An integrated framework for quality in education: Application of quality function deployment, interpretive structural modelling and path analysis

The past decade has seen a proliferation and mushrooming of a large number of educational institutions offering professional courses. With demands for greater responsiveness and accountability on the one hand and growing competition for students and resources on the other, the educational system in India has begun to realize the significance of a qualitative orientation, and commensurate to this there have been attempts to provide for better services, with 'delighting the customer' being the focus of all efforts. This has resulted in the need for identifying and applying the relevant concepts of Quality Management to Education. Starting with a theoretical background, the paper outlines the results of a study conducted on the students as primary customers to obtain a perspective on the Quality of select educational institutions. The paper is aimed at identifying the design characteristics of a system that would meet the customer requirements of the student as an external customer. Based on the literature review followed by a pilot study, the various customer requirements and design characteristics were identified and thereby, the variables conceptualized. The SERVQUAL was applied to identify the gap and determine the level of service quality. Following this, Quality Function Deployment, Interpretive Structural Modelling and Path Analysis were used to identify the set of minimum design characteristics/quality components that meet the requirements of the students as an important customer.