Purpose: This paper is one of seven in this volume, each elaborating different approaches to quality improvement in education. The purpose of this paper is to delineate a methodology called positive deviance. Design/methodology/approach: The paper presents the origins, theoretical foundations, core principles and a case study demonstrating an…

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to demonstrate in the context of quality assurance (QA), how stakeholders define quality education and its connections to maximize value for the stakeholder using a grounded theory approach. Design/methodology/approach: A four-stage research design using grounded theory methodology was used to develop and…

Business schools continuously improve their processes and program assessment activities, but fall short in achieving faculty's awareness of process steps and disseminating results to inform and trigger continuous improvement actions. The assessment process of the Craig School of Business at California State University, Fresno had worked well. It…

COVID-19 pandemic resulted in the abrupt closure of higher education institutions globally. The pandemic disrupted teaching, research, and community service in higher education resulting in a loss in revenue streams and human resources. To mitigate disruption on the academic calendar, institutions leveraged Information Communication Technology…

This study explores the progress of the 14-year old Bologna reform in major Azerbaijani public universities. The focus of the study was to investigate the level of student involvement in the transformation process of the European Higher Education Area. The data for the research were collected from a survey conducted among 2,400 bachelor's and…

This paper reports on a study in which educators from four early childhood centres used metaphor to discuss their provision of high-quality early childhood education. Qualitative mining of focus group data confirmed 'quality' to be complex, multi-dimensional and value-laden. Findings contribute to understandings of quality in early childhood…

This edition of the Bologna Process Implementation Report charts important progress made over two decades when it comes to mobility, quality assurance and recognition, but also points to the work needed in the future. The report shows how European higher education systems advanced with concerted national reforms. This in itself is a remarkable…

The emergence of new ODL institutions and keenness of conventional universities to offer online degree programs in higher education predict its popularity. However, the challenge of how to ensure the quality of learning in ODL institutions is also emerging. In this regard, Virtual University of Pakistan (VUP) has nearly developed first ever…

Purpose: Using a descriptive case study approach, this paper aims to validate academic librarians' perceptions that they are marginalized by faculty during academic program reviews, and recommends ways for the two groups to collaborate more effectively to make program reviews more meaningful. Design/methodology/approach: The paper describes a case…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to clarify the concept of "school quality management culture" in relation to the general notion of "school organizational culture" and to review empirical studies that scrutinised the relation between organisational culture and quality management practices in education and business.…

The present article offers a mixed-method perspective on the investigation of determinants of effectiveness in quality assurance at higher education institutions. We collected survey data from German higher education institutions to analyse the degree to which quality managers perceive their approaches to quality assurance as effective. Based on…

This article considers opportunities and risks arising from the prominence of the belonging motif in Australia's Early Years Learning Framework and, more implicitly, in the National Quality Standard, against which the quality of the early childhood education and care services is assessed. A vignette constructed from case study data generated in…

The changing landscape of higher education over the past few decades has increasingly brought internationalization to the fore as one major manifestation of the educational systems of both developed and developing countries alike. As part of this global trend, the Ethiopian higher education sector has, in the past decade, begun to exhibit some of…

The paper presents the conceptual framework and operational indicators of the Learning Management System in virtual spaces supported by ICT. The framework of the management system has three layers that are operational, management-operative, and management-decision. The conceptual foundation of the system is related to the Science of Education, the…

Assuring the quality of curriculum, pedagogy and assessment is an increasingly significant issue in higher education. This article explores the potential benefit of 'consensus planning', an ongoing curriculum development, maintenance and monitoring strategy, to achieve consistency of academic standards for student learning and assessment across…