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The Implementation of Quality Management Practices in Namibian Higher Education Institutions
- Esther Nuuyoma
- Elock Emvula Shikalepo
- 25-40
- Nov 26, 2024
- Management
The Implementation of Quality Management Practices in Namibian Higher Education Institutions
Esther Nuuyoma1, Elock Emvula Shikalepo2
1Directorate of Quality Assurance and Management, the International University of Management (IUM), Windhoek, Namibia
2Directorate of Postgraduate Studies and Research, the International University of Management (IUM), Windhoek, Namibia
Received: 11 October 2024; Revised: 24 October 2024; Accepted: 26 October 2024; Published: 26 November 2024
ABSTRACT
Higher Education Institutions all over the world, have a greater role to play in addressing quality in service delivery as well as anticipating client needs and satisfying them. To maintain quality and provide better service delivery to their stakeholders, many HEIs in Namibia have started to introduce quality management systems or quality assurance systems. This study intended to determine whether quality management processes in Namibian HEIs were implemented effectively, in compliance with international best practices. The study has used a mixed-methods research methodology, dominated mainly by quantitative research methods, with limited use of qualitative methods and data. Data was collected from a sample of 23 staff members and 74 final year students from one selected public HEI in Namibia. Findings from this study revealed that although quality management was being practiced at this institution, there was need to strengthen awareness among all the stakeholders, as well as maintain the active involvement of top management in quality management-related interventions. The study established that QMPs were not implemented effectively at both strategic, tactical and operational levels at the institutions, which then compromised the overall quality assurance of the institutions at different fronts. It was also established that serious attention should be given to monitoring and evaluation of implementation processes. Some stakeholders were also not made aware of QMPs at the institutions, which made stakeholders deficient in proving the required support towards the implementation of QMPs. The study recommends that HEIs should ensure that QMPs are implemented at all levels of the institutions. HEIs should sensitize all stakeholders to make them aware of the quality-assurance related policies and procedures that are in place and ensure that stakeholders are fully involved in their implementation, to realise effectiveness in the implementation of quality assurance practices in HEIs.
Keywords: higher education, higher education institutions, implementation, quality management, quality management practices, quality assurance
INTRODUCTION
Previous studies revealed that governments play an important role in HEIs in many countries through funding while playing or acting in the role of principal regulator. As a result, the role of governments in HEIs and the implementation of QMPs are inseparable. The Namibian government spends a substantial amount of money on higher education, however the education system is still poor and subsequently the graduates trained at these institutions are said to lack competencies and contribute less to the country’s economic growth. This can be confirmed by the Analysis of the Namibian Millennium Development Goals Progress Report (2013) which showed that Namibia has increased access to education; but the country falls short in terms of the quality of education and its subsequent responsiveness to labour expectations. The report further emphasised the adverse effects posed by the shortage of a skilled and adequately trained workforce on investment in general and on manufacturing in particular in the country. This study looked at the QMPs in Namibian HEIs and the
effectiveness of their implementation.
On the basis of the above, the adoption of quality management in Namibian HEIs has prompted scholars into conducting research in an effort to establish the effectiveness of quality systems in place. In their review of literature and legislative and policy instruments in Namibia, Matengu, Likando and Kangumu (2014) confirmed that the Namibian HEIs have put in place both internal and external mechanisms for quality assurance, which are in line with the institutions’ mandate. The authors indicated that the case study HEI has engaged the Higher Education Quality Committee of South Africa on Education in addition to joining the International Network of Quality Assurance. The University of Namibia (UNAM) on the other hand has solicited quality assessment support from the South Africa Rectors’ Conference, the Association of African Universities, the Association of European Universities and the Association of Canadian Universities; in addition to peer review at disciplinary levels by Professionals Councils in medicine and engineering fields, to vet its programmes and systems. The review also emphasised that while this is good practice and should be encouraged, it also points to some level of doubt in the Namibian policy system, which in itself is in its infancy.
The Namibian government has remained steadfast in its attempts to improve HEIs in the country. This can be witnessed in its decision to set up two statutory organisations, namely, the Namibia Council for Higher Education (NCHE) and the Namibian Qualifications Authority (NQA), both of which were established by Acts of Parliament, No.29 of 1996 and 26 of 2003 respectively. In support of this initiative, Simataa (2010) states that the ‘ability’ of HEIs to contribute to competitiveness is determined by a set of factors, policies, and external governance institutions such as the NQA and NCHE which determine the level of productivity, quality skill attainment and student throughput. Likewise, Kadhila (2012) points out that in Namibia, as in many countries around the world, there has been an increased recognition of the importance of quality higher education in national development. He further emphasises that this relationship is premised on the assumption that higher education will provide the necessary quality inputs and the expected quality outputs, which is quality graduates.
In addition to the studies conducted on the effectiveness of quality systems in place in Namibian HEIs, several surveys have also been conducted in an effort to assess the effectiveness and efficiency of quality higher education in the country following the establishment of the two statutory bodies. Simataa (2010) looked at the context of education in Namibia and its policy articulations in terms of national objectives, such as those articulated in NDP3 and Vision 2030. His study reviewed relevant Namibian documents and conducted consultations with various stakeholders. The study utilised both qualitative and quantitative data collection techniques using questionnaires as the research instrument. His findings indicate that the legislation outlining the functions and powers of the NQA’s do not make it compulsory for all HEIs to be assessed in all aspects of quality management and it does not prescribe what needs to be done regarding quality in higher education. The study further reveal that its legal authority makes its responsibility of accreditation and quality assurance optional and without consequences for those who do not comply. As such, in its enforcement, it is limited to those HEIs who wish to have their academic programmes evaluated and accredited.
Moreover, the study found that there is a significant overlap of functions between the NCHE and the NQA, particularly on accreditation. The NCHE is expected to solve the quandary of higher education funding while at the same time instituting a monitoring and evaluation scheme of higher education institution, establishing quality assurance mechanisms, advising HEIs and regulating their operations regarding who offers what? The NCHE is expected to oversee the academic performance of both students and their lecturers. Last, but not least, the NCHE is tasked with managing performance, and coordinating the higher education system to ensure that HEIs offer what is within national priorities and demands. However, the NCHE Secretariat currently does not have the capacity to meet most of these expectations. This is mainly because of the fact that it is grossly understaffed and it would need the appropriate financial support that would enable it to recruit senior experts to realise its broad and ambitious mandate fully (NCHE, 2003). Given this background, this study attempted to investigate the effectiveness of QMPs implementation in Namibian HEIs in comparison with international best practices, by establishing the perceptions of quality education that students at Namibian HEIs hold and how their perceptions influence the implementation of QMPs.
Statement of the Problem
HEIs across the globe are known to play a fundamental role in training and equipping individuals with relevant skills for the labour market (UNESCO, 2003). This demanding role has put pressure on HEIs in other developing countries such as Namibia, to strive and satisfy that demand. In many developing countries, such as Namibia, it looks like quality management and performance standards in HEIs are falling (UNESCO, 2003). For example, a survey conducted in 2012 found that even though Namibia’s HEIs could assist the government to achieve its national developmental goals, the higher education system was failing in churning out graduates who were able to cope in the demanding job market without further training. The survey should was carried out by different bodies which included the Engineering Professions Association of Namibia (EPA), the German International Development Cooperation (GIZ), the Engineering Council of Namibia (ECN), UNAM, the then Polytechnic of Namibia (PoN), and the Association of Consulting Engineers (ASCEN). The study also found that in the recent past, graduates from HEIs have not been progressing as fast as they did in the past to become well-trained and registered professionals. The study concluded that one of the reasons for the decline in performance standards is that HEIs were struggling to manage quality standards as compared to the private sector. Thus, this study aimed to examine the effectiveness of the implementation of QMPs in HEIs in relation to best international practices.
Research objectives
(a) To determine the effectiveness of QMPs currently in place in Namibian HEIs in comparison with in-ternational best practices.
(b) To establish the perceptions of quality management that students and staff in Namibian HEIs hold and how these perceptions influence quality service delivery.
Research Questions
The following research questions were addressed:
a) What is the effectiveness of current QMPs in Namibian HEIs, in comparison with international best practices?
b) What are the perceptions of quality management do students and staff in Namibian HEIs hold, and how does these perceptions influence quality service delivery?
Significance of the Study
This study adds value to the academic world through addressing issues that pertain to the implementation of QMPs in Namibian HEIs. The study has relevance to the broader tertiary education sector and contributes significantly to the body of knowledge, especially in the field of higher education with limited literature on Namibia. It also helps to raise awareness amongst key stakeholders on the shortcomings in the development and implementation of quality management, and the focus of a selected HEI in Namibia has identified areas that may need improvement in other HEIs in Namibia.
The findings of the study can assist researchers and academicians in broadening their curriculum on the con-tinuous improvement principle of quality management. HEIs in Namibia can also benefit from the insights on quality management in the provision of both educational and non-educational services. Other universities and academic institutions may also use the findings in policy formulation and implementation with respect to the continuous improvement principle of quality management. This study hoped to provide expositions intended to deter possible future complaints on the ineffectiveness levelled against HEIs graduates in Namibia.
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
Understanding the concept of Quality Management
Quality management involves the systematic supervision of organisational processes that influence quality policies, planning, assurance, and control (Sohail, et al., 2003). It is on the basis of this understanding that Deming (2000) suggests that his theory of management, based on a set of management practices, gives adequate guidelines to help companies implement Total Quality Management (TQM) and increase their quality and productivity. Similarly, Sohail, et al. (2003) argue that a quality management system enables organisations to efficiently manage and enhance their products and services.
Hassan (2010) outlined a systematic framework for quality management, highlighting the importance of advancing through specific phases that are crucial for successful execution. The initial stage involves an evaluation, during which the organisation examines its current quality control systems to pinpoint both strengths and weaknesses. This preliminary assessment lays the groundwork for the formulation of focused quality initiatives designed to tackle particular challenges and improve overall performance.
Subsequent to the inspection, it is imperative for organisations to prioritise the implementation of quality initiatives. The purpose of these initiatives is to enhance processes, products, and services through the implementation of innovative methodologies and practices that are in accordance with the organization’s quality objectives. Following the establishment of these initiatives, the subsequent phase involves the incorporation of quality assurance. This entails the development of systems and protocols that guarantee consistent adherence to quality standards across all organisational activities.
The primary objective is to integrate quality within the organisational culture. The integration of culture signifies that quality emerges as a fundamental value embraced by all employees, shaping both decision-making processes and everyday operations. To achieve a successful transformation, organisations need to conduct a thorough evaluation of their specific context, considering elements like industry standards, stakeholder expectations and internal capabilities.
Moreover, it is essential to define distinct roles and implement training programs effectively. It is essential for employees to comprehend their designated roles in quality management and to undergo suitable training that will provide them with the requisite skills and knowledge. This transparency not only improves accountability but also enables employees to engage actively in initiatives aimed at enhancing quality.
Hassan (2010)’s framework illustrates that engaging the entire workforce in the quality management process allows organisations to cultivate a shared commitment to excellence, ultimately driving continuous improvement and enhancing overall performance.
Many HEIs are committed to improving educational quality and services, despite the challenges associated with adopting TQM. Although these steps are typically designed for industrial contexts, they can be modified for application in educational settings. Maluleke (2008) investigated the quality management system within a South African government department, concluding that effective implementation necessitates a phased approach over multiple years. Fundamental principles for the establishment of a quality management system encompass robust leadership, staff motivation, employee engagement, sustained commitment from management, and ongoing training. Maluleke’s principles, identified as generic practices, correspond with Ebiringa’s (2012) classification into management practices, infrastructure practices, and core quality practices, highlighting a systematic approach to quality management within organisations.
Quality Management Practices in HEIs
Promoting a culture of quality contributes to the enhancement of organisational reputation and leads to im-proved overall performance. QMPs have been widely implemented, and while some organisations have had great success through them, other initiatives have failed (Jinhui, et al., 2011). These practices were proposed to improve organisational performance and have received substantial attention in recent studies (Jaafreh & Al-abedallat, 2012). From their study of a private college in Malaysia which had implemented a quality sys-tem for which it became the first private college in Malaysia to be awarded the ISO 9002 certification, Sohail, et al. (2003) argued that taking TQM seriously can hold immediate and long-term benefits for HEIs and their stakeholders. They noted that the most critical QMPs were changes in procedures, continuous training, regu-lar management review meetings (MRM), certification, and review of the quality system after ISO certifica-tion. The study showed that the implementation of quality measures was largely the contributing factor for the continuous high pass rate of students.
Moreover, information collected on the level of teaching staff, showed that the majority of the staff were sat-isfied with the system in existence. A review of information obtained from internal records revealed that the college had been able to forge partnerships and maintain strategic relationships with a number of universities and institutions after obtaining their ISO certification. International certification of an institution’s pro-grammes and the quality thereof brings not only higher professional recognition but also promotes confidence in the institution within the broader student populace. Students are able to register with other internationally recognised higher institutions; and conversely the institution attracts prospective students because of its inter-national certification status. The benefits also extend to academics who are able to engage in partnership to carry out research activities with other internationally recognised universities globally.
Overall, their study proved the effectiveness of efforts towards quality certification in improving interdepart-mental working relationships, students’ throughput rates, student enrolment, staff and supplier satisfaction. The study also emphasised that, given the competitive business environment and tougher controls in higher education, HEIs must explore the possibility of gaining competitive advantage through quality enhancements. Another important observation of the study was that the data collected for implementing quality programmes enables HEIs to measure progress in key areas and establish benchmarks.
Similarly, Kleijnen, Dolmans, Willems and van Hout, (2011) explored the perceptions of quality management activities of faculty members within 18 departments at Universities of Applied Sciences (UAS) in the Nether-lands. Using questionnaires containing items with Likert- type answer scales as the research instrument, this study revealed that faculty were undecided on the degree to which sufficient quality management activities were conducted within their departments, especially with regard to the systematic application of the Plan-Do-Check-Act (PDCA) cycle. The study further revealed that there was poor internal communication about quali-ty management activities within the department and that, generally, faculty were positive about the attention paid to the relevant quality aspects within their departments: “teaching and learning”, “information and fa-cilities” and “results”. Finally, the findings also demonstrated that the “perceived improvement” effect of quality management was positively associated with the perceived amount of quality management activities conducted within the department and the attention that was paid to quality aspects, which may indicate a strong culture of quality in some departments and the absence of it in others. Confirming the views expressed by Svenson et al. (1994) and Magutu, et al. (2010) the study concluded that continuous monitoring is a neces-sity to maintain quality in all departments.
Many HEIs around the globe use benchmarking as a tool for both improving performance and ensuring con-tinuous improvement. The selected HEI being one of the recognised university in the country could also adopt some of the important features of international best practices for benchmarking. According to McKin-non, Walker and Davis (2000), university leaders would know how their institution rates in certain areas in comparison with others, ascertain their competitive position relative to others, and know how their institution can be improved. Alstete (1995) categorises institutions into four groups based on their voluntary and proac-tive participation. Internal benchmarking involves assessing the performance of different departments, cam-puses or sites within a single institution to identify best practices, which is especially advantageous in decen-tralised or multi-campus settings. External competitive benchmarking entails evaluating performance in criti-cal areas against competing institutions. Although it is highly regarded and credible among decision-makers, it poses challenges concerning data confidentiality, frequently necessitating the involvement of neutral facili-tators. External collaborative benchmarking assesses performance against a wider array of non-competitive institutions, potentially managed collectively or via a central agency to ensure continuity. Ultimately, exter-nal trans-industry benchmarking examines innovative practices across various sectors to enhance perfor-mance outcomes. This approach, while considered highly desirable, poses implementation challenges and re-quires significant institutional commitment to address the complexities and ambiguities involved.
In their endeavours to achieve continuous improvement, it is evident that Namibian HEIs currently gives em-phasis on benchmarking strategies for assessing and improving efficiency and productivity of administrative processes and instructional models. However, to ensure that benchmarking is a permanent part of the organi-sation’s culture, much of this will need to be evaluated carefully in relation to the institution’s competitors and re-instituting the benchmarking process when necessary.
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Research Design
A mixed methods research methodology was used to carry out the study to gain deep insight into the phenom-enon of the implementation of QMPs at Namibian HEIs. This methodology has helped in identifying the qual-ity-enhancing activities that are missing in quality management processes and to establish the perceptions of quality education that students hold and how these influence the quality of delivery at HEIs. The mixed re-search design provides a heuristic way of exploring QMPs and the implementation process at HEIs in the ef-fort to identify areas where changes could be made for graduates to be ready for the job market in terms of their quality. The mixed research design also facilitated exploring the social world of stakeholders of HEIs for their social and material circumstances, their experiences and their perspectives in the higher education envi-ronment to be included in the effort at finding ways of improving the quality of graduates from the HEIs in the country.
Population and sampling
This study confined itself to one public HEI in Namibia. Thus, the population comprised students, academic staff and administrative staff of this institution. The mixed-method design used for this study adopted a com-bination of cluster, purposive, simple random and systematic sampling techniques. Cluster sampling was nec-essary because respondents had to be drawn from all the six faculties in the University. Using the purposive sampling procedure, the researcher chose the sample based on who would have information appropriate for the study. Purposive sampling therefore provided the researchers with access to specialised individuals with useful insights into the subject being studied. It was planned that one out of three academic staff members and all the administrative staff members in each faculty will be included in the sample. 56 academic and 15 administrative staff members were included in the study. The researchers obtained a list of all academic and administrative staff members in all the faculties and questionnaires were emailed to staff members selected and sent through Google Docs.
Fifty-six (56) academic and 15 administrative staff members were included in the study. The researchers ob-tained a list of all academic and administrative staff members in all the faculties and questionnaires were emailed to staff members selected and sent through Google Docs. Eleven (11) academic and twelve (12) ad-ministrative staff members completed and returned the questionnaires. The researchers then sifted to system-atic sampling by selecting every eighth student in the list, for which questionnaires were e-mailed to all 240 selected final-year students through Google Docs. Seventy-four (74) students completed and returned the questionnaire. The semi-structured interviews with all staff members who completed the questionnaires al-lowed respondents opportunity to express their views thoroughly and therefore have fuller participation in the conversation (Cooper & Schindler, 2006; Saunders et al., 2009).
Table 1 below summarises the staff members who completed and returned the questionnaire.
Table 1: Percentage of completed and returned questionnaires by staff
| Gender | Occupation | Total | % | ||
| Academic Staff | Administrative Staff | ||||
| Female | Faculty of Computing & Informatics | 2 | 1 | 3 | 13% |
| Faculty of Human Sciences | 0 | 1 | 1 | 4% | |
| Faculty of Management Sciences | 0 | 5 | 5 | 22% | |
| Total | 2 | 7 | 9 | 39% | |
| Male | Faculty of Computing & Informatics | 1 | 1 | 2 | 9% |
| Faculty of Engineering | 1 | 0 | 1 | 4% | |
| Faculty of Health & Applied Sciences | 0 | 1 | 1 | 4% | |
| Faculty of Human Sciences | 5 | 2 | 7 | 31% | |
| Faculty of Management Sciences | 0 | 1 | 1 | 4% | |
| Faculty of Natural Resources & Spatial Sciences | 2 | 0 | 2 | 9% | |
| Total | 9 | 5 | 14 | 61% | |
| Total | Faculty of Computing & Informatics | 3 | 2 | 5 | 22% |
| Faculty of Engineering | 1 | 0 | 1 | 4% | |
| Faculty of Health & Applied Sciences | 0 | 1 | 1 | 4% | |
| Faculty of Human Sciences | 5 | 3 | 8 | 35% | |
| Faculty of Management Sciences | 0 | 6 | 6 | 26% | |
| Faculty of Natural Resources & Spatial Sciences | 2 | 0 | 2 | 9% | |
| Total | 11 (48%) | 12 (52%) | 23 | 100% | |
Random sampling gave each final-year student in a cluster (faculty) equal opportunity to be included in the study – it was planned that approximately one out of every eight final-year students will be included in the sample. The assumption here was that final-year students have had more exposure to the institution and so their perceptions of the institution’s efforts at quality management would provide rich material for considera-tion in this research. Class lists of final-year students, with their e-mail addresses, were obtained from lectur-ers. The researchers then sifted to systematic sampling by selecting every eighth student in the list, for which questionnaires were e-mailed to all 240 selected students through Google Docs. Table 2 below summarises the number of students who completed and returned the questionnaire.
Table 2: Percentage of completed and returned questionnaires by students
| Name of Faculty | Female | Male | Total | Percentage |
| Computing & Informatics | 2 | 3 | 5 | 7% |
| Engineering | 9 | 10 | 19 | 26% |
| Health & Applied Sciences | 2 | 1 | 3 | 4% |
| Human Sciences | 3 | 7 | 10 | 14% |
| Management Sciences | 20 | 11 | 31 | 42% |
| Natural Resources & Spatial Sciences | 4 | 2 | 6 | 8% |
| Total | 40 | 34 | 74 | 100% |
Data collection
As stated earlier in the under the population paragraph, questionnaires were used for data collection for this study – one questionnaire for staff members and another questionnaire for students. The questionnaires re-quired mainly Likert-scale-type of answers for quantitative analysis, though each had a few open-ended ques-tions that provided answers for some qualitative analysis to aid with a holistic understanding of the subject being studied.
The open-ended questions focused on the issues that would have been explored to greater depth in the inter-views that could not be scheduled. For the quantitative section, each of the items was anchored on a five-point Likert scale to measure the extent of the respondent’s agreement with the item posted, ranging from 1 – very small extent, 2 – small extent, 3 – uncertain, 4 – great extent, to 5 – greater extent.
Open-ended questions allow respondents the opportunity to express their views thoroughly and therefore have full participation in the conversation (Cooper & Schindler, 2006; Saunders, et al., 2009). In addition, open-ended questions allow time and space for participants to share their understanding, experiences, opinions and interpretations of, as well as their reactions to, the quality issue in Namibia’s HEIs (McGuirk & O’Neill, 2005). The open-ended questions in this study sought opinions of and suggestions from participants on the QMPs in Namibian HEIs.
Ethical Considerations
To ensure that this research was conducted following ethically acceptable procedure, researchers wrote a let-ter to the institution seeking permission to conduct the research. The letter explained the purpose of the study and how it would be conducted. After informing them about the purpose of the research and that participants have the right to agree or refuse to participate, the researcher requested participants to sign consent forms in-dicating voluntary participation in the research. In addition, participants were assured that all the information they provided would remain confidential and would be used anonymously only for the purpose of this re-search.
Data Analysis
The study analysed and interpreted both quantitative and qualitative data in alignment with its objectives and research questions. For the quantitative data, the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) was uti-lised. In analysing the qualitative data, the research adopted Tesch’s (1990) eight-step approach, as described by Creswell (2003). This process involved carefully reading all transcriptions, selecting one particularly in-teresting document for initial analysis, and identifying its main theme. Similar topics were then clustered, ab-breviated into codes and assigned these codes to relevant text segments. Descriptive categories were created from the codes, which were subsequently finalised and alphabetised. The data for each category was com-piled for preliminary analysis, with the option to recode existing data as necessary. This structured approach ensured a thorough examination of the qualitative data.
This approach was adopted to allow the discussion of the results in the context of the literature, and to allow for conclusions to be drawn and recommendations to be made for improving quality management at HEIs in Namibia.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Effectiveness in the Application of Quality Management Objectives
The study intended to find out the extent to which QMPs are integrated within the academic and administra-tive functions. This study aimed at exploring the effectiveness in the application of the institution’s QMPs. The following constructs were identified: awareness of policies and procedures, quality improvement, and institution’s commitment and best practices. The SPSS software was used to perform a series of tests for all the identified constructs. The specific tests included reliability, Item-Total Statistics and correlation coeffi-cient. The reliability was used to test the degree to which the questions in the questionnaire jointly measure the constructs that were identified for different variables. The Total- Item Statistics was used to measure the relationship of individual variables to the overall constructs scores. The correlation coefficient was used to measure and analyse the degree of relationship between various variables. The values of each of the identified construct range from 1 (smaller extent) to 5 (greater extent).
The results of this study reveal that the views of many participants and respondents in the sample is that the institution is committed to quality service delivery through the implementation of quality management poli-cies and procedures availed to staff members. The results show that all the correlations between the constructs are above .50, which is acceptable because they are large enough to indicate the strength of the association between the construct. The results shows that there is a strong positive association between awareness of poli-cies and procedures and institution’s commitment – r = .765. This implies that staff members are well in-formed about the policies and procedures, which makes them and the institution to be committed towards providing quality education. In addition, this also gives credence to the suggestion that, in the absence of awareness of policies and procedures pertaining to quality management, the staff members and the institution at large would be less committed to improving quality. Moreover, the correlation result shows that all the constructs are closely related, and that satisfied the convergent validity requirement.
According to Magutu et al. (2010), a quality management policy is important for an organisation, which is committed to quality service. The results also show that there is a positive correlation of .655 between aware-ness of policies and procedures and continuous improvement. Continuous improvement according to Fuentes-Fuentes et al. (2004) means a commitment to constant examination of the technical and administrative pro-cess in search of better methods. This implies that if staff members are aware of policies and procedures they can seek for better methods with the ultimate aim of improving what is in place.
Generally, quality management is practiced at HEI. However, the institution needs to identify quality man-agement interventions that are missing and how their inclusion will contribute to producing better-quality graduates in FOR THE Namibian market and beyond. It is important to ensure that all employees and other stakeholders are aware of the QMPs within the organisation and make them a central part of their work. A result from the analysis of the data collected for this study is that QMPs are currently in place at the HEIs and that staff members are aware of the quality management policies and procedures in place. This meets the re-quirement that staff members at least have to be aware of policies and procedures on quality management in the institution for the institution to be seen as committed to improving quality and as encouraging conformity of staff members to quality management. In addition, the results also revealed that staff members are included in the formulation and review of the institution’s quality management policies and procedures and are as well involved in the drafting of quality management interventions at the institution. Most academic and adminis-trative staff members are therefore satisfied with the current quality assurance practices in place.
The above revelation conforms with Magutu et al.’s (2010) findings in his study on QMPs at the University of Nairobi that the university has not only applied quality management, but by involving staff members at every stage of the process, it has ensured largely that the quality management policy is appropriate to its purpose. Also, Sohail et al. (2003) argues that one of the reasons why a private college in Malaysia was awarded the ISO 9002 certification for implementation of a quality system was because of the extent of involvement of staff members in the process. The findings of this study on HEI show that most of the staff members are satis-fied with the quality management system in place because they have been involved. This should ensure high quality delivery at the institution – a requirement for high quality graduates.
It takes a lot of determination and effort to maintain quality within an institution, including continuous im-provements in quality standards for the whole operation of the organisation. This study found that because of how the quality management process has been handled, there are continuous improvements in quality of teaching and learning, research output, and community engagement activities within the institution. This is what Fuentes-Fuentes et al. (2004) recommend for continuous improvement in standards – a commitment to regular examination of the technical and administrative process by all in search of better methods.
Effectiveness of the Institution’s External and Internal Evaluation
The study further intended on finding out the effectiveness of external and internal evaluation processes in place. Two constructs – evaluation of quality management and effective feedback – were identified. The SPSS software was used to perform a series of tests for all the identified constructs. The specific tests includ-ed reliability, Item-Total Statistics and correlation coefficient. The reliability was used to test the degree to which the questions in the questionnaire jointly measure the constructs that were identified for different vari-ables. The Total-Item Statistics was used to measure the relationship of individual variables to the overall constructs scores. The correlation coefficient was used to measure and analyse the degree of relationship be-tween various variables. The values of each of the identified constructs range from 1(smaller extent) to 5 (greater extent).
The subscales of the institution’s commitment consisted of evaluation of quality management and effective feedback, each of which has 4 items. The Cronbach’s alpha for the institution’s commitment was (α=.829) showing that the goals set by the institution to ensure better service are evaluated annually, the institution conducts external evaluation to assess the effectiveness and achievements of the QMPs annually, the quality management unit con duct regular self-evaluations to analyse the effectiveness and achievements of institu-tional quality management and that the institution conducts regular surveys among the members of the staff and students for feedback on the quality management procedures and their implementation at grass-root lev-els.
The Cronbach’s alpha of (α=.624) for the effective feedback did not fall too far off the acceptable reliability rule of thumb of at least 0.7. This shows that the members of staff are informed about the findings from sur-veys on quality management and the implementation plan for improvement and planned results are not achieved, corrective action is taken, as required, to ensure that all units put in the desired effort and to ensure desired quality is restored. Staff members also believe that the institution determines what data should be col-lected and analysed to assess the suitability of the quality management policy and procedures.
The Pearson’s correlation coefficient between evaluation of quality management and effective feedback is .656, showing that there is a positive association between the two variables. The Sig. (2-tailed) shows the val-ue .001, and since this value is less than .05, it can be concluded that there is a statistically very significant association between the evaluation of quality management and positive feedback. It is imperative that em-ployees get timely feedback given that it is one of the critical components of a successful quality manage-ment process. Employees are likely to improve their performance if effective feedback is given to them on their progress towards their goals.
There is, however, a debate in the literature on whether quality is better addressed by external or internal mechanisms. Kis (2005) summarised the debate, listing the arguments advanced on both approaches, as shown in Table 3.
Table 3: External versus Internal Review
| Pro external review | Pro internal review | |||
| Essential for accountability | Essential for improvement: sustainable improvement relies on internal engagement | |||
| External Quality Assurance ensures the integrity of higher education | External Quality Assurance inhibits innovation (conservative, rigid evaluation criteria, inflexibility) | |||
| Catalyst role for internal improve-ment within HEI | Inefficiency of External Quality Assurance in improvement: high costs (time, resources, little return). Bureaucracy, risk of excessive workload for HEI | |||
| Provides information to various Stakeholders | External Quality Assurance: game playing, impression manage-ment | |||
Source: Kis (2005)
In addition to the summary in Table 3 above, Kis (2005) goes on to explain that addressing accountability re-quires the involvement of an external body and that external quality monitoring ensures the integrity of high-er education, especially international integrity, through something like an accreditation procedure. Kis (2005) further explains that external quality assurance acts as catalyst for internal improvement within higher educa-tion institutions. In fact, while internally initiated quality monitoring can be problem-driven and is useful as a mean of addressing important problems, externally initiated processes tend to be more accountability-driven. Kis (2005) also cites Harvey’s (2002) view that external quality monitoring should provide information to various stakeholders, including prospective students, employers and funders. It is therefore obvious that both external and internal quality monitoring complement each other.
Students’ Understanding of Quality Management
On the issue of perceptions of quality that students have towards the quality of the institution, 36% of the stu-dents who took part in this study admitted that they have little knowledge on the subject. However, there are many significant challenges in defining the term and the literature presents a wide variety of interpretations, depending on the views of different stakeholders, this is not the reason for the ignorance of many of the stu-dents in the sample – they have just not been exposed to the term. Other students, though, who could not de-fine the term, have an idea of what quality management is about, as indicated by the views of 64% of the re-spondents. So they are in a position to express opinions on issues of quality management and to demand that they be provided with quality education.
Respondents who provided some explanations of the concept did not differ significantly from the definitions and explanations of some prominent quality gurus. One of the definitions that came out strongly from 15% of the respondents is “assuring that higher education is standardised and benchmarked to international quality practices and that the curriculum and policies and procedures guiding education are globally accepted, comparable and responsive to best practices, so that graduates are competitive and measurable to all levels of education standards.” This is in line with what the HEQC (1995) indicated about what quality management in higher education encompasses, and those processes by which an institution discharges its corporate responsibility for articulating, maintaining and enhancing academic standards of those activities for which it is responsible and ensure that these processes are performed efficiently and effectively.
Unlike the staff members who are well informed about the policies and procedures on quality management at the institution, the results of the study show that most of the students are not; the students have not been ex-posed to information on efforts at provision of quality education in the institution. Students are supposed to be the primary consumers of higher education service since they receive and use the training offered by the uni-versities, which makes them the priority customers of educational activities. Therefore, as Marzo-Navarro et al. (2005) suggest, students should not be left out on issues on quality management in HEIs. Most of the stu-dents admitted a lack of understanding of what quality management is all about, and this may have accounted for the moderate association between awareness of policies and procedures and quality service in the institu-tion. Improved awareness of quality policies and procedures among students would motivate them for the pursuit required to produce quality graduates.
Lomas (2004) argues that to regularly monitor and review progress towards the goal of embedding quality, there is a merit in asking the students what they think of the academic service that is provided and whether they consider it to be of high quality. For this study, on the subject of quality service, students were asked to express opinion on the quality of the service they receive. The students were happy with the quality of service delivered by the academic staff members. This result indicates that students value their lecturers because of the effort that they put into the teaching-learning process and the motivation students receive to take their studies seriously and be the best they can be. This result corroborates those of Ardi, et al. (2012) who found that students’ satisfac-tion was positively influenced by commitment of faculty, the quality of course delivery, and the ease of giv-ing feedback for quality improvement. Venkatraman (2007) suggests that, in addition to the perception of students, a rigorous course evaluation process, with appropriate follow-up actions, must be pursued to pave the way for continuous improvements in teaching and learning, which will ultimately improve the satisfaction of students. This is also the view of Andreson (2000), cited in Voss and Gruber (2006), who argued that stu-dents desire lecturers who are caring, enthusiastic and organised and who, therefore, motivate them to excel in their work. To improve students’ satisfaction with the quality of education services, Beaver (1994), cited in Venkatraman (2007), highlighted the different modes of delivery that should be used in the classroom to take care of the different learning styles of students. These include active student- centred learning to enhance stu-dent involvement; effective communication of content, which requires mastery; group work; prompt feedback on assessment tasks; and concern for students’ learning and progress.
Since students are the most important stakeholders in higher education, how they perceive the quality of the education provided by the institution they are studying with should be of vital importance in formulation of quality policies and procedures. Therefore, for institutions to be able to deliver the quality service that stu-dents expect, the institutions should be aware of students’ expectations and aspirations. This is important because, as Douglas et al. (2008), cited in Ardi, Hidayatno and Teuku (2012), observed, students’ satisfaction has be-come an extremely important issue for universities and their management. It is for this reason that HEIs now try to capture students’ opinion about all aspects of higher education in order to package higher education programmes in a way that will meet students’ requirements and measure students’ satisfaction (Douglas et al., 2006; cited in Ardi et al., 2012). In an era of limited funding for HEIs and intense competition for students, students’ perceptions of an institution should be actively sought by all to ensure that whatever is possible is done to assure students of enhanced educational experiences and attract students (Izadi, Kashef & Stadt, 1996).
Institution’s Commitments to Quality Service
This issue explored the extent to which students perceived the institution to be committed to ensuring quality service to the students. Awareness of the following constructs was identified as relevant to the discussion: policies and procedures and of quality service. The SPSS software was used to perform a series of reliability tests. The specific tests included reliability, Item-Total Statistics and correlation coefficient. The reliability statistic was used to test the degree to which the questions in the questionnaire jointly measure the constructs that were identified for different variables. The Total-Item Statistics was used to measure the relationship of individual variables to the overall constructs scores. The correlation coefficient was used to measure and ana-lyse the degree of relationship between various variables. The values of each of the identified constructs range from 1(smaller extent) to 5 (greater extent).
The Cronbach’s Alpha was used to test the degree to which the questions in the questionnaire jointly measure the institution’s commitment to quality service. The two identified constructs – awareness of policies and procedures and quality service – are aimed at finding out whether the students’ awareness of quality man-agement policies and procedures and quality service measure the institution’s commitment to quality service. That is, the extent to which availability of information on quality management on the intranet for benefit of students is an indicator of the institution’s commitment to quality. In addition, the study wanted to find out the students’ view on whether the service provided by the institution’s quality management department indi-cates commitment to quality service. This will determine whether students are exposed enough to policies and procedures on quality and whether the quality management department is providing enough services to demonstrate commitment to quality service.
George and Mallery (2003) suggest the following rules of thumb for interpreting Cronbach’s alpha: “α > 0.9 – excellent, α > 0.8 – Good, α > 0.7 – Acceptable, α > 0.6 – Questionable, α > 0.5 – Poor, and α < 0.5 – Unac-ceptable” (p. 231). However, for exploratory studies, a Cronbach’s alpha of 0.7 is usually an acceptable level of reliability. So, the Cronbach’s alpha for awareness of policies and procedures given as α = 0.574 in Table 4 below is quite low and so questionable. That low Cronbach alpha suggests that students’ awareness of policies and procedures does not strongly correlate with the institution’s commitment to quality service. This result may also be taken as showing that because students do not get information on efforts at provision of quality education by the institution (because they may not be reading information posted on the Intranet), they do not respond in ways that bring out the institution’s commitment to service quality. Since students are the primary beneficiaries of quality higher education service, their awareness of and response to policies and procedures on quality should demonstrate the institution’s commitment to service quality. In line with this view, Marzo-Navarro et al. (2005), cited in Voss and Gruber (2006), observed that since students receive and use the train-ing offered by the universities, which makes them the priority customers of educational activities, they should not be let out on issues on quality management; effective methods of communicating these should be found and used.
Table 4: Reliability Statistics of the Institution’s Commitment
| Cronbach’s Alpha | Cronbach’s Alpha Based on Stand-ardized Items | No of Items | |
| Awareness of Policies and Procedures | 0.574 | 0.577 | 3 |
| Quality Service | 0.778 | 0.778 | 8 |
As can be seen in Table 4 above, the awareness of policies and procedures consisted of 3 items (α =.574), this is an indication the internal reliability for this was found to be very poor and it can be concluded the items within this variable are inappropriate. The quality services subscale was found to be highly reliable (8 items; α = .778), indicating that it correlates well with the institution’s commitment to quality.
The results of the study also show that there is weak correlation between ‘awareness of policies and proce-dures’ and ‘quality service’ (r = .498). Since the p-value given is 0.000, which is lesser than 5%, the associa-tion is very significant. This implies that lack of awareness of quality management policies and procedures correlates with quality service. This further implies that if students were not aware of policies and procedures pertaining to quality management, they would not work in line with the quality programmes and so may not produce the quality required by the institution and the market.
Perceptions on the Value of Qualifications
The study tried to find out how students perceive the value of qualifications offered by the institution. The following constructs were identified: quality qualifications, teaching, and learning support. The SPSS soft-ware was used to perform a number of tests for the two identified constructs. The following tests were run: reliability, Item-Total Statistics and correlation coefficient. The reliability was used to test the degree to which the questions in the questionnaire jointly measure the constructs that were identified for different vari-ables. The Total- Item Statistics was used to determine the relationship of individual variables to the overall constructs scores. The correlation coefficient was used to measure and analyse the degree of association be-tween various variables. The values of each of the identified constructs range from 1(smaller extent) to 5 (greater extent).
The Cronbach’s alpha in Table 5 below, for the six-item quality qualifications is α= 0.847, showing that the questions are internally consistent. Therefore, the responses show that the students strongly agreed with each other that the institution offers excellent quality qualifications and that students believe that they are studying for internationally benchmarked qualifications. Students also believed that the educational services provided to them were of high quality and their qualifications were registered on the National Qualifications Frame-work (NQF) and were accredited by the National Council for Higher Education (NCHE). This gave them hope that they will be gainfully self-employed or gain meaningful employment anywhere in the world.
The teaching and learning support of four items has α = 0.745, which is also above the acceptable level of 0.7. As Hair et al. (2010) noted, this value shows that the level of reliability is good. So the students believe that there is sufficient support in the teaching and learning environment, e.g. library resources, ICT facilities, qualified and committed lecturers, and that examination scripts that they write are moderated for accuracy. Students are therefore satisfied with the choice they made to study at the institution.
Table 5: Reliability Statistics of the Value of Qualifications
| Cronbach’s Alpha | Cronbach’s Alpha Based on Standardized Items | No of Items | |
| Quality Qualifications | 0.847 | 0.85 | 6 |
| Teaching and Learning Support | 0.745 | 0.746 | 4 |
Respondents were asked in their view, whether the institution was doing enough to enhance quality service to the students with the ultimate goal of producing quality graduates. Figure 1 below indicates that 65% of the respondents believed that the institution was doing enough to provide quality services, but 35% held a contra-ry opinion.
Figure 1: Quality Service for Producing Quality Students
From Figure 1 above, a significant majority of students (65%) expressed confidence in the institution’s efforts to provide high-quality services with the available resources. Their positive assessment was influenced by several key quality-related developments, including major technological advancements, a strong organiza-tional culture supported by committed senior leadership, and regular course evaluations through student sur-veys. Additionally, the institution encouraged lecturers to pursue PhD studies, achieved university status, de-veloped curricula aligned with international standards, recruited faculty from diverse countries, and incorpo-rated work experience components into various modules. These factors collectively contributed to students’ perceptions of the institution’s commitment to quality.
The findings further revealed that most of the students (65%) are satisfied with the teaching and learning tak-ing place, as discussed above, implying that the institution employed qualified lecturers to promote quality teaching and learning. However, a small portion of students (35%) did not agree that they were receiving good quality from the institution on the ground that they were not involved in the formulation of quality-related policies and procedures; and that these policies took so long in formulation that they were out-of-date by the time of implementation and so did not do much good. Some of the students also indicated that some lecturers were not always willing to give individual attention to them, and that some administrative staff members sometimes did not show any interest in their welfare, delayed in the release of examination results, insufficient books in the library, etc.
These results should be noted for the institution to bring students on board of the quality management band-wagon – as is practiced in other universities. Izadi, Kashef and Stadt (1996) found that at Mellon University in the United States, students are considered as customers and so provision is made for them to participate in the planning of courses, determination of content, designing syllabi, and method of grading assignments. The management of HEI could adopt this model to improve students’ satisfaction with the quality of service it provides.
The views of the 35% of the respondents who felt that the institution was not doing its best to provide quality service deserve attention for improvements to take place. Another crucial issue in managing quality is to en-sure that the institution’s performance was on par with other well- recognised institutions around the globe, hence the need for benchmarking with reputable universities. For this study, the students in the sample strong-ly believed that their qualifications were of good quality because they were internationally benchmarked, and locals trained in various countries and experts from many different countries taught the modules. Students saw the qualifications they were pursuing as able to provide them with entry into the labour markets around the globe or provide opportunities for self-employment.
CONCLUSION
Given the above research findings one can conclude that there is some awareness of QMPs at the case study HEI. However, the implementation needs to be strengthened and continuous improvement should be main-tained. The findings of the study showed that quality management is practised at the institution and its aware-ness is very high for the staff members but very low among the students. It also emerged that there is a need for effective communication between the institution and staff members (both academic and administrative), students, and all other stakeholders and top management.
RECOMMENDATION
Based on the conclusion made, the following recommendations have been advanced as the way forward for effective implementation of QMPs in Namibian HEIs:
a) That Namibian HEIs should ensure that QMPs are implemented at all levels of the institutions.
b) That Namibian HEIs should sensitize all stakeholders to make them aware of the quality-assurance re-lated policies and procedures that are in place and ensure that stakeholders are fully involved in their implementation.
c) That all stakeholders should play their part in ensuring effective implementation of QMPs in HEIs. A proper understanding of QMPs by all stakeholders and enforcing compliance with quality standards at all levels would help to realise effectiveness in the implementation of quality assurance practices in HEIs.
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