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ISO Alongside, Instead, or Inside? The potential of ISO 21001:2018 to change and challenge higher education accreditation

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The recently released ISO standard, ISO 21001:2018, Educational organizations Management systems for educational organizations Requirements with guidance for use, is poised to have a significant impact on critical elements of quality assurance in higher education. Depending on the nature and extent of existing quality assurance structures, three potential use scenarios of the new standard appear possible: ISO Alongside, ISO Instead, and ISO Inside. The Standard may be used as an adjunct to existing quality assurance approaches (ISO Alongside). Some quality assurance systems may opt to incorporate the attainment of ISO 21001 certification as the determinant of holding an accredited or approved status (ISO Instead). Finally, the achievement of ISO 21001 certification may serve as a prerequisite to the application for specific recognitions or accreditations (ISO Inside).
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International Journal of Business and Applied Social Science (IJBASS)
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ISO Alongside, Instead, or Inside?
The potential of ISO 21001:2018 to change and challenge higher education accreditation
Douglas J. Gilbert
Walden University USA
University of Phoenix, USA
Vilnius University, Lithuania
ABSTRACT
The recently released ISO standard, ISO 21001:2018, Educational organizations Management systems for educational
organizations Requirements with guidance for use, is poised to have a significant impact on critical elements of quality
assurance in higher education. Depending on the nature and extent of existing quality assurance structures, three
potential use scenarios of the new standard appear possible: ISO Alongside, ISO Instead, and ISO Inside. The Standard
may be used as an adjunct to existing quality assurance approaches (ISO Alongside). Some quality assurance systems
may opt to incorporate the attainment of ISO 21001 certification as the determinant of holding an accredited or
approved status (ISO Instead). Finally, the achievement of ISO 21001 certification may serve as a pre-requisite to the
application for specific recognitions or accreditations (ISO Inside).
Keywords: Accreditation, education quality assurance, higher education, ISO, International Organization for
Standardization, ISO 21001:2018, ISO 9001:2015, EQAR, AASCB, EFMD, ACBSP, AMBA, ESG, European
Higher Education Area (EHEA)
Introduction
Higher education today operates in an environment of
global competition for reputation, talent, and students. The
basis of that competition is increasingly focused on quality
(Musselin, 2018). Quality as a concept of higher education is
not easily defined, reflecting the complex relationships of
higher education to students and the diverse roles of a student
in the educational process. The International Organization for
Standardization (ISO) has recently entered the fray with
several new standards that may shape the view of quality in
higher education much as the extensively used ISO 9001
standard has since its debut in 1987. This paper focuses on
some of those potential impacts of one new education
standard, ISO 21001:2018, which is focused on education
organizations and thus may have significant implications on
higher education quality assurance including accreditation.
Changing quality marks for higher education
Accreditation often serves as a coveted quality mark,
which transcends national boundaries (Hazelkorn, 2011). The
accreditation agency EFMD highlights the common drivers of
seeking internationally recognized accreditation by noting:
With companies recruiting worldwide, with students
choosing to get their education outside their home
countries, and with schools building alliances across
borders and continents, there is a rapidly growing
need for them to be able to identify those institutions in
other countries that deliver high-quality education in
international management (Wanot, 2018).
Despite the international character and reach of many
higher education programs, agreement on one mark of quality
is elusive. For example, it is common for business schools to
pursue what is often called the triple crown accreditation of
AACSB, AMBA, and EQUIS as a means to be globally
relevant (MBA Today, 2019). The perceived need for multiple
accreditations give rise to questions about individual
accreditation agency shortcomings and why three separate
accreditations are needed with up-front costs of over $100,000
along with multiple years and significant staff time.
Many educational disciplines and universities as a
whole often chase global and regional rankings as an imperfect
surrogate for measures of quality (Hazelkorn,2015).
Furthermore, rankings and accreditation do not address the
rapidly growing area of educational certificates, which now
exceed the total number of degrees issued in the U.S. and often
are offered by organizations other than higher education
institutions or HEIs (Credential Engine, 2019).
In 2018 the International Organisation for Standardization
(ISO) issued ISO 21001:2018, entitled Educational Organizations
Management systems for educational organizations
Requirements with guidance for use (International Organization
for Standardization [ISO], 2018a). The new standard, based on
the widely used ISO 9001:2015 may represent a turning point
towards a more consistent and international quality mark for
higher education.
ISO 21001: History and Development
ISO 21001:2018 was developed to be a part of the ISO
9001 family of standards, which was first introduced in 1987
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and is currently in use in 160 countries with nearly 900,000
registered certificates as of 2018 (ISO, 2018b). The 21001
Standard development was led by the Korean Agency for
Technology and Standards with 86 expert members drawn
from 39 national standardization bodies, plus multiple observer
stakeholders (LaChapelle et al., 2018).
The development was a multi-year process spanning
more than five years. Following the publication of the
Standard in 2018, the responsibility for maintenance and
coordination with other ISO standards was handed off to
Technical Committee 232, led by DIN, the German Institute
for Standardization (ISO, n.d.). The Committee has oversight
for a total of seven standards spanning higher education both
in higher education institutions and programs delivered by
non-traditional providers such as certificate providers.
The sections of the ISO 21001 are shown in Figure 1 below.
Figure 1. Key clauses of ISO 21001:2018 (ISO, 2018a, p. 14).
ISO 21001:2018 follows the general structure of ISO
9001:2015, which is aligned with Annex SL, the norm for all
ISO management standards. The Standard has two key areas: a
core structure based on the PDCA improvement cycle and an
overarching model termed an EOMS or management system
for educational organizations (ISO, 2018a). Figure 2 below
depicts the relationship of the PDCA cycle and the EOMS with
the various sections of the Standard.
Clause
Key elements
1 to 3
Prefatory material
4
Context of the organization
Understanding the organization and its context
Understanding the needs and expectations of interested parties
Determining the scope of the management system for educational organizations
Management system for educational organizations (EOMS)
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Leadership
Leadership and commitment
Policy
Organizational roles, responsibilities and authorities
6
Planning
Addressing risks and opportunities
Educational organizational objectives and planning to meet them
Planning of changes
7
Support
Resources
Competence
Awareness
Communication
Documented information
8
Operation
Operation planning and control
Requirements for educational products and services
Design and development of educational products and services
Control of externally provided processes, products and services
Delivery of educational products and services
Release of educational products and services
Control of nonconforming educational outputs
9
Performance Evaluation
Monitoring, measurement, analysis and evaluation
Internal audit
Management review
10
Improvement
Nonconformity and corrective action
Continual improvement
Opportunities for improvement
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Figure 2. ISO 21001 EOMS (ISO, 2018a, p. ix)
HEIs desiring to use the Standard can do so under
several certification scenarios. The scenarios represent three
approaches:
Self-assessment (first-party certification);
External assessment through consultants (second-party
certification); or
Certification by an approved certification body (third-
party certification).
The third option, the use of an approved certification
body, is very similar to current models of HEI institution and
programmatic accreditation with some key differences. Similar
to accreditation, certification bodies are recognized by a
sanctioned approval body, which has itself documented and
implemented quality assurance processes under several ISO
standards, ISO 17000,17020, 17021, and 17024. In contrast to
higher education accreditation, the certifying bodies are not
dedicated solely to education and may serve a variety of
sectors, including business, healthcare, information
technology, automotive, aviation, etc.
EOMS-A new perspective on the education enterprise
ISO 21001 introduces the idea of an operating system
model for educational institutions, which uses the acronym
EOMS. The operating system model is based on a foundational
concept of using processes to define the key aspects of an
organization. The ISO standard does not mandate any
particular process approach, and there are many available from
which to choose, e.g. Capability Maturity Model Integration
(CMMI Institute [CMMI], 2018) or APQC’s Process Classification
Framework (APQC, 2018). As higher education transitions from
exclusive reliance on in-person classroom teaching to
technology-enabled education, process management grows in
importance. Because of the use of an array of information and
communication technologies, online education modalities
require much higher levels of pre-planning and specification
than in-person, face-to-face lecturing.
ISO 21001 is not exclusively oriented towards HEIs.
The Standard covers any provider of instruction from pre-
Kindergarten to graduate studies at universities. Vocational
training is an example of how the Standard may expand
standardized quality assurance beyond accreditation.
Illustrative of the strong emphasis on alternatives to university
education, the European Quality Assurance Framework for
Vocational Education and Training (EQAVET) began as a
project in 2019, VET21001, to provide tools and guidance for
implementation of the Standard for vocational programs
(EQAVET, n.d.).
The use of ISO 21001:2018 has been promoted
heavily in several countries although adoption by HEIs does
not yet appear to be widespread. An international school in
India, Scottish High in Guragon, attained the first certification
under the Standard in late 2018. (Scottish High International
School, 2018). Adoption of the Standard in competitive
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education markets such as India is likely to accelerate as ISO
21001 becomes more well-known and is promoted by
certifying bodies.
For other types of HEIs, the new standard is
recognized as the start of a cycle of change towards more
standardized approaches to quality in higher education
(Schumann et al., 2019). In the European context, ISO 21001
is seen as a potential tool to define the required quality
assurance system of the Standards and Guidelines for Quality
Assurance in the European Higher Education Area (ESG)
(Anttila & Jussila, 2018). The ESG is used to guide the
approval of accrediting agencies by the European Quality
Assurance Register for Higher Education (EQAR).
As aptly noted by Anttila and Jussila (2018), the
standard “will challenge all educational organizations, because
it requires the adoption of the general basic quality concepts
and quality management structures and practices” (p. 1070).
One could question how the standard might displace, augment,
or conflict with accreditation.
ISO 21001 and the ISO certification landscape
ISO 21001 exists within a landscape of practices and
norms. Entities wishing to issue a certification as a registrar
under ISO 21001, must be separately approved as a certifying
body. ISO 17021-1:2015 guides the requirements. If an
existing HEI accreditation agency were to seek status as a
certifying body, it would need to comply with ISO 17021 and
pass a certification audit. Adopting ISO approaches could, in
turn, displace the peer-review processes in use by most HEI
accreditation agencies as described below.
A further distinction from accreditation practice relates
to the certification of reviewers/evaluators or auditors in ISO
terminology. It is typical for ISO certifying bodies to require at
least one auditor to have an external quality auditor credential,
reflecting knowledge and application of a specified body of
knowledge about the audit process. For example, ASQ offers
such a credential known as the Certified Quality Auditor (ASQ,
2020a). TÜV, a German-based certification authority, offers
auditor certification that is ISO-specific (TÜV., n.d.).
Figure 3 below depicts the elements of what might be a
landscape of entities.
Figure 3. ISO 21001 Certification Landscape
The use of professionally certified auditors can
represent a marked change compared to the practice of many
accreditation agencies. Peer reviewers are often chosen based
on being a peer, such as a dean or senior administrator, rather
than specific knowledge and certification in audit and review
skills. Furthermore, audit team composition for ISO audits also
is intentional to reflect a mix of subject matter disciplines in
addition to audit process knowledge. Not all team members
may come from within the higher education sector, unlike the
practice in accreditation.
Another significant change is the duration of the
certification. ISO certificates are for a limited duration, usually
three years, and require interim surveillance audits to ensure
that the quality processes remain in place (Coletto & De
Monte, 2019). The shorter validity period is in contrast to
accreditation, which often grants decade-long authorization
with reduced scrutiny in the interim period. Given the rapid
changes occurring in higher education with technology and
certificate-based education, a shorter review period may be a
feature for ISO that demonstrates an advantage of ISO 21001
over accreditation.
Potential advantages of ISO 21001
There are several advantages to the use of ISO 21001
in an accreditation setting. ISO 9001, as the foundation
standard, is well known globally as a quality mark in the
business, government, nonprofit, and education sectors.
Attaining ISO certification would be understood as indicative
of a level of quality by the stakeholders external to education.
The use of a regularized approach to auditor and
reviewer qualification provides a further advantage. Perceived
professionalism may increase with the use of certified auditors
and team members trained in the principles of effective quality
reviews. Such professionalism can lead to a perception of a
fairer and thorough review.
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The short and limited duration of ISO certificates and
the requirement of surveillance audits support a view that the
quality assessment of the institution represents current reality
rather than a decades-old history. The fluidity of educational
certificate offerings rather than credits and degree programs
will almost certainly require a more rapid and current quality
assurance review system than delivered by accreditation today.
A final advantage lies in the relatively high
institutional completion rates and relatively low time to
completion for ISO projects. Figure 4 shows data from a large
study presented in ASQ’s Quality Progress publication. In this
study, ISO projects, when analyzed, rested in a golden
quadrant with lower times to completion and higher success
rates over other quality efforts such as Lean, Six Sigma, and
the Baldrige system.
Figure 4. Comparative success rates for quality systems. Adapted from Hansen (2018)
Accreditation efforts are known to span multiple years
with some agencies boasting that no program can be accredited
in less than five years. The organizational agility needed with a
more fluid educational sector may make such extended
timeframes unsustainable. If timeframes for ISO 21001 hold to
those shown in this study, the ISO system may deliver the
much-needed benefit of faster and more certain quality
certification.
Further developments related to the Standard
ISO 21001 represents one part of an evolution of
standards relating to education. The ISO technical committee
responsible for 21001, ISO.TC 232, has published three
standards in addition to 21001. The committee has three
further standards in its work program, with one related to
distance learning outside of formal learning. (ISO, n.d.). These
additional standards will complement the existing standards
and may create a more compelling case for the use of ISO
certifications in HEI as the core for quality assurance and
accreditation.
Also, ISO standards progress through cycles of
revisions and updates every few years. For example, after the
initial publication of ISO 9001 in 1987, the standard was
revised in 1994, 2000, 2008, and 2015. Each cycle of revision
often entails an increase in scope and coverage of the standard
(ASQ, 2020b). Such development for ISO 21001 would mean
revisions offering a more comprehensive scope nearer to
accreditation standards.
Changes in a standard are designed to reflect user
experience with implementation. As the number of ISO 21001
implementations grows, that experience may reflect how the
Standard coexists with or displaces accreditation. New
education offerings such as certificates may also influence the
future contents of the Standard (ASQ, n.d.).
Impact on accreditation
It is too early to appreciate fully the impact that a
standard may have on accreditation. The changes may be
different depending on the scope of accreditation, e.g.,
institutional vs. specialized/programmatic, and the legal
environment of accreditation. Based on developments with
existing accrediting models, some potential threads emerge.
Merged accreditation and authorization. The model
of merging accreditation with institutional authorization to
grant degrees exists in several states in the United States.
Under such a model, the attainment and maintenance of ISO
certification could be an alternative pathway towards
authorization. If implemented, this could allow a bypass of the
gatekeeping function currently enjoyed by accreditors and
allow decisions of independent ISO certifying bodies to
substitute for today’s accreditation process.
Blended regulation and accreditation. Countries and
jurisdictions that blend educational regulation and
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accreditation, e.g., India, may incorporate ISO standards as a
part of their overall standards and criteria. Although not a
mandatory regulatory pre-condition, ISO certification has been
used in practice by some education regulators, e.g., the UAE,
as a condition precedent to additional program authorizations.
The availability of a specialized standard for education may
encourage more regulators to use it as a pre-condition to
additional program authorizations.
EQAR and EHEA: A competitive market for
accreditors. Within the European Higher Education Area
(EHEA) context, it would be imaginable for an accreditor to
seek EQAR approval based on an accreditation model using
ISO standards, including ISO 21001. The accreditation process
would likely rest on using the customary audit processes
required by ISO registrars but applied in a manner consistent
with the ESG. Given the international character of the EHEA,
the use of an accepted international standard may be an
appealing accreditation basis. The EQAR system also does not
contain the rigid territorial or discipline-specific scope of
accreditation limitations of the U.S. model. An ISO 21001-
based accreditor might gain greater traction in this
environment because the focus is on the quality assurance
system, not on peer institution types and geographies of the
19th Century.
Specialized or programmatic accreditation. The
impact on specialized or programmatic accreditation may be
the most significant. Transnational employers could demand
uniformity based on familiarity with the benefits of
international business operations certification under ISO.
Different market approaches taken by business program
accreditors may provide some insight into potential
approaches. AACSB, for example, was certified under ISO
9001:2015 in early 2019 (AACSB, 2019). One could ask if the
next step for AACSB might be to seek status as an ISO
registrar under the ISO 17020 series. Achieving registrar status
would allow the agency to expand membership by certifying
member schools under ISO 21001, even if those programs do
not yet fit squarely within the agency’s historic accreditation
model.
AMBA, as a highly specialized accreditation model,
may present a different avenue for the use of ISO 21001.
AMBA historically has limited its scope of accreditation to
MBA programs but has expanded its scope to include DBA
and MBM programs (AMBA, 2019). The organization has
recently created a second accreditation track for schools and
programs outside of its traditional degree scope (Business
Graduate Association, 2019). AMBA's efforts predate ISO
21001 but may signal a trend toward a bifurcation of
accreditation into tiers based on factors such as school size,
program offerings, and reputation. ISO 21001 could serve as
the entry point in such a beginning-tier model and create
ready-made starting tier standards.
None of the developments suggested above have yet
come to fruition, given the recent publication of ISO 21001.
Over the next few years, however, the new standard may serve
as a basis for greater simplicity and transparency of
accreditation for a transnational higher educational world.
Scenarios for the future: ISO Alongside, Instead, or
Inside?
Potential scenarios for the influence of ISO on
accreditation may be described
as alongside, instead, and inside. The HEI experience to date
with ISO 9001 reflects an ISO alongside scenario. ISO 9001
has not displaced accreditation but tends to be an additional
quality certification sought or required for certain HEIs and
other providers. Such a situation reflects the current focus of
accreditation on programs offering courses, credits, and
degrees. With ISO 21001, it may be plausible that the triple
crown designation is displaced by a quadruple crown with the
addition of ISO certification.
An ISO instead scenario would require a major shift in
accreditation practice away from peer- and discipline-based
practices of review and recognition. Such a change could
upend the entire accreditation enterprise. Significant change
takes time because wholesale changes in education regulation
unfold over decades, not years or months. Some areas such as
the specialized or programmatic accreditors serving less
regulated, non-licensure programs may see change sooner.
Agencies such as AMBA, AASCB, ACBSP, and IACBE serve
schools feeding students directly to business organizations,
many of which use ISO certification for business operations.
The demand for a transnational quality standard with
independent recognition may well be felt first in this arena.
The scenario of ISO inside may prove tempting to
settings where accreditation has meshed with regulation or
authorization. Incorporating required ISO certifications into a
regulatory web would allow regulators to offload supervision
and oversight to a neutral third party. ISO standards serve
as de facto regulatory norms in many sectors, including
healthcare, IT, and aviation. For example, the healthcare
accreditor DNV GL Healthcare incorporates ISO 9001
certification into its accreditation model (DNV GL, 2020). The
approach exists within the highly regulated healthcare
environment in the United States, a much more complex and
challenging environment than higher education. It would not
thus be surprising to see educational accreditation and quality
assurance adopting a similar model.
Conclusion
The use of ISO 21001 in HEI quality assurance may
prove a noteworthy development with potentially significant
influences on accreditation processes. Higher education is an
economic sector that has historically followed other service sectors
such as healthcare, aviation, information/communications
technologies, and financial services, in adopting consistent
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approaches to measuring and reporting quality. The further use
of ISO 21001 may provide a useful step towards greater
consistency of quality assurance in the sector.
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https://blog.efmdglobal.org/2018/06/20/advantages-of-attending-an-equis-accredited-business-school/
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... It is broader and deeper than ISO 9001:2015, with specific education-related terms (Wibisono, 2018). The standard is important for quality assurance and competitiveness in education (Zaiets, 2023), and can significantly impact higher education accreditation (Gilbert, 2020). However, its implementation may be hindered by resource constraints (Zaiets, 2023). ...
... The standard promotes an individual approach to learning, expands stakeholder involvement, and stimulates innovation (Vorobyova, 2019). It can be implemented alongside, instead of, or within existing quality assurance systems (Gilbert, 2020). ISO 21001:2018 is more suitable for educational organizations than ISO 9001:2015, using education-specific terminology and acknowledging active customer involvement (Wibisono, 2018). ...
... The adoption of ISO 21001:2018 in higher education presents both opportunities and challenges. This standard offers a tailored approach for educational organizations, potentially improving quality assurance and competitiveness (Gilbert, 2020;Wibisono, 2018). Implementation can enhance administrative governance, teamwork, and institutional quality (Tohet & Cahyono, 2020;Idrees et al., 2023). ...
Article
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ISO 21001:2018 is an international standard developed by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) specifically for educational organizations. It provides a management system framework designed to help educational institutions enhance their ability to deliver quality education and meet the needs and expectations of learners and other beneficiaries. While existing literature on ISO standards in education has primarily focused on information security and quality assurance frameworks, there is a gap regarding the benefits, challenges, and readiness factors associated with adopting ISO 21001:2018 in academia. Therefore, this study aims to analyse these aspects within higher education.This study employs a qualitative research design, comprising secondary data analysed using thematic analysis. The findings reveal that implementing ISO 21001:2018 brings significant benefits like improved efficiency, better educational quality, and higher stakeholder satisfaction. However, challenges such as resource constraints, resistance to change, and ongoing capacity building can hinder its success. Key factors for successful adoption include strong leadership, positive organizational culture, skilled staff, and sufficient resources. The findings imply that educational institutions should align their goals with ISO 21001:2018, address resource challenges, strengthen leadership, invest in staff development, and involve stakeholders in implementation. Continued research and case studies are needed to understand its long-term impact and refine its application.
... The implementation and certification of ISO 21001:2018 is one of the ways to continuous quality improvement and increase the competitiveness of higher education (ISO, 2018), including Politeknik STMI Jakarta. The integration of ISO 21001 in quality assurance for higher education institutions (HEIs) represents a significant advancement that could have notable effects on accreditation procedures (Gilbert, 2020). Politeknik STMI Jakarta also is also currently in preparation for international accreditation. ...
... Politeknik STMI Jakarta also is also currently in preparation for international accreditation. The integration of ISO 21001 in quality assurance for higher education institutions (HEIs) represents a significant advancement that could have notable effects on accreditation procedures (Gilbert, 2020). Most clauses of ISO 21001:2018 is also aligned with Higher Education National Standard (Sitorus, 2021) which means it could help to national accreditation. ...
... Research by (Silaeva & Semenov, 2018) shows that applying all these principles in ISO 21001:2018 as guidelines and integrated approach to education quality assurance will help to provide both internal education quality assurance, and sustainable development. Research (Gilbert, 2020) also shown that ISO projects, including ISO 21001: 2018 resulting higher success rates over other quality efforts such as Lean, Six Sigma, and the Baldrige system and rested in a golden quadrant with lower times to completion. Thus, the achievement of the objectives will be beneficial of all parties interested in education quality in the long term base on the balance of economic, social, and environmental components of EO activity. ...
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Higher education has great demands and responsibilities to ensure their student graduates as highly competent human resources. Thus, effective and efficient management is required for higher education’s business process. To ensure their quality in process and result, compliance with national regulations and standards related to higher education is a must, and quality conformity with international standards is also one of the efforts of higher education institutions to improve their quality and competitiveness. ISO 21001:2018 is one of the international standards and best practice management systems for educational organizations that are widely used by various higher education institutions in the world. Considering Politeknik STMI Jakarta’s vision for resulting competent human resources, and that it is not yet certified by ISO 21001: 2018, this study is conducted to know the extent of readiness of Politeknik STMI Jakarta towards implementation and certification of ISO 21001:2018. The method used is the gap analysis method between conditions existing in Politeknik STMI Jakarta to ISO 21001:2018 standard. The results showed that the level of readiness of Politeknik STMI Jakarta is 88.85% which showed that the implementation of the clause requirements is mostly carried out but not consistently. The conclusion that can be drawn from the research is that Politeknik STMI Jakarta is ready to implement and carry out ISO 21001: 2018 certification.
... Higher education today operates in a globally competitive environment focused on quality (Moore, 2021;Oustous et al., 2021;Sherstobitova & Iskoskov, 2020). The quality of higher education reflects the relationship of higher education International Journal of Education in Mathematics, Science, and Technology (IJEMST) 1477 with users (Gilbert, 2020;Institutional Care Division, 2007). The changing environment requires universities to quickly adapt to changing user demands ( Bertiz, 2017;Maddah, 2021;Vatsa, 2021;ZboRovSKa, 2020). ...
... The government plays an active role in building an internal and external quality assurance system in universities through the accreditation process (Košir, 2021). Standards that universities, such as ISO 21001:2018, are management systems for educational organizations (Gilbert, 2020;Services, 2018). ISO 17025:2017 is the primary standard for laboratory and testing competence (Assessment, 2017). ...
Article
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Higher education today operates in a globally competitive environment. Competition is increasingly focused on quality. The quality of higher education reflects the relationship of higher education with users. Higher education uses various standards in the internal quality assurance system. It makes improvements in performance, features, suitability, reliability, durability, service, responsiveness, aesthetics, and reputation to support the progress of the quality of its performance. Implementing standards requires excellent effort because it requires quality fulfillment, and the satisfaction of each standard criterion requires internal and external audit processes. Standard alignment is needed for cost efficiency in implementing standards. Standard alignment can be done with ontology alignment technology. However, before applying ontology alignment, each ontology standard is needed. This study aims to explore literature that has implemented ontology and ontology alignment in education. This study aims to find out whether there has been research on the alignment of educational quality standards. The results of this study show that ontology has been applied in education, namely on the topics of curriculum, e-learning, learning assessment, system integration, syllabus, learning style, service, and accreditation. The implementation of ontology alignment has been carried out on the topics of Profile Learning, Learning Design, E-Learning, Curriculum, and System Integration. While the application of ontology or ontology alignment on educational quality standards has yet to be found by research that discusses it, quality standards have been applied to quality management models based on ISO 9000 requirements and software quality standards based on CMMI standards.
... Para demostrar su calidad, muchas instituciones de educación superior (IES) en todo el mundo han optado por implantar y certificar sus sistemas de gestión de la calidad (SGC) según la norma ISO 9001:201 (Organización Internacional de Normalización, 2015). Otras instituciones han preferido esquemas como los premios a la excelencia y otros enfoques de gestión de la calidad, tales como la "European Foundation for Quality Management" (EFQM), el "Common Assessment Framework" (CAF), el "Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award" (MBNQA), el "Total Quality Management" (TQM), el "Lean" y el "Six Sigma" (Gilbert, 2020;Girmanová y otros, 2022). ...
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To demonstrate their quality, higher education institutions can be accredited by sectoral educational quality schemes or certify their management systems, following the approaches of the International Organization for Standardization. The objective of this work is to present the actions carried out in Cuba to establish the certification scheme, according to nc-iso 21001:2019. To this end, a descriptive research was carried out, with a qualitative approach, supported by the analysis of scientific articles and other documents that substantiate the importance of the sgoe. The focus group technique was applied to know the experts' perceptions about the relevance of establishing this certification in the country. The necessary actions were planned to establish the scheme and it was designed with the University of Havana, as owner. The certification of Management Systems for Educational Organizations will allow institutions that provide higher-level and postgraduate training services to demonstrate the quality of their educational processes, through compliance with the nc-iso 21001:2019 standard, by a third-party evaluation scheme, which includes educational organizations that are not governed by the sectoral accreditation system established in Cuba.
... La norma, adoptada íntegramente en Cuba como NC-ISO 21001:2019, establece un lenguaje común aceptado mediante el consenso de expertos internacionales, y debe contribuir a la cooperación entre las instituciones educativas y las entidades responsables de evaluar su calidad (Gilbert, 2020;Ordozgoiti, 2016;Ron y Rodríguez, 2018). Además, en Cuba se está trabajando para implementar el esquema necesario para la certificación de las organizaciones educativas según la NC-ISO 21001:2019. ...
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Information and knowledge are key elements for the continuous improvement of the quality of educational services, including academic postgraduate studies. This work aimed to establish a model for the integrated management of information, knowledge and quality in postgraduate academic training in the Chair of Quality, Metrology and Standardization. For this, the relevant standards were taken as a basis: nc-iso 21001:2019, iso 30401:2018 and nc 1308:2019. A qualitative, descriptive and analytical approach was used, fundamentally using systemic and modeling theoretical methods. The model established for the integrated management of information, knowledge and quality is made up of the following components: objective, principles, fundamental structures and premises. For its implementation, a procedure based on the plan, do, check and act cycle is proposed, which responds to the requirements of the reference standards. In a second stage of the research, the validation and implementation of the integrated management model will be carried out, which will contribute to the continuous improvement of educational management in the Chair and its impacts on society, based on a superior use of information and the assimilation of relevant knowledge.
... Meanwhile, the use of ISO 21001:2018 in the education sector is used to analyze and evaluate the provision of educational products and services as a key in the teaching process [15], as a guide in aligning with government regulations [16], as well as the design and implementation of learning [17]. ISO 21001: 2018 is also used in the internal education quality assurance approach to standardizing the quality management system of educational organizations [10] and scenarios on the nature and extent of the quality assurance structure, including ISO Alongside (additional), ISO Instead (determining), and ISO Inside (prerequisite) [18]. ...
... The ISO 21001gives an idea about the operating system model for educational institutions (EOMS), whereby processes are defined according to key aspects of an educational institution (Douglas). J. Gilbert, 2020)[9]. According to Ugwulashi(Ugwulashi, 2021)[10], ISO 21001 is a standard to measure the effectiveness of an educational institution, which can be applied as standard procedures are given to evaluate the university operation. ...
Article
To evaluate whether an educational institution has quality or not, requires standards that reflect all the requirements of the complex relationships operating within the educational institution. At the same time, this standard must be recognized by all nations for it to apply widely. It is in this context that the ISO 21001:2018 series of standards was published. This standard mentioned three areas of activities that an educational organization must pay attention to: training, scientific research, and community service. They are also the main activities that the educational accreditation standards refer to. To meet the requirement of quality guarantee and enhancement, a higher education institution has to apply quality assurance norms in general and quality criteria on management systems. Putting the ISO 21001 quality standard into practice is the choice of Vietnamese educational institutions to ensure they meet the requirements for improving management system quality. There are a set of quality system standards for educational organizations to satisfy their specific needs. Not following the traditional approach as they apply other ISO standard systems, Vietnamese educational institutions have chosen an object-base approach, where the beneficiaries are related to the management system of the university. They then approach the PDCA cycle to build and implement an ISO 21001 quality management system. We found that, according to this orientation, the implementation processes might be ensured given that the quality thresholds set by the university are met in order to satisfy the demands of the learners and related stakeholders. The paper aims to analyze the approach of Vietnamese educational institutions in implementing ISO 21001 standards, and at the same time identify advantages and disadvantages in developing policies in the quality management system at educational institutions. The paper also gives recommendations that can be adjusted by management at other higher education institutions to improve quality assurance activities towards sustainable development. Keywords: ISO 21001:2018, quality assurance, quality management system, PDCA (Plan-Do-Check-Act), sustainable development
... Penelitian yang ada menunjukan urgensi ISO 21001:2018 dalam meningkatkan mutu perguruan tinggi. Khususnya dalam sistem akreditasi (Gilbert, 2020 (Vasilevskyi, 2019). Selain itu, kajian yang ada juga menunjukan bahwa rekrutmen dalam lembaga pendidikan menjadi variabel penting dan berpengaruh tinggi terhadap kualitas pendidikan (Hadiono & Inayah, 2020). ...
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Dalam penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mengetahui efektifitas dari penyusunan Standar Operasional Prosedur (SOP) rekrutman tenaga pendidik dan kependidikan dengan menggunakan riskbased thinking berdasarkan ISO 21001:2018. Peneliitan ini dilakukan di satu universitas swasta di daerah Tangerang Selatan, Banten, dengan menggunakan acuan waktu antara tahun 2021 sampai tahun 2022. Pendekatan dalam penelitian ini, peneliti menggunakan metode kualitatif deskriptif. Adapun respondennya adalah pihak terkait yang ada di lingkungan kampus serta. Teknik pengumpulan data yang digunakan yaitu teknik wawancara, observasi, dan studi dokumentasi. Setelah data terkumpul dilakukan pengolahan data dengan cara menganalisa data yang ada, kemudian di interpretasikan dengan mengacu pada kerangka pikir penelitian. Hasil penelitian ini menunjukkan bahwa SOP rekrutmen yang diintegrasikan dengan pemikiran berbasis risiko memberikan pengaruh yang cukup baik terhadap tingkat turnover karyawan. Keefektifitasan SOP rekrutmen yang mengintegrasikan riskbased thinking ini, dapat terlihat dari penurunan tingkat turnover karyawan selama kurun waktu 2022 akhir sampai dengan 2023 awal. Demi perbaikan di masa mendatang, penulis menyarankan agar kegiatan perekrutan tenaga pendidik dan kependidikan di perguruan tinggi ini dilakukan dengan lebih mempertimbangkan aspek yang dapat meminimalisir turnover karyawan, baik karyawan lama ataupun karyawan baru, dan supaya lebih mempersiapkan rancanagan untuk proses perekrutan secara matang agar dapat memenuhi kebutuhan lembaga dengan maksimal dan sesuai dengan tujuan Pendidikan
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Higher education is the critical economic sector that is eventually followed by all other major service sectors in an economy such as financial services, healthcare, telecommunication, aviation, transportation etc. Today, higher educational institutions all over the world operate in a fast-dynamic environment with high competition for reputation, talent acquisition, and student attraction. Following the basis of that high competition that is leading to a significant focus on quality. It is not easy to define the quality in terms of higher education since due to the complexity in relationships of higher education to students and the different roles played by a student in the higher education process. Addressing the issue, International Organization for Standards (ISO) has recently published a new quality framework for higher educational institutions; ISO 21001:2018 EOMS and most of the institutions adopted ISO 9001 standard series until the publication of the new ISO standard for higher education. This study employs an evidence-based approach and systematically evaluates the existing literature on ISO QMS implementation in higher education institutions in different countries with the intention of elaborating on the necessity of adopting it in the Sri Lankan context. Further, it attempts to summarize the key benefits, challenges, and critical success factors of ISO implementation considering Sri Lanka. According to the findings, the key benefits of ISO adoption by higher education institutions are cost reduction, consistent customer satisfaction, risk management, international recognition, adopting rapid changes, attracting grants/ funds, and strengthening international linkages and relationships. In addition, the challenges and critical success factors which were extracted from the literature are also stated for easy implication. Thus, the study highly recommends implementing ISO-standardized quality management systems in all higher education institutions in Sri Lanka to mitigate the serious limitations while achieving international recognition for all educational programmes to finally generate a quality workforce for the economy.
Article
The purpose of the article is to justify the need to implement ISO 21001:2019 "Educational organizations. Management systems for educational organizations. Requirements and guidelines for use" in the activities of domestic educational organizations. The achievement of the goal set in the article was carried out by methods of collecting scientific and practical sources of information and with the help of comparative analysis and analysis of dynamic series. The state of certification according to international and domestic standards in the field of education quality assurance in 2018-2022 was investigated to create common quality strategies. Based on the evaluation of the frequency of key words of ISO 9001 and ISO 21001 standards, their comparison was made. It has been established that the introduction of quality management standards in the educational sector is an important step to ensure the quality of education and increase its competitiveness. The introduction and use of ISO 21001 will significantly improve the management processes of educational institutions and increase the effectiveness of quality management. To understand the readiness of ISO 21001:2019 implementation, a survey of university administration representatives was conducted. The attitude of university admini­strations to the use of ISO 9001 and ISO 21001 standards was established. The results of the survey showed that the existence of an effective accreditation system, the optional introduction of ISO, and the lack of resources (personnel, financial) hinder the process of implementing ISO 21001 in universities. Proposals for the implementation of ISO 21001 in the activities of domestic higher education institutions are based on the need for the formation of a culture not only of administrative activities, but also of changing the environment of the activities of educational institutions and consist in the development of a national policy for the introduction of ISO 21001 in the educational sector, the need to conduct informational and explanatory work among educational institutions about the advantages of the implementation of ISO 21001, provision of financial support to universities implementing ISO 21001.
Book
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University rankings have gained popularity worldwide because they appear to fulfil demands by students, parents, policymakers, employers, and other stakeholders for information and transparency. They are often equated with quality, and are now a significant factor shaping institutional reputation. Today, there are eleven global rankings, experiencing varying degrees of popularity, reliability and trustworthiness, and national rankings in over 40 countries. Despite their popularity, how much do we really know and understand about the influence and impact of rankings? This book is the first comprehensive study of rankings from a global perspective. Based on original international surveys and interviews with universities and stakeholders, Ellen Hazelkorn draws together a wealth of international experience to chronicle how rankings are helping reshape higher education in the age of globalization. Written in an easy but authoritative style, the book makes an important contribution to our understanding of the rankings phenomenon. It is essential reading for policy makers, institutional leaders, managers, advisors, and scholars.
Chapter
The Triple Helix Model is used for describing innovation processes as a co-operational approach of universities, industry, and government. It is used for the development of knowledge-based relational networks of these three subsystems and influences the subdomain of sustainable education. One prerequisite for the successful application is a common understanding of quality. In a society of highly-developed countries, comprehensive quality consensus and culture is one of the most important success factors. If experience is to be transferred and cooperation is to be developed, the quality systems must be coordinated with one another. This also applies to education. However, due to the cultural peculiarities that influence the understanding of quality, an adjustment makes more sense than a simple adoption.
Article
This paper addresses the transformation of competition in higher education. Not only have competition and competitive schemes dramatically developed in the last decades, from competition for students to competition for budgets and competition for professors, but the nature of competition has also evolved, leading to new forms of competition, especially on the segment where this evolution has been the strongest, i.e. research universities. It is argued that competition in higher education is no longer only occurring between individuals and countries, but has become institutional, leading to a multi-level form of competition and transforming universities into competitors. This competition is framed as a competition for quality which has become more organized and equipped, and that increasingly relies on impersonal judgment devices. It is shown that this growing form of competition has spawned new classifications and categories, and that alliances of competitors belonging to the same category (like leagues, guilds or associations) are simultaneously emerging. Consideration will be thus given to how competition and cooperation intersect and combine.
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The universities have a diverse influence on the development of the society. Today this also includes countless smart city and community initiatives all over the world. These cases bring together city planning, industry, universities and citizens to improve the urban life of individuals and organisations with the integrated use of versatile information, digital and communication technologies. The purpose of this article is to consider quality management in the universities in a professional and creative way, which comprehensively covers the universities’ activities of education, research and social collaboration, and which can ensure the universities’ successful partnership in the smart city projects. This article describes the key aspects related to the smart city phenomenon and development, and in this context the challenges to expanding and reinforcing the universities’ quality management practices to meet the increased requirements of the collaboration with the other organisations for the quality of society through the disrupted innovations. The article brings up related conceptual bases, practical solutions and examples. Smart cities are also manifestations of the 4th industrial revolution and industry 4.0, which emerging phenomena imply innovations, better planning, a more participatory approach towards higher energy efficiency, better transport solutions, and intelligent use of information and communication technologies. The required collaboration with the many different involved societal parties sets requirements for quality in the universities’ main activity sectors. In practice, this is ensured through organisational learning towards excellence in the overall performance of the university that implies professional quality management principles, innovations in processes and practices aligned with the other organisations of the society. This article is based on the authors’ long-term general research and practice of the business integrated quality management, and education and industry collaboration at different universities. Some parts of the material have been presented at different seminars and conferences, for instance in Chelyabinsk/Russia, Kenitra/Morocco and Kremenets/Ukraina.
Cross industry process classification framework
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Counting U.S. postsecondary and secondary credentials
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Hospital accrediation. DNV GL's pioneering NIAHO program integrates ISO 9001 with the Medicare conditions of participation
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Influential and impactful. Successful implementation of quality methods syncs with higher job satisfaction
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Hansen, M. C. (2018, December). Influential and impactful. Successful implementation of quality methods syncs with higher job satisfaction. Quality Progress, 51(12), 16.
Educational organizations -Management systems for educational organizations -Requirements with guidance for use (ISO Standard 21001). International Standards Organisation. International Organization for Standardization
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Hazelkorn, E. (2015). Rankings and the reshaping of higher education. The battle for world-class excellence. Plagrave Macmillan. International Organization for Standardization [ISO]. (2018a). Educational organizations -Management systems for educational organizations -Requirements with guidance for use (ISO Standard 21001). International Standards Organisation. International Organization for Standardization [ISO]. (2018b). The ISO survey. https://www.iso.org/the-iso-survey.html International Organization for Standardization [ISO]. (n.d.). Standards by ISO/TC 232. Education and learning services. https://www.iso.org/committee/537864