal growth of students (from Van Vucht & Westerheijden 1993).
Some other important concepts are 'quality control', quality assurance', 'quality management' and 'quality assessment'. Quality control is defined in technical environments as: 'the operational techniques and activities that are used to fulfil the requirements for quality' (ISO 8402). Van Vucht & Westerheijden (ibid.) add that concerning higher education the term also includes the state control strategy concerning quality in higher education. Quality assurance is 'all those planned and systematic actions necessary to provide adequate confidence...' Quality management is defined as 'that aspect of the overall management function that determines and implements the quality policy'. The ISO document defines 'quality audit', while Van Vucht and Westerheijden (ibid.) recommend the term 'quality assessment' as a better term in the field of higher education and is taken to mean 'a systematic examination to determine whether quality activities comply with planned arrangements and whether the product (the educational process) is implemented effectively and is suitable for achieving objectives' (Ibid. p. 12).
Distance education has - for as long as it has existed been a relatively marginal phenomenon. Thus, over the world spokesmen for distance education have had to battle continuously to get this form of education recognised as equivalent in quality to the mainstream of education. Even the large state distance education institutions that have been established during the last 25 years have encountered some scepticism from the traditional academic establishment and have had to fight a continuous battle for recognition. Private distance education has usually been even more subject to suspicion both from the established education system and from the authorities. Attempts have been made to solve this problem in various ways.
Some have found it most appropriate to let the market punish those who do not measure up. Here the idea is that in the long run, quality will pay off, and substandard practices and institutions will disappear of their own accord. In many countries the situation is such that the market acting in concert with the general consumer legislation is the only instrument of quality assurance. The trouble is that with mail order sales to individuals it is possible to earn money by taking advantage of people's credulity for quite a long time. Moreover, even short-lived ventures of this sort can have a destructive effect on the general reputation of distance education.
The valid institutions have usually been interested in measures that can assure a certain level of quality, and associations in the field have promoted standards for education and business practices. This applies to both national and international associations.
Some organisations have gone a step further by establishing accrediting schemes. The best known of these is the Distance Education and Training Council (previously the National Home Study Council) in the USA, which established its Accrediting Commission in 1955. In the UK they got an independent, voluntary scheme for accreditation when the Council for the Accreditation of Correspondence Colleges was established in 1969.
The fourth solution is quality control through government legislation. Norway was the first country to introduce a special law on correspondence education in 1948. Other countries that have followed suit include Belgium, France, the Netherlands and Germany. A specific document has been prepared to the Commission on "Distance Education and Economic and Consumer Law in the Single Market (Remien 1994).
There are many reasons why evaluation and other measures to control and improve quality have been so important, and have been taken seriously by distance education institutions:
Thus, a tradition of research and evaluation has emerged in both public and private distance teaching institutions, and this is often linked to systematic efforts towards improving quality and methods. The links between research and practical implementation are usually close, which also makes it easier to promote a 'practitioner-based' type of evaluation. For instance, the British Open University, had from the start a specific department responsible for research and evaluation. This example have been followed by many of the distance education universities established later in Europe and other parts of the world (see e.g. Schuemer 1991).
During the last years there has been an increasing emphasis that those directly involved and responsible should play an important role in the evaluation process. The idea is mainly that if the evaluation really is to have a positive impact on the improvement of the quality of the educational system, the practitioners must take part in the evaluation process (Thorpe 1988)
In many areas of the society - in industry, public administration and the service sector - we have witnessed a rapidly growing interest in and emphasis on matters of quality in recent years. In industry, quality control is a well-known phenomenon, i.e. manufactured goods are inspected and then either approved or rejected on the basis of well-defined specifications. A high percentage of errors means that production is not cost-effective. Thus, quality control gives rise to a need for quality assurance - i.e. routines and systems that can ensure that the manufactured goods meet the specified quality standards.
A firm that can document an effective quality assurance system, will be more easily able to inspire confidence as a supplier of goods. This is one of the reasons why national and international standards for quality assurance have been drafted. The international standards do not define the products' quality, but describe the requirements that ought to be made of the firms' quality systems. The quality specifications are set by the individual firm, or jointly by the firm and a contract partner.
The standards that exist have been developed in connection with production-oriented industry. However, they are also being increasingly employed in service-oriented activities and are being revised and supplemented with these activities in mind. Often the use of quality standards is combined with ideas about total quality management. Total quality management is usually associated with an extensive effort to focus the whole organisation and its mode of operation on the users' needs, with a continuous monitoring and improvement of the quality of the organisation's performance. Since 1986/87 the series of 'International Standards (ISO 9000 series) have been an important starting point to higher quality. The success of ISO in industry shows that there is a big demand for internationally agreed standards.
Since the early 1980s the concept of quality has also been a central focus of attention in the debate of higher education and in higher education policy making. The question has been addressed by a committee reporting to the Commission of the European Communities (Van Vucht & Westerheijden 1993).
The report points out some factors that explain the attention to quality in higher education:
Similar viewpoint is put forward by Franke-Wikberg (1992), when describing some general trends in quality and evaluation in Western Europe. She stresses that there are only two general models of evaluating the quality of education, 'product-oriented aiming at control of quality' and 'process-oriented evaluation aiming at quality improvements' and shows how emphasis has changed between these main models over time. According to Franke-Wikberg (ibid.) product evaluation dominated in the era of instructional technology in the 60s, gave way for more process oriented models in the 70', but seems to have revived in the late 80s and 90s.
Van Vucht and Westerheijden (1993) summarise the general trends of the new methods of quality management i higher education stressing that the focus is the process of teaching, and that the aims are both institutional quality improvement and accountability towards the society:
In the following we shall give some examples of quality systems developed in the area of distance education. These are:
All three projects with resulting documents take their starting point in general views of quality management from business and industry and make an effort to integrate these with the specific aspects of education and specifically open and distance learning. None of the documents actually recommend direct application of ISO standards, but look at these standards as possible guidelines. All documents stress 'self appraisal', regular and systematic review of the organisation's activities and results, as one main method discern strengths and weaknesses as the basis for continuous improvements.
SATURN was a European association of distance teaching universities, industry and commerce, in equal partnership. The association's Quality Working Group developed a first version of a quality guide published in 1992. The guide defines quality and links it with other quality initiatives. The guide was constructed to highlight actions and processes involved in the provision of open and distance learning. The guide is based on a model defining 'key areas' which are focused on from the standpoints of different 'participant roles' (information providers, developers, deliverers, corporate customers and learners). For each of the key areas there is a 'checklist' listing appropriate 'action' in the form of 'checklist questions'.
The checklists presupposes that the organisation has formulated a 'quality policy' and gives some key questions to be answered on this point. Further, the guide presents these key areas:
The general code of practice checklist points out the responsibilities of both 'providers' and 'users' concerning 'quality policy', 'information', 'specification of outcomes', 'products, services and delivery specification' and 'evaluation and improvements'. The idea is that the users, corporate customers and learners also must take responsibility for the quality in education.
The detailed checklists describe actions that the different participants or roles should carry out before training, during training and after training.
The guide has been developed by the AECS Research and Development Committee. The aims of the project was to:
The theoretical foundation for the work was taken from The Total Quality Management System provided from the European Foundation for Quality Management (1992). In this model the processes are the means by which the organisation harness and releases the talents of its people to produce results. These processes and the people are the 'enablers' which provide the 'results'. Graphically the model is presented like this:
'Essentially the model tells us that:
Customer satisfaction, People (employees) Satisfaction and Impact on Society
are achieved through
Leadershipdriving
Policy and Strategy, People Management, Resources and Processes,
leading ultimately to excellence in
Business Results' (EFQM 1992 p 3).
'Each of the nine elements shown in the model is a criterion that can be used to appraise the organisation's progress towards Total Quality Management. The Results aspects are concerned with what the organisation has achieved and is achieving. The Enablers are concerned with how are being achieved. The objective of the comprehensive quality management self-appraisal and self-improvement programme is to regularly review each of these nine criteria and, thereafter, to adopt relevant improvement strategies (ibid. p 3).
The AECS guide describes the relevant areas for distance education within each of the elements and defines how each area might be handled in the organisation. In this connection 4 stages or levels can be defined:
Stage 1. Short term orientation
Stage 2. Formulated product requirements
Stage 3. Effective use of internal expertise
Stage 4. Continuous improvement and interaction with the environment
The guide has specifically defined the 'core processes' of a distance teaching institutions as:
Until 1993 the quality of private distance education was controlled externally by the government according to the Correspondence Education Act. From 1993 the responsibility for ensuring quality was delegated to the individually approved distance education institutions. Their organisation, NADE, was requested by the Ministry to prepare guidelines for quality standards in distance education. It was specified that the evaluation of quality ought to have a broad basis. The documents related to the bill expressed that quality assurance, follow up and control should be concerned with the total educational programme.
NADE's established a Standing Committee on Quality, which in co-operation with the member institutions and the Ministry developed the first version of quality standards. The quality standards are supposed to have an internal function to serve as guidelines for the institution's own quality improvement work.
Inspired by a report from Lund University in Sweden (Nilsson 1992) the committee constructed a matrix of quality areas based on a two-dimensional model of distance education. The activities of a distance education institution were divided into four main categories:
Each of these main categories was again divided into four phases:
These are combined in a matrix of 16 elements called quality areas.
For each of these quality areas certain factors were specified, which may enter into the institution's evaluation of its own quality. Relevant quality standards have then been formulated for each factor (with some few exceptions). The quality standards are grouped and numbered according to areas and factors in the matrix. In a comprehensive evaluation of an institution's quality the extent to which the institution meets all of the quality standards that are relevant to its activities will be a significant factor. A clear intention is that the standards are seen as recommendations for the institutions' self evaluation, and not intended specifically for external judgement. However, in the Ministry's assessment in a process of accrediting new institutions for state funding, the quality standards will be an important instrument.
Preliminary recommendations for the SOCRATES programme
AECS. 'Quality Guide', AECS, 1994.
Birnbaum, R. 'The Quality Cube: how college presidents assess quality' in: Quality in the Academic: Proceeding from a national symposium, National Center for Postsecondary Governance and Finance. University of Maryland.
EFQM 'Total Quality Management. The European Model for Self-Appraisal. Guidelines for Identifying and Addressing Total Quality Issues. 1992.
Franke-Wikberg, S. 'Quality in Higher Education: An International Issue under Debate.' Paper to the EADTU Conference 'Quality, Standards and Research in European Distance Education. Umeå, 1992.
Juran, J. M. 'Quality Control Handbook.' N. Y., McGrawHill, 1988.
SATURN 'SATURN Quality Guide for Open and Distance Learning. Pilot guide, January 1992.
Ljoså, E. & Rekkedal, T. 'From External Control to Internal Quality Assurance. Background for the Development of NADE's Quality Standards for Distance Education. Oslo, NADE, 1993.
Nilsson, K.-A. 'Utvärdering för kvalitet. En handledning för grunnutbildingen. Pedagogisk Utvecklingsarbete vid Lunds Universitet. Lund, 1992.
Schuemer, R. 'Evaluation Concepts and Practice in selected Distance Education Institutions.' Hagen, FernUniversität, 1991.
Remien, O. 'Distance Education and Economic and Consumer Law in the Single Market.' Brussels, European Commission, 1994.
Thorpe, M. 'Evaluating Open & Distance Learning.' London, Longman, 1988.
Van Vucht, F. A. & Westerheijden, D. F. 'Quality management and quality assurance in European higher education. Methods and mechanisms.' Brussels, Commission of the European Communities, 1993.
Mr. Torstein Rekkedal is Director of Research and Development at NKI, a non-governmental educational institution in Norway. He has worked in research and development in distance education for 25 years and has conducted a number of research projects on recruitment and completion, student support, technology and quality in distance education. He has chaired the research committees of ICDE and AECS. He is currently member of the Steering Committee of the EDEN NAP (Network of Academics and Professionals).