A major goal of the manufacturing industry is increasing product quality. The quality of a product is strongly associated with the condition of the cutting tool that produced it. Catching poor tool conditions early in the production will help reduce defects. However, with current CNC technology, manufacturers still rely mainly on the operator's…

For more than five years the Houston Public Library has collected statistics for measuring networked collections and services based on emerging guidelines. While the guidelines have provided authority and stability to the process, the clarification process continues. The development of information discovery software, such as federated search tools…

There has been considerable interest in national quality assurance process in Turkey following the pilot accreditation project of the Engineering College of the Middle East Technical University (METU) by the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET), in 2000. ABET accreditation of the Engineering Colleges of Bosphorus and Bilkent…

Purpose: This article seeks to highlight the challenges and issues that face merging higher education institutions and also to outline some of the challenges in integrating the quality assurance systems during the pre-, interim and post-merger phases in a merged university. Design/methodology/approach: Case studies of merged and merging…

NAEYC asks members and other stakeholders in quality early childhood education to share their thinking with the Commission on NAEYC Early Childhood Program Standards and Accreditation Criteria on a number of questions concerning NAEYC's future accreditation system.

Water quality is a critical environmental, social, and political issue in Delaware. In the late 1990s, a series of events related to water quality issues led to the passage of a state nutrient management law. This new law required nutrient management planning and established a state certification program for nutrient users in the agricultural and…

This article focuses on methods of funding allocation and quality assurance as prominent levers of change in higher education reform today. It is their interplay which forms the main components of coordination frameworks. The arguments for more market or new forms of state intervention can only be understood in the context of such a framework.…

This document supplements the advice given in "How good is our school?" (HGIOS)--third edition and "The Child at the Centre"--second edition which set out comprehensive quality frameworks and provide helpful advice on the process of improvement through self-evaluation. In particular, this document provides advice on the…

This document represents an innovative and radical landmark in the development of external quality arrangements for Scotland's colleges. The quality framework and arrangements for annual engagement, subject-based aspect reports, and external review reflect new thinking nationally, within HMIE, in the Scottish Further and Higher Education Funding…

Program reviews became widely used as quality assurance activities in the United States beginning in the 1970s. Since then, they have evolved as an essential component in demonstrating institutional effectiveness to accrediting bodies. The paper discusses various approaches to reviews with a focus on a recently reengineered institutional program…

The "Child Care Bulletin" is published quarterly and includes practical, informative articles based on current literature regarding topics important to policy-makers, child care providers, and parents. The Bulletin includes short articles, tips sheets, policy updates, interviews with leaders in the child care field, information from child…

This article deals with the governmental strategies basic to the construction of the European Higher Education Area within the Bologna Process. With regard to the actual reconstruction of German universities, these strategies are verified on a structural level, in individual and collective subject relations and also in the subject matter which is…

Purpose: This paper is the second part of a comprehensive report about a research study that aims to assess the relationship between the university experience and student outcomes as a means of determining a university's success in meeting its educational goals. Design/methodology/approach: While Part I has described the process of how data were…

Quality assurance in medical education is a complex matter. Institutions and external critics of accreditation processes often question the objectivity of peer judgements. Members of accreditation panels similarly often feel at a loss for a lack of mechanisms to help them arrive at a collective assessment of the performance of an institution. In…

This article explores the development of policy in quality assurance in higher education. While it briefly examines the broader context of quality assurance in South Africa in terms of the National Qualifications Framework as one of the political levers for establishing a quality assurance system in education and training systemically it focuses…