Texte remanié de: Diss.--Fachbereich Geschichtswissenschaft--Universität Hamburg, 1986.

Thesis (Th. M.)--Dallas Theological Seminary, 2004. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 49-53).

Thesis (Th. M.)--Dallas Theological Seminary, 2004. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 49-53).

Thesis (Th. M.)--Westminster Theological Seminary, Philadelphia, 1999. / Includes vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 132-135).

Thesis (M.Hous.)--University of Hong Kong, 2004. / Also available in print.

The objective of the reported research is to investigate the contribution which can be made to Quality Management System design and implementation through the application of discrete event simulation methods. Today's highly competitive world has forced manufacturing and service organisations to find ways to reduce costs while maintaining customer satisfaction and making continuous improvement to both products and/or services as well as processes. In approaching these demands the establishment of quality systems standards, such as ISO 9000, has been considered as one of the possible solutions. From another point of view, businesses have been making increasing use of simulation modelling as a powerful technique to reduce the risk in the process of decision-making by evaluating and analysing alternative strategies and solution in system design and improvement. Having considered the importance of quality management systems and standards as well as the capabilities of computer systems a generic simulation model for Quality Management Systems, as defined by the relevant standards, is defined and its use in a case study is demonstrated and evaluated in detail. The overall result of the research illustrates the feasibility of using computer simulation in the area of quality management and great benefits achieved by this application.

This thesis concerns ideas and practices about quality assurance systems, quality enhancement and performance indicators in higher education. The quality of higher education is important in a country's economic and social development and its enhancement is a major objective of any higher education system. There has been an increasing demand for institutions of higher education to be accountable and make their activities more transparent to their consumers and to society as a whole. Therefore, institutions have become more explicit about their aims and the methods used to achieve such aims. Also, the monitoring of inputs, processes and outcomes of a University has now become widely accepted. The context for the study of quality management in higher education is the 'Eduardo Mondlane' University (UEM) in Mozambique. This thesis aims to analyse the quality assurance procedures currently in existence at 'Eduardo Mondlane' University (UEM), to examine recent and ongoing efforts to build capacity, to consider a range of options for increased efficiency and effectiveness, and to make recommendations for quality management at UEM. Examples of British Universities already engaged in quality assurance initiatives are analysed and their relevance to UEM is discussed. This thesis comprises nine chapters. The first chapter contextualizes the thesis by considering the historical background to Mozambique. Chapters two and three discuss styles and strategies of managing quality, and ways of monitoring the performance of educational institutions. Chapter four examines arrangements in selected U.K. Universities for quality assurance. Chapters five to eight outline the methodology used to collect the research evidence and discuss the main results from the survey research conducted at UEM. Four main aspects of quality assurance at UEM form the focus of the research: the quality assurance of admission procedures, the quality assurance of teaching and learning, the quality assurance of student development and support, and a framework for quality enhancement. The concluding chapter presents a summary of the main findings as well as recommendations for quality enhancement at UEM. A list of performance indicators is provided along with suggestions for further research on quality assurance at UEM.

Les nouvelles normes de régulation Solvabilité 2 ont un impact très important sur l'assurance crédit. L'objectif de cette directive est que les compagnies d'assurance mesurent mieux les différents risques auxquels elles font face, afin qu'elles constituent suffisamment de capital pour faire face à des situations de crise. Notre travail se concentre sur une activité d'assurance assez particulière : l'assurance de crédit. Dans le cadre de Solvabilité 2, majoritairement, les assureurs de crédit s'orienteront vers le développement de modèles internes, afin d'avoir une meilleure estimation de leurs exigences en capital. Notre étude a pour objectif de proposer, ou de donner des pistes d'amélioration d'un type de modèle interne. Nous présentons tout d'abord de manière générale, ce qu'est le métier d'assureur crédit et nous aborderons ensuite le sujet d'un modèle interne. Nous présenterons alors celui que l'on aura choisi d'utiliser, un modèle multifacteurs associé à l'approche Merton. Nous comparerons également les méthodes d'intégration des corrélations entre contreparties des normes Solvabilité 2 avec celle du modèle interne. Nous essaierons ensuite d'affiner le modèle interne afin de tenir compte d'une caractéristique importante de l'assurance crédit : la gestion des garanties (limites), qui comme nous le verrons induit une baisse des exigences en capital. Pour cela, nous introduirons la prise en compte de cycles de crédit pour le calcul de pertes, un modèle non plus mono-périodique, comme c'est habituellement le cas, mais à deux périodes. Nous présenterons ensuite les résultats obtenus à l'aide de ce modèle. Nous exposerons alors une approche alternative en la méthode d'approximation linéaire par morceaux via des simulations de Monte Carlo (PLMC). Il s'agit ici de passer d'un modèle discret à un modèle continu. Nous comparerons ensuite les structures de dépendance Gaussienne et de Student afin de voir ce que le changement de cette structure induirait pour les exigences en capital. Nous nous intéresserons finalement au problème de la recherche de quantiles élevés, et des études de convergence de nos variables. Pour cela, nous introduirons tout d'abord la mesure du prix de marché du risque, et nous présenterons une estimation de ce prix de marché du risque, plus spécifiquement pour le risque de taux. Ceci nous permettra d'obtenir la dynamique des taux en univers risque neutre. Nous aborderons ensuite la question du calcul de Best Estimate, dans un cadre de dépendance entre les risques de taux et de crédit. Le calcul du SCR suivra. Nous discuterons d'une approche alternative permettant le calcul de l'exigence en capital, approche propre aux modèles structurels et qui permettrait de se passer de simulations pour ce calcul. Finalement, nous conclurons notre étude en exposant les différents enjeux de cette thèse ainsi que les contributions apportées, et les problématiques rencontrées au cours des travaux / -

The civil engineering industry in South Africa has seen a steady decline in the number of professionals during the last few decades, however it is expected that the government and private sectors are to spend over R200 billion on infrastructure in the next few years. This increases the demand on civil consulting engineering firms to achieve greater productivity, with reduced time and human resources, which has had a profound effect on the quality of service delivered to clients. These firms need to gain a competitive advantage by consistently providing Service Excellence, which is superior to their competitors. One way of achieving this is by benchmarking firms against their competitors. In this research paper the Service Quality and Service Recovery procedures of Company X in Port Elizabeth were benchmarked against its competitors using a customised form of the recognised SERVQUAL research instrument - the SERVPERF questionnaire. The results proved to be invaluable because the survey revealed insightful information which can be used to their strategic benefit. Civil consulting engineering firms need to be aware that Service Excellence is an imperative in the service industry, but do not necessarily have to be perfect. Firms simply need to outperform their competitors to be rated as market leaders. Strategies to improve the Service Quality and Service Recovery of the firm under review are suggested and this work concludes with suggestions for future research projects, which may be beneficial to the researcher, the civil engineering industry and the economy of South Africa.

Countries are developing ambitious strategies to produce a globally competitive workforce. International expectations, standards, local, and national needs contribute towards the desire to improve on the quality of education provided to the nation. With the realisation that diamonds are not forever, Botswana is striving ‘towards a knowledge society’. Quality tertiary education has been identified as a catalyst that can propel Botswana towards an educated and informed nation as per one of the vision 2016 pillars. In this light, programme accreditation as one of the quality assurance tools used in the tertiary education sector needs to be up to date. The accreditation status can be regarded as a mark of quality. The aim of this study was to contribute towards improvement of the programme accreditation system by developing characteristics of an effective programme accreditation system for tertiary education institutions in Botswana. Educational design research was found suitable for this study because it is a methodology that is aimed to improve educational practices. The research subjects were people in the tertiary education sector who participated in the programme accreditation process of tertiary education institutions in Botswana. Data was collected through interviews, questionnaires, and document analysis. Formative evaluation was done throughout to approach product quality. The findings indicated that Botswana’s programme accreditation system is in line with international procedure of self-evaluation, a site visit resulting in a programme accreditation report, followed by a programme accreditation decision. Accreditation agencies studied subscribe to such a model. The model allows institutions to do a critical analysis of their programme environment and find ways of providing ‘an exemplary programme’ by designing improvement strategies, thereby allowing them to be innovative. The quality of the self-evaluation report is partly determined by the intensity of the research into the programme provision, which should contain the programme content, resources and delivery. The institution is expected to give an authentic view of the situation as it exists, stating both strengths and weaknesses and the opportunities for improvement being guided by programme accreditation standards, requirements, and criteria. Assessment for conferment of the accreditation status is carried out by a team from academia and industry, the programme review team. Every accreditation report is expected to contain recommendations for programme improvement. An effective programme accreditation system should be relevant to the environment in which it is carried out, transparent so that all stakeholders are clear about the requirements, inclusive and adaptable to accommodate different situations and responsive to contemporary issues. A prototype of a relevant, practical, and valid programme accreditation system that is appropriate for use in the tertiary education institutions in Botswana as well as characteristics of an effective programme accreditation system were realised. The long-term goal of the output of this research is that the designed characteristics should be applicable not only to tertiary education level but also to the whole education system, and should be internationally applicable so that other programme accreditation systems, both emerging and maturing, could benefit. / Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2015. / Science, Mathematics and Technology Education / Unrestricted