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.

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

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Cai Xia. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2002. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 105-110). / Abstracts in English and Chinese. / Chapter 1 --- Introduction --- p.1 / Chapter 1.1 --- Component-Based Software Development and Quality Assurance Issues --- p.1 / Chapter 1.2 --- Our Main Contributions --- p.5 / Chapter 1.3 --- Outline of This Thesis --- p.6 / Chapter 2 --- Technical Background and Related Work --- p.8 / Chapter 2.1 --- Development Framework for Component-based Software --- p.8 / Chapter 2.1.1 --- Common Object Request Broker Architecture (CORBA) --- p.9 / Chapter 2.1.2 --- Component Object Model (COM) and Distributed COM (DCOM) --- p.12 / Chapter 2.1.3 --- Sun Microsystems's JavaBeans and Enterprise JavaBeans --- p.14 / Chapter 2.1.4 --- Comparison among Different Frameworks --- p.17 / Chapter 2.2 --- Quality Assurance for Component-Based Systems --- p.199 / Chapter 2.2.1 --- Traditional Quality Assurance Issues --- p.199 / Chapter 2.2.2 --- The Life Cycle of Component-based Software Systems --- p.255 / Chapter 2.2.3 --- Differences between components and objects --- p.266 / Chapter 2.2.4 --- Quality Characteristics of Components --- p.27 / Chapter 2.3 --- Quality Prediction Techniques --- p.32 / Chapter 2.3.1 --- ARMOR: A Software Risk Analysis Tool --- p.333 / Chapter 3 --- A Quality Assurance Model for CBSD --- p.35 / Chapter 3.1 --- Component Requirement Analysis --- p.38 / Chapter 3.2 --- Component Development --- p.39 / Chapter 3.3 --- Component Certification --- p.40 / Chapter 3.4 --- Component Customization --- p.42 / Chapter 3.5 --- System Architecture Design --- p.43 / Chapter 3.6 --- System Integration --- p.44 / Chapter 3.7 --- System Testing --- p.45 / Chapter 3.8 --- System Maintenance --- p.46 / Chapter 4 --- A Generic Quality Assessment Environment: ComPARE --- p.48 / Chapter 4.1 --- Objective --- p.50 / Chapter 4.2 --- Metrics Used in ComPARE --- p.53 / Chapter 4.2.1 --- Metamata Metrics --- p.55 / Chapter 4.2.2 --- JProbe Metrics --- p.57 / Chapter 4.2.3 --- Application of Metamata and Jprobe Metrics --- p.58 / Chapter 4.3 --- Models Definition --- p.61 / Chapter 4.3.1 --- Summation Model --- p.61 / Chapter 4.3.2 --- Product Model --- p.62 / Chapter 4.3.3 --- Classification Tree Model --- p.62 / Chapter 4.3.4 --- Case-Based Reasoning Model --- p.64 / Chapter 4.3.5 --- Bayesian Network Model --- p.65 / Chapter 4.4 --- Operations in ComPARE --- p.66 / Chapter 4.5 --- ComPARE Prototype --- p.68 / Chapter 5 --- Experiments and Discussions --- p.70 / Chapter 5.1 --- Data Description --- p.71 / Chapter 5.2 --- Experiment Procedures --- p.73 / Chapter 5.3 --- Modeling Methodology --- p.75 / Chapter 5.3.1 --- Classification Tree Modeling --- p.75 / Chapter 5.3.2 --- Bayesian Belief Network Modeling --- p.80 / Chapter 5.4 --- Experiment Results --- p.83 / Chapter 5.3.1 --- Classification Tree Results Using CART --- p.83 / Chapter 5.3.2 --- BBN Results Using Hugin --- p.86 / Chapter 5.5 --- Comparison and Discussion --- p.90 / Chapter 6 --- Conclusion --- p.92 / Chapter A --- Classification Tree Report of CART --- p.95 / Chapter B --- Publication List --- p.104 / Bibliography --- p.105

Quality assurance in schools and in higher education has been a growth industry for many years, with all kinds of agencies being funded. With apparently endless growth in education at all levels, with insistent demands on more resources, the political pressures in ensuring value for money have increased. This study explores the perceptions of teachers, students and senior administrators ofquality assurance in secondary schools (ages about 15-18 in Bahrain) in the Kingdom of Bahrain. Here, there is an established system of quality assurance but there is a general feeling of unrest that all is not well in the way quality assurance has developed.The overall aim is to enhance quality assurance in Bahrain, based on sound pedagogical evidence. This study provides an overview of quality assurance in secondary schools in Bahrain with the teachers, students and senior staff. This aims to look at the way secondary education is offered in Bahrain, to explore possible ways to enhance educational provision and, where possible, to look for any evidence that Quality Assurance has improved quality.This study has aimed to gain an overall view of what is happening in secondary education in Bahrain and to identify areas which need further attention. The approach has been very much focussed on the learner.The first experiment seeks to find out how some key stakeholders see present provision in secondary education (ages 15-18) in Bahrain. The aim is to gain an overview of perceptions and to identify areas where there are issues to be addressed. This study describes two surveys which were conducted with 793 students and 793 teachers related particularly to their perceptions. 23 senior staff in the Ministry of Education and Quality Assurance Authority in Kingdom of Bahrain were also interviewed individually in order to gain more information about their perceptions of quality assurance in the Kingdom. It is very evident that the pictures painted by the students, their teachers and those in educational leadership are very different. In particular, the educational leadership standout in offering very different perspectives. It is, therefore, obvious that there is little shared agenda other than an overall wish for educational quality, but what is meant by this is not even clear. There is a clear message that the educational leadership needs to consult and listen more to teachers and students if any shared agenda is to be reached. Perhaps, the teachers have a better insight into reality while the students must take a central role in that the schools are there for their benefit. Several issues stood out from the surveys but two were followed up in this study. The first is that there is considerable disquiet about national assessment (which controls inschool assessment practices). The second is that the students want to move away form the teacher-centred lecture approach to have opportunities to work in groups and discuss.In the light findings of these findings, the examination marks for a sample of 7022students in their final year of school was gained. The data were considered descriptively as well as being analysed using Factor Analysis. It was readily apparent that there are major issues to be addressed and that was perhaps what the students were drawing attention to in the surveys. Firstly, the examination papers are far too easy, with little opportunity for students to show their abilities. Secondly, the factor analyses showed that all the subject examinations merely tested one skill, a scrutiny of papers showingthat was recall. In order to explore the potential role of group working in schools, a sample of 817 students in three age-groups in secondary school undertook a short series of short group-work problem solving exercises in one subject discipline. Student performance as well as their reactions were measured. It was found that there were some advantages in understanding arising from the use of such units but the effects were not universally beneficial for all of the units used. Student reactions tended to be positive but not overwhelmingly so.The main findings revealed that there is a major lack of consistency and sharedunderstanding between those who take the decisions in education (and thedocumentation they generate) and the realities of what goes on in schools (as reflected by teachers and learners). There is a need to focus on the learners, their experiences, their achievements and their needs as they move out into higher education or the workplace. There is a need to widen the range of skills being assessed and to develop resources to enable these skills to grow. Above all, the role of quality assurance in Bahrain has to be one that empowers the teachers rather that inspects them and criticises, often on matters over which teachers have no control.

The estimated value of the U.S. transportation infrastructure is over $7.0 trillion. The challenge is preserving the quality of the investment. State and federal departments of transportation have methods and procedures for best quality, but vary significantly. With the variations comes opportunity to assess the cost-effectiveness of different strategies and make recommendation on practices that are most successful. A survey was created and sent to all 50 states and the District of Columbia. The survey was aimed to capture information on construction finished product testing methods, optimized/reduced sampling techniques, innovative QA practices that measure multiple performance criteria and QA processes that are rapid and cost effective. There are many testing methods and procedures being used throughout the U.S. This thesis will allow state and federal transportation agencies to look at the findings and possibly implement them into their own agency with hopes of saving time and money for future projects.

The purpose of this work is to evaluate quasi-3D arrays for use with intensity modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) and volumetric modulated arc therapy (VMAT) and to determine their clinical relevance. This is achieved using a Delta4 from Scandidos and ArcCheck from Sun Nuclear and the associated software. While certain aspects of these devices and software have been previously evaluated, the main goal of this work is to evaluate the new aspects, such as reconstructing dose on a patient CT set, and extending the capabilities. This includes the capability to reconstruct the dose based on a helical delivery as well as studying the dose to a moving target using measurement-guided motion simulations. It was found that Sun Nuclear's ArcCheck/3DVH system exhibited excellent agreement for dose reconstruction for IMRT/VMAT using a traditional C-arm linear accelerator and stringent 2%/2mm comparison constraints. It also is a powerful tool for measurement-guided dose estimates for moving targets, allowing for many simulations to be performed based on one measurement and the target motion data. For dose reconstruction for a helical delivery, the agreement was not as good for the stringent comparison but was reasonable for the clinically acceptable 3%/3mm comparison. Scandidos' Delta4 shows good agreement with stringent 2%/2mm constraints for its dose reconstruction on the phantom. However, the dose reconstruction on the patient CT set was poor and needs more work. Overall, it was found that quasi-3D arrays are powerful tools for dose reconstruction and treatment plan comparisons. The ability to reconstruct the dose allows for a dose resolution comparable to the treatment plan, which negates the previous issues with inadequate sampling and resolution issues found when just comparing the diodes. The ability to quickly and accurately compare many plans and target motions with minimum setup makes the quasi-3D array an attractive tool for both commissioning and patient specific quality assurance.

This thesis explores the impact that small training organisations expect as a result of the introduction of quality assurance. It also explores how the culture of small training organisations affects, and is affected by, quality assurance. The current requirement for small training organisations to undertake quality assurance processes represents challenges and opportunities. However, there is little information available on the relationship between organisation culture and quality assurance in small training organisations, and therefore little guidance on implementing quality assurance in such organisations. The relationship between organisational culture and quality assurance in small organisations was examined from an interpretive approach that used both quantitative and qualitative techniques. 78 respondents from 34 separate training organisations responded to a survey comprising a questionnaire developed by the author concerning the expected impact of quality assurance, and an organisational culture instrument. The organisation culture instrument, which was adapted by the author from the Organisational Culture Diagnostic Instrument (Cameron and Ettington 1988), aimed to assess both current organisational culture, and expected organisational culture after the introduction of quality assurance. Further in-depth data were gained in focus groups held with two of training organisations surveyed. Results were analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics, and content analyses. For most small training organisations, the opportunities provided by quality assurance, especially in providing consistency through devolved responsibility for management tasks, were perceived to outweigh the short-term problems, especially resource issues and frustration with inconsistent external requirements. Change for the most part was perceived to be at the level of procedure and formal policy, rather than at the level of underlying values or philosophy. The organisations tended to have flexible cultures ('Clans' and 'Adhocracies' - Cameron and Ellington 1988), and expected to become more predictable ('Hierarchies' and 'Markets' - ibid) after the introduction of quality assurance. However, there were variable paradoxical effects in relation to the impact of quality assurance on organisational culture. The study identifies some key issues for those implementing and/or designing quality assurance systems in small training organisations and suggests that, in comparison with large organisations, more attention needs to be given to technical and resource issues than to changes in orientation or values. The study identifies a number of complexities in the relationships between different aspects of organisational culture, between organisational profile and expected impact, and between expected and actual impact. Further research on these complexities is suggested.