A culture of quality in higher education

Abstract

In Ecuador the discussion on the quality of higher education has been put on the stage in the last fifteen years, although the initial motivation is present in the times of application of the processes of evaluation with the purpose of accreditation of the universities, these events have been carried out in a mandatory way in three occasions. The universities try to obtain the best results and with it the institutional accreditation; however, in the intermediate times the efforts are dissipated or forgotten. For this reason, universities must reorient their teaching, research, networking and management activities so that they are carried out with quality on a permanent basis. The responsibility for good management is fundamentally in the hands of the authorities; however, the participation of the entire educational community is also necessary in order to promote what is called "quality culture". For the concretion of this culture of quality, a system of quality management is required as a tool that offers the possibility of evaluating oneself, having timely and precise information for university planning and action. The system itself does not constitute the exercise of quality for higher education, but is the tool that allows actors to focus with quality in the practice of their daily functions and thus create a quality culture that allows the university to achieve high standards of compliance in their substantive functions. A means for this is the validation of a system of indicators in various dimensions as a valid, living and dynamic proposal, which demands the participation of all sectors involved while giving them feedback, in this context this research work is done with a theoretical review that served to create a set of indicators, to proceed with its validation through discussion groups, a qualitative analysis of the opinions of the institutions involved in the study is presented, the results are presented the aspects to be considered within a system of quality management in Higher Education, in order to create an environment of quality culture.