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Quality assurance is more than mere compliance with customer requirements. It is to assure that product design, production and performance is soundly rooted in modern technology. This means that production is fully rationalised, costs are minimised, and customer satisfaction is maximised. In this article, we analyse the basic relationship of quality assurance and advancing technology in the creation of competitive products and services. The various impacts of modern technology on traditional inspection and quality control at the individual workplace and quality assurance of software will be included.

Claiming that quality assurance in Europe is a growth industry, the paper looks at this development from three angles: Has quality assurance become a science? Is it being practised? And how can quality assurance be successfully introduced? The paper concludes that quality assurance cannot yet be considered ‐ nor does it need to become ‐ a science, meeting the usual criteria of a scientific discipline. In spite of this, quality assurance has to be based on sound scientific evidence. There are encouraging signs of this happening: while there is no long research tradition in quality assurance, the number of studies is increasing and their quality is improving. On positive action, the paper finds the situation brighter. There is both political will and professional acceptance. WHO's European member states have accepted as a part of their overall health for all policy a specific target which requests them to build effective mechanisms for ensuring quality of patient care. The increasing professional interest and political will have resulted, among other things, in laws, quality assurance programmes, training programmes, national societies and journals. Views on quality and quality assurance have broadened; consumer views are being accepted as part of quality; the outcomes of care are emphasised; quality assurance is being extended from hospitals to primary care and nursing homes, and from medical care to nursing care and physiotherapy. Based on lessons learned from the past experiences, the last section of the paper makes recommendations for the successful introduction of quality assurance. The importance of demonstrating a need, the involvement of all those concerned and the provision of feedback are emphasised.

Internal auditing assumes an increased responsibility for the evaluation of entity operations as a service to management and the board of directors. Quality assurance review is the process through which assurance is obtained that the internal auditing department’s work is done in accordance with the Standards for the Professional Practice of Internal Auditing. This study examines the current practices of quality assurance review in South Africa. Although not all organisations surveyed do perform internal auditing quality assurance reviews, the organisations that do, benefit from them. Various methods are used in practice to perform internal and external quality assurance reviews. This study provides information on the processes and procedures used in quality assurance review programmes.

In recent years price‐based competition has given way to quality‐based competition in world markets. Companies are becoming increasingly aware of the importance of quality assurance programmes — its challenges and opportunities. In this article we discuss those challenges for improved quality assurance within the management framework, existing support systems and a strategy to design and implement a quality assurance certificate programme.

For a number of years external auditors have advocated the extension of a peer review system to include internal auditing departments in order to improve the quality of an audit. A study is provided which explores how one company, a Fortune 500 manufacturing firm, implemented a quality assurance review programme and how the Institute of Internal Auditors has reacted to demands of its members towards implementing such reviews.

This paper aims to examine the roles of quality managers at community colleges, their experiences balancing accountability and improvement and their insights into the future of quality assurance.

This phenomenological, qualitative study used semi-structured interviews with eight community college quality managers to investigate their roles, experiences and perspectives. A reflexive thematic approach was used to analyze the interview data.

Four themes were identified from participant responses: quality managers frame and enable program quality, quality managers drive program change, quality managers cultivate a culture of quality and quality managers seek system change. The findings illustrate the roles played by quality managers as they work to improve college education at program, institution and system-wide levels.

The decision of participants to accept the recruitment invitation might reflect particular attitudes, perspectives or experiences.

Quality assurance has emerged as a key mechanism for ensuring postsecondary programs are current, relevant and meeting the evolving needs of students and employers. This study advances the understanding of how quality assurance processes play out at the operational level and explores the experiences of quality managers as they navigate various quality tensions.

Quality managers play key roles in leading, evaluating and influencing quality assurance processes in postsecondary education yet they are underrepresented in the literature. The findings of this study shed new light on the aspirational and influential roles they play in advancing quality assurance.

This chapter examines the development of a quality assurance system for undergraduate education as one aspect of the transformation of education policy in China. The central structure of the chapter is the process/stages of policy development and implementation, with particular attention to the changes over time in central control versus institutional autonomy. The Chinese government has moved to a “steering at a distance” approach with ex post accountability, giving institutions of higher education greater autonomy for undergraduate education. Government authority continues to be strong, however, even though the mechanisms of control have changed. This study provides an analysis of quality assurance in Chinese higher education and the changing relationship between government and campuses, using the lens of policy development and implementation.

This chapter provides an in-depth examination of the quality assurance process in the higher education system of Iraq and the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI) in terms of standards, processes, and procedures. More specifically, the chapter aims to examine the impact of the quality assurance process on the quality development of education in Iraq and Kurdistan Region, as well as identify the challenges that staff (top management and faculty members) face at various higher education institutions therein. For this purpose, a qualitative/quantitative analysis was conducted, which involved reviewing existing official policies, reports, and forms; interviewing top officials (presidents, vice-presidents, quality assurance directors) at a few higher education institutions (public and private); and developing a survey questionnaire that detected the perspective of top officials and faculty members regarding the level of impact quality assurance has had on the development of higher education. A total of 284 university staff members were surveyed from different universities in Iraq and Kurdistan. A total of 29 universities from Iraq and Kurdistan were represented in the survey. The respondents came from a variety of colleges and departments at public and private universities, with 79% of respondents coming from public universities. Study results demonstrate that quality assurance has contributed significantly to the improvement of university staff performance. There are a number of recommendations made within this chapter for educational leaders, which could lead to the further development of quality practices and the upgrading of the higher education system.

This chapter offers a systematic review of research into quality assurance and quality management in higher education. It begins by considering quality as theory and discusses the methodology applied. The origin and meaning of the terms quality assurance and quality management, as they are used in higher education, and their application and practice, are then discussed. The issues and critiques that have been raised concerning quality assurance and management are identified, before some conclusions are reached.

Why evaluate quality in Library and Information Science (LIS) schools? From a historical perspective, quality assurance always has been considered a strategic issue by LIS schools for improvement of the teaching and learning experience and for accountability. Internationalization has added a new role to quality assurance in LIS. In terms of the context of the World Trade Organization General Agreement on Trade in Services (WTO-GATS), LIS is increasingly recognized as part of the knowledge sector. The WTO-GATS has approved a multilateral framework that sets out rules for the conduct of international trade in services, including educational services. The GATS includes both general rules—for example, those related to the transparency of trade-related regulations—and a framework for specific commitments under which countries choose whether, and under what conditions, to allow access to their markets for foreign suppliers. The provisions in the GATS related to trade regulations and ways countries choose to allow access to their markets are relevant to the recognition of international standards or qualifications for professionals. Although not mandatory, international standards are encouraged, both for quality assurance of LIS school offerings in general, and for recognition of a specific LIS school outside its home country. Additionally, in the context of an increasingly internationalized job market, employers need reliable information on how to evaluate specific higher education degrees and assess degrees recognized and granted in their domestic market. The goals are to facilitate the mobility of students and to increase employability. The need to reinforce the comparability of higher education internationally through quality assurance systems is now becoming more pressing.