TQM at South Bank University: issues in teaching and learning

Abstract

Coming to terms with the far‐reaching changes introduced by the 1992 legislation and faced with the tighter accountability of public funds allocated to higher education, British universities have been keen to emphasize the quality of their institutions. However, persuading academic and support staff that quality issues are as important at an individual and departmental level as at an institutional level takes more than a memo from the vice‐chancellor. Quality issues must be an integral part of the corporate planning process: they need to be applied to the complex web of relationships involved in any higher education institution and supported by explicit staff‐development strategies. Since 1992, South Bank University, one of the largest HE institutions in London, has been committed to a total quality management initiative: this has involved a thorough and ongoing review both of the quality of service it provides for its students and the wider community and of its academic quality, particularly in the area of teaching and learning. The first of two articles explores these parallel strands and illuminates some of the issues related to the strategic management of quality in higher education.