Quality Estimation Model of Higher Education Institutions Suzana Savić, Goran Janaćković, Miomir Stanković, University of Niš, Faculty of occupational safety in Niš ICEST 2011, Nis,

Content Introduction Quality of higher education Quality performance indicators Assessment model of HEI performances Conclusion

Introduction Education and knowledge are increasingly becoming primary development resources for creating competitive advantage of any organization (companies, nations, states, the regions or economic integration). The challenges of higher education in the twenty-first century can be understood as a threat or an opportunity. If they are treated as a threat to universities, that will put emphasis on the preservation of the past. Otherwise, when seen as a chance, the emphasis is on the future, which requires the use of best practices from the past and the development of higher education institutions of high quality. When evaluating of the quality of higher education institutions it is necessary to use a systems approach, where higher education institutions must be analysed as complex systems that are parts of a dynamic, changing environment with complex interactions between education, scientific research and support processes exist.

Quality of higher education HEI characteristics: high level personnel, complexity of the process of education, high social importance of performance, long cycle process of education and training, the historical independence and freedom in the choice of lecturers teaching methods, the complexity of identifying the beneficiaries of higher education, their requirements, desires and expectations various forms of education (traditional, electronic, lifelong learning), and different standards for different types and forms of basic processes and support processes.

Quality of higher education (2) HEI activities: education, scientific research and supporting There are two approaches to quality: Approach to quality as measure of values ​​, which means striving to be the best according to some criterion; Approach to quality as the extent of reaching the threshold, which means compliance with minimum standards.

Quality of higher education (3) The requirements of higher education quality: User requirements, International requirements, Requirements of national standards for accreditation, Standards requirements of higher education institutions, Requirements of technological standards, Quality management system requirements.

Quality performance indicators Key performance indicators (KPI) are non-financial and financial measures which, on the basis of quantifiable targets, reflect strategic performance of higher education institutions. KPIs are used to assess the current situation and define the main directions of development. Originally, KPIs are applied in order to determine the strategy of the institution and evaluate the progress in achieving goals. The essential application of KPIs is reflected in the establishment of standards for their own control over the parameters of the quality of higher education institutions.

CRITICAL PROCESSPERFORMANCE MEASURES OR QUALITY INDICATORS 1. Admissions-Advertisement/ External Communication  Number of responses & successes over the total attempts  Concordance wwith the enrollment management plan (special checklist needed)  Cost/Fees-relative income 2. Curriculum Development  Peer acceptance formatted table with issues and short comments  Feedback structures, frequency performance and outputs  Feedback outputs implemented/ feedback outputs proposed 3. Teaching and Learning Environment  Student learning evalution  Students failure  Number of student high performance achievements  Number of students/PC  Number of staff x hours/student 4. International Development  Number of students going overseas  Number of incoming foreign students  Number of Educationaly&Training projects with foreign partners  Number of staff outgoing/incoming  % of staff outgoing 5. RTD  Number of publications, RDT projects with foreign partners  Cost/funds brought in …  Number of projects approved/projects submitted  Number of staff & student involved/total number  % of staff involved  % of students involved

CRITICAL PROCESSPERFORMANCE MEASURES OR QUALITY INDICATORS 6. Service Delivery  % of community partners involved  Number of service projects per year  Number of joint ventures, innovations, ETC  Number of trainings programmes for CET/LLL offered 7. HRM&D 7.1. University-Community collaborations 7.2. Information services 7.3. Staff recruitment and Development  Number of complaints  % first choices hires, % of staff on training  % of staff up grated as a training output  % of H&S Directives Compliance 8. Development and Planning 8.1. Long-Range Planning 8.2. Facilities development 8.3. T.P.M Funding Development % of objectives met Feedback issues adopted/no proposed: % of adopted/implemented Number of new targets, objectives introduced % of funds provided for maintenance Library cost: book/year, journals/year, etc, communication costs PC/staff Cost of running new tech, cost of maintenance (%) EURO obtain/EURO planned, EURO/students benchmark % of public funds/total % of private funds/total % EU funds/total

Assessment model of HEI performances The model is based on combination between AHP, trend analysis and comparative data, and it consists of: (1) Key success factors identification (education, research and supporting activities quality) (2) Key performances identification (based on the standards for accreditation of institutions in the Republic of Serbia : 1-objectives of the institution, 2-planning and control, 3 - organization and management, 4- studies, 5-scientific and artistic work; 6-teaching staff; 7-non-teaching staff, 8 students, 9-workspace and equipment, 10 -library, textbooks and information support; 11-funding; 12-QA, 13-transparency of its operations)

Assessment model of HEI performances (2) (3) KPIs identification (based on the above criteria and key performances, it is necessary to identify a list of KPIs related to each performance) (4) Building KPIs tree (KPIs tree is basically composed by four levels: 1st level - the goal: total score of HEI performance; 2nd level - the criteria: education, research and supporting; 3rd level - the key performances; 4th level - KPIs related to each performance) (5) Trend and comparison based scoring Criteria and KPIs weighting KPIs scoring Total score of HEI performances

Assessment model of HEI performances (3) Scale for AHP pairwise comparison KPIs tree

The procedure Pairwise comparison judgement matrix 1. Pairwise comparison judgement matrix is multiplied by the priority vector: 2. The calculated matrix is divided by priority vector:

The procedure (2) 3. Eigenvalues is calculated as average value of elements in matrix(2) 4. The consistency index is calculated as follows: 5. A value of a random index, RI, is selected according to the matrix size. For a 3x3 matrix selected value is RI= The consistency ratio is calculated as follows: If CR ≤ 0.10, it means that judgment is consistent. Key performances and KPIs are weighed using the same method as the criteria described above.

The procedure (3)

The procedure (4) KPIs are measured based on the principles of trends and comparison dimensions. Trends consist of the current level and last year performances. The following decision making rule has been suggested by Surydi,2007: (1) If KPI trend is growing and current level is higher than competitor/benchmark, then the score is 100. (2) If KPI trend is growing and current level is lower than competitor/benchmark, or if KPI is declining and current level is higher than competitor/benchmark, then the score is 50. (3) If KPI trend is declining and current level is lower than competitor/benchmark, then the score is 0.

The procedure (5) The total score of Higher Education Institution performance ( TPS ) is calculated as follows: where: i is index for criteria j is index for performances k is index for KPIs is weight of criterion- i (1st level of comparison) is weight of performance- j (2nd level of comparison) is weight of KPI- k related to performance- j (3rd level of comparison) is score of KPI- k related to performance- j.

Conclusion The best model ensuring the quality of higher education institutions is introducing the concept of total quality management and continuous improvement. This requires the use of tools and techniques for monitoring, measuring and evaluating quality. The proposed model for quality assessment, based on the AHP method and the development trends of key performance indicators, provides higher education institutions with a real picture of their comparative advantages, and their positions in higher education.