Izvorni znanstveni članak
https://doi.org/10.1080/1331677X.2019.1697329
Competitive implications of quality assurance processes in higher education. The case of higher education in engineering in France
Teresa Sánchez-Chaparro
Víctor Gómez-Frías
Óscar González-Benito
Sažetak
Quality assurance in higher education is one of the cornerstones
of the Bologna agenda and the Lisbon strategy, which aims at
establishing the world’s most competitive knowledge economy.
Extensive literature up to now has addressed quality assurance as
a regulatory and policy mechanism and has presented quality
assurance and market forces as antagonistic. However, what policymakers
in the field fail to see is that the ‘official’ quality assurance
processes also have implications in terms of competition.
Indeed, higher education institutions are using the results of
these, in principle aseptic, non-market-related evaluation processes,
as a way to achieve competitive advantage. This paper
analyses the case of higher education institutions in engineering
in France. The institutional websites of 163 higher education institutions
have been analysed through code-based content analysis
techniques and Multiple Correspondence Analysis. This study
shows that the analysis of institutional websites can be used as a
tool to gauge the importance of the different dimensions of quality
assurance for higher education institutions in a given national
system. Furthermore, a clear association has been found between
the ranking position of an institution and its communication
behaviour. The results have been interpreted in the light of
Neoinstitutional Theory and Porter’s generic competitive strategies.
Practical implications for quality assurance practitioners and
managers at higher education institutions have been highlighted.
Ključne riječi
Quality assurance; marketing; higher education; engineering; France; multiple correspondence analysis; Porter’s generic competitive strategies
Hrčak ID:
254665
URI
Datum izdavanja:
9.2.2021.
Posjeta: 874 *