The concepts of quality, quality assurance and quality enhancement
| Date | 06 July 2015 |
| Pages | 250-261 |
| Published date | 06 July 2015 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/QAE-11-2012-0046 |
| Author | Noha Elassy |
| Subject Matter | Education,Curriculum, instruction & assessment,Educational evaluation/assessment |
The concepts of quality, quality
assurance and quality
enhancement
Noha Elassy
Suez Canal University, Ismailia, Egypt
Abstract
Purpose – This paper aims to critically review and discuss different denitions of the concepts of
quality, quality assurance (QA) and quality enhancement (QE) in higher education (HE) with presenting
critical perspectives of the literature.
Design/methodology/approach – The paper looks at literature concerns with the meaning of
quality, QA and QE, regarding HE context. It analysis and critically reviews the different denitions of
these key concepts.
Findings – This paper suggests that the concepts of QA and QE should be dealt as part of a continuum
and showed the need for both as an ongoing process in HE institutions.
Originality/value – The paper provides a unique analysis of the widely cited pieces of research
regarding the concept of quality, QA and QE. It contributes to increase the understanding of those key
concepts in HE sector, its origin and mean stream view. It outlines the importance of having a clear
understanding of these terms and highlights the difculties of having a unied denition.
Keywords Quality assurance, Higher education, Quality, Quality enhancement
Paper type Conceptual paper
Introduction
The concept of quality became a well-established topic and the concept of quality
assurance (QA) and quality enhancement (QE) are widely used in the higher education
institutions (HEIs). The noticeable concern across the world about quality reects the
importance of QA issues; this interest is found in a number of international
organizations around the world. For example, United Nations Educational, Scientic
and Cultural Organization shows signicant concern with QA in education, the World
Bank, OECD and other international bodies regularly make references to QA in their
reports. Specically, the International Network for Quality Assurance Agencies in
Higher Education works as a professional association supporting the QA agencies
around the globe. The establishment of a number of regional QA organizations shows
the importance of quality issues. These regional bodies exist in diverse geographic
regions, such as the European Network for Quality Assurance, the Arab Network for
Quality Assurance in Higher Education and similar regional agencies in Asia, the
Caribbean and Africa.
This paper aims to critically review the different denitions of the key concepts of
quality and to contribute to the debates on these concepts to increase the understanding
of using them in the higher education (HE) context. The study discusses different
denitions of quality and QA in HE that have been written about in the educational
literature with a critical prospective of the widely cited pieces of research. Also, the
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
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QAE
23,3
250
Received 21 November 2012
Revised 3 October 2013
7 December 2013
6 March 2014
25 April 2014
Accepted 16 October 2014
QualityAssurance in Education
Vol.23 No. 3, 2015
pp.250-261
©Emerald Group Publishing Limited
0968-4883
DOI 10.1108/QAE-11-2012-0046
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