The purpose of this study was to ascertain the perceptions of academic administrators on the importance of selected components of quality in higher education. The population studied were the 136 academic administrators in the nine state universities in Florida. One hundred fourteen administrators responded through a mailed questionnaire (83.8% return). / Administrators were classified according to university, adminitrative level, and discipline categories. Responses were analyzed across these classifications to see if perceptions of quality were unique to the particular classifications. / Components of quality were grouped into four major categories: faculty, student, institutional, and program quality components. Also examined were the methods employed to assess the quality of higher education and the uses and outcomes of state appropriated quality improvement funds. The academic administrators were also asked to assess the efforts of their respective institutions, the state legislature, and the Board of Regents toward improving the quality of education in Florida. / The level of perceived importance was measured through the use of a Likert-type scale ranging from 1 (little importance) to 5 (essential). The results were then rank ordered from highest to the lowest and compared across the classifications. / The results reflected greater similarities in perceptions in the importance of the identified components of quality than incongruencies. There were only slight differences in perceptions across the three classifications of academic administrators. / Quality components relating to faculty quality were perceived as the greatest importance to the quality of higher education followed by program, student, and institutional quality components. Ten criteria, identified as components of quality, were given for each of the four major categories. / As a whole, academic administrators perceive their respective universities are doing the best they can to improve quality. They feel "targeted" funding is more effective than "lump sum" funding and that the state legislature and Board of Reagents are not attuned to their respective quality improvement needs. / It appears that the definition of quality does not significantly vary, even when the effects of experience and other unmeasured personal characteristics that influence one's perceptions are considered. The administrative level or university classification does not influence the perceptions of academic administrators to any great extent. Only when examined across disciplines do perceptions appear to differ, and even then, only slightly. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 42-10, Section: A, page: 4326. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1981.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:fsu.edu/oai:fsu.digital.flvc.org:fsu_74656 |
| Contributors | PAVESIC, DAVID VICTOR., Florida State University |
| Source Sets | Florida State University |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text |
| Format | 174 p. |
| Rights | On campus use only. |
| Relation | Dissertation Abstracts International |
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