This Doctoral Thesis raised very important and yet controversial issues relating to the strategic role of `Quality' in the future development of publicly funded higher education institutions (HEIs). The philosophical and empirical underpinnings of these issues relate to the efficiency and effectiveness of alternative approaches for improving Academic Quality. The Thesis provides an alternative holistic and integrated Conceptual Model, which incorporates a composite definition of `Academic Quality'. It depicts Excellent HEIs as those with the ability to meet internal and external demands for quality improvement, by achieving a sustainable balance between the forces for autonomy and accountability to stakeholders. It reveals variability in respondents' ontological and epistemological assumptions, which reflects on the balance between theory and practice. This theory practice linkage underpins this researcher's mindset of critical realism, pragmatism or coherentism as espoused by Tashakkori and Teddlie (1998), Professors Evers and Lakomski (2001). The adoption of a mixed perspective on validity, reliability and generalizability in this thesis complements the positivist deductive approach adopted by Professor Gopal Kanji and Doctor Abdul Tambi in their study of TQM in HEIs (Kanji and Tambi, 2002). Quantitative and Qualitative Analysis of 42 Questionnaires, over 30 Interview Transcripts, and Documentary Evidence of Practice, led to the identification and hierarchical categorization of Critical Success Factors (CSFs). The analysis made use of a system of codes, percentage scaled response scores, and simple test statistics. The Osseo-Asare Scoring Mechanism coupled with the notion of Best Practice Gaps (BPGs) were used in the categorization of quality management practices into `Weak', `Good', `Best, and `Excellent' under each CSF. A general Theory of academic quality management was created by a forensic examination of the nature of the probabilistic associations between CSFs and Best Quality Management Practices, resulting in the synthesis of academic quality management principles and concepts from which fundamental philosophical and empirical assumptions were derived. The principles, concepts, and assumptions represent a holistic and integrated approach to quality in terms of comprising of elements from a wide range of alternative theories of educational management and leadership. This Thesis' major contributions to knowledge, include the introduction of: The notion of Best Practice Gaps (BPGs); The Osseo-Asare Scoring Mechanism; The composite definition of Academic Quality; The multi-dimensional definition of Managerial Leadership for academic quality; The generic Theory and Model for academic quality management; and several specific frameworks and models for effective management of academic quality are also some of the by-products from the Thesis. Eight sets of practical recommendations for sustaining academic quality have been outlined; and the major Areas for Further Research at a post-doctoral level include: " Piloting the Model at the University of Derby and at Penn State University, as part of a Comparative Study on the Model's acceptability and applicability. Piloting the Model in UK HEls, which are adopting the EFQM Excellence Model, in order to assess the Model's compatibility with the EFQMframework. " Application of Kanji's Methodology to determine Performance Indices for each `autonomy' and `accountability' criterion, and to calculate the Academic Excellence Index for UK HEIs in this Thesis.

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Στην παρούσα εργασία γίνεται μια προσπάθεια για να διαπιστωθεί ο ρόλος των τεχνολογιών των Επικοινωνιών και της Πληροφορίας (ΤΠΕ) στην Οργάνωση και Διοίκηση της Τριτοβάθμιας εκπαίδευσης. Πιο συγκεκριμένα, θα προσπαθήσουμε να διαπιστώσουμε αν χρησιμοποιούνται οι ΤΠΕ στην οργάνωση και στην καθημερινή διοίκηση των Γραμματειών, τον τρόπο, τα οφέλη, τα προβλήματα και τους ανασταλτικούς παράγοντες. Σαν παράδειγμα μελετήσαμε τις Γραμματείες του Πανεπιστημίου Πατρών. Κύριος σκοπός της έρευνας είναι να διαπιστωθεί ο ρόλος των ΤΠΕ και οι επιμέρους στόχοι είναι να καταγραφούν οι αντιλήψεις των εμπλεκομένων προσώπων για την χρήση των ΤΠΕ στην οργάνωση και διοίκηση αλλά και τα θετικά και αρνητικά στοιχεία από την χρήση ή μη των ΤΠΕ. Η έρευνά μας θα μελετηθεί σε σχέση με τις προκλήσεις της εποχής αλλά και τις ανάγκες της, όπως αυτή έχει διαμορφωθεί από την επίδραση της παγκοσμιοποίησης, αλλά και την επίδραση των ΤΠΕ στην καθημερινότητα του πολίτη. Η μεθοδολογία που ακολουθήθηκε ήταν η ποιοτική έρευνα και τα δεδομένα καταγράφηκαν με συνεντεύξεις από την ομάδα στόχο που είναι οι εργαζόμενοι στις Γραμματείες του Πανεπιστημίου Πατρών. Στην συνέχεια παρουσιάζονται τα δεδομένα και αναλύονται ενώ στο τέλος της έρευνας γίνεται μια προσπάθεια ερμηνείας των δεδομένων αυτών και παρατίθενται οι προβληματισμοί για περαιτέρω έρευνα. / An attempt for realising the role of Information and Communications technologies (ICT) in the Organisation and Administration of Higher Education is performed in this thesis. More specific, we will try to realise if the ICTs are used in the organisation and in the daily administration of Secretariats, and especially the way, the profits, the problems and the suspensive factors. As a case study we focused on the group of the Secretariats of the University of Patras. Main target of our research is to realise the role of ICT and the individual objectives are to record the perceptions of the involved persons about the use of ICT in the organisation and administration, but also the positive and negative elements from the use or non-use of ICT. Our research will be studied concerning the challenges of our century but also the needs, as these have been shaped by the globalisation effect, but also the ¬influence of ICT in the everyday routine of citizen. The followed methodology was based on the qualitative research and the data have been recorded with interviews from the target group. The target group was the employees in the Secretariats of University of Patras. Following up, we present the data and we analyze them. At the end of our research, we try to interpretation them and we mention the ideas and the reflections for further research.