Summary reports

QME processes in UK Business Schools

This paper discusses a number of approaches to quality improvement and proposes that a multi-paradigmatic approach is most appropriate for the business school context. It goes on to consider how good practice can be embedded. The paper also examines a case study about establishing a school-wide quality steering group and the way in which quality issues were handled over a period of time.

Involving students in QA

This paper discusses student feedback. It examines what student feedback might measure and the best means for achieving it depending on the context, e.g. the various levels in the institution, and the media used, e.g. questionnaires, meetings, etc. The paper raises interesting philosophical and operational questions about feedback and its value.

Involving managers in QA

This paper discusses the various approaches to quality management and proposes that no one method is best for the business school context. Large-scale models like TQM have had a limited take-up in HE so smaller-scale approaches may be more appropriate. It is also stressed that the adoption of a quality model alone is not enough to create or sustain quality; fostering a quality culture is also vital.

High-engagement learning

A longitudinal study at Cass Business School shows that in designing a course of study and a curriculum over a year, a semester, a week, a day or an hour, there is a need to choreograph the tempo and intensity of the learning experiences. However, 10 weeks packed full of high-engagement experiences might simply lead to burn-out, every bit as debilitating as 10 weeks of boredom resulting from pure transmission learning

Views of national bodies concerned with QME

During August and September 05 a set of eight questions about quality management in business education were put to senior officers of a representative sample of UK national bodies concerned with the quality of teaching and learning in business education. Although there is qualified agreement that increased attention to QME has improved management education, the consensus is that the improvement in QME observed since the QAA criticism in 2000/2001 has been driven less by compliance than by competitive forces.

Improving module evaluation and feedback

The need for greater accountability and improvement in the quality of teaching has become a major issue in higher education in recent years. In response, governments and universities have attempted to institute policies and practices designed to measure, encourage and reward good teaching. Students’ views are now regarded as key elements in the process of effective monitoring of quality in teaching and learning. This paper explores weaknesses in the module evaluation process, and suggests ways of improving the evaluation of student feedback.

Information Architectures for Quality Management in Business Education: a UK case study

This paper describes a model for information architectures in the context of academic quality in business schools (IA for QM). The model takes a four-step approach through collaboration, design, applications and feedback in order to support both the on-going management of quality in an institution and periodic accreditation audits.

Excellence in management education: innovating in response to rapid change

Achievements of the QuBE project in its first phase