IT Methods and Techniques Applied to Educational Quality Enhancement

Abstract

European Union countries aspire to create, through the implementation of the Bologna Process, an open European Higher Education Area, which increases the attractiveness of European higher education and the competitiveness of Europeans in the international labour market. This paper examines the importance of the Bologna Process in countries outside Europe and how effective implementation of a Quality Assurance action plan can enhance education quality. The authors apply Information Technology (IT) methods and techniques, such as Total Quality Management (TQM), Goal Question Metric (GQM) and Balanced ScoreCard (BSC), to Educational Management. The derivation of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) is discussed, as well as their application to a case study at the Cybernetics Faculty of the State Engineering University of Armenia (SEUA), regarding the implementation of an education quality enhancement strategy. As a result of the effort to align to European Higher Education Standards and the Bologna Process, a degree of Business Process Re-engineering (PBR) was necessary. The results show that the main reason for university strategy development is better relocation of resources and determination of which programmes and services are efficient and consistent with the university’s mission.