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The main purpose of this paper is study to what extent the idea of a total quality management (TQM) system (Deming, ISO, Baldrige, and EFQM) which is borrowed from business is applicable in a higher education institution.

A meta‐evaluation methodology is used which emphasises Røvik's seven theoretical assumptions on how management ideas are spread in a given sector.

The findings of this paper reveal that that in many cases the current evidence of application of TQM is not compatible with the assumed criteria of the Røvik model. The quality systems are not often socially acceptable, they do not follow a clear philosophy and theory, do not show the productivity of institutions, are less progressive, have low harmonies, unrealistically publicized but in terms of individualized aspects there are some supportive successful case applied in non‐academic higher education.

The value and new message of this paper is its investigation of the fitness of TQM from a new perspective based on meta‐analysis.

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the evolution of Total Quality Management (TQM) in terms of barriers, customers and accreditation in higher education (HE) over the last three decades (1991–2020) using literature review to establish the current state.

A total of 137 articles across 55 journals were consolidated for this review specifically focused on TQM (barriers, customers and accreditation) in HE. The investigations were carried out to identify the chronological growth of articles, research streams and methodologies. The articles were classified based on four research approaches and three research streams which have been reviewed in detail.

Considering the rapid growth in the HE sector and the concerns over reduction in quality of education especially in developing countries, the importance of TQM in HE is immense. The findings include identification of the barriers to successful TQM implementation, the need for alignment of TQM objectives of higher educational institutions (HEIs) and identified target customer(s) with the selected model/framework and the impact of accreditation/certification in the attainment of TQM.

This study which tries to bring a perspective to the main trends in TQM application to HE with respect to barriers, customers and accreditation over the last three decades is expected to add to the body of knowledge in this area and help future researchers to focus on the relevant areas identified in this paper.