State of the art on conceptions of quality in higher education

Abstract

Given the polysemic and multidimensional nature of the notion of quality and its centrality and growing relevance in higher education, it is necessary to lay the foundations for conceptualizing it in terms of its context of application, in order to provide support and consistency to the design of specific policies. This paper presents the main methodological guidelines and findings of an exhaustive literature review focused on identifying the conceptions of quality in higher education in papers published in high-impact international journals between 2016-2020. Following the axial guidelines of the PRISMA-P method, 186 articles were selected out of 53,290 identified as part of the initial universe. Using open deductive coding, prevailing conceptions of the quality of higher education and its valued components were identified. Another noteworthy finding is the relevance of grouping these conceptions into two categories –“quality en soi” and “quality pour soi”– which are very similar to the positions taken in two very influential publications in Latin America. A crucial question arose as a consequence of the analysis of the articles submitted for review: who is responsible for determining the quality of a product or service in higher education? The answer to this question gave rise to the emergence of an alternative theoretical and conceptual positioning to those underlying the two categories: “quality pour qui” (quality for whom).