Study of Quality Practices in Software Development Processes in Universities of Ecuador

Nowadays, the universities and polytechnic schools of Ecuador rely on the use of information technologies to deal with the quality parameters demanded by their control organisms. Among these assets, we found the information systems for the management of their core processes. These systems require software, whose development has been an internal effort and that manage a large amount of sensitive information. Therefore, within a perspective of continuous improvement, it is necessary to investigate which practices are implemented by these institutions to manage and guarantee quality in their software development processes. Due to the lack of a previous study on the matter, a qualitative exploratory research was followed by the analysis of semi-directive interviews with the directors and managers of several universities (nine universities and 13 participants). In this work, we report results concerning the expectations, drivers, barriers, models and practices in the context of software quality in the Ecuadorian higher education institutions.