Implementation of EFQM excellence model self‐assessment in the UK higher education sector – lessons learned from other sectors

TLDR

Higher education institutions in the UK are under increasing pressure from stakeholders to broaden and improve services while tightening resource use, prompting a shift toward more customer‑focused, business‑like operations. This paper investigates the implementation of the European Foundation for Quality Management (EFQM) excellence model self‑assessment within the UK higher education sector. A consortium of universities is applying the EFQM model, examining specific implementation challenges, selecting appropriate self‑assessment methods, and contrasting these with issues encountered in the wider public sector. Early evidence suggests that EFQM self‑assessment can cultivate a customer‑oriented culture in higher education, provided lessons learned from the public sector are incorporated.

Abstract

Owing to pressures from a range of stakeholders for a wider and improved range of services from the Higher Education (HE) sector in the UK, linked with a simultaneously increasing pressure on resource utilisation, universities are currently facing the challenges of reorienting their approaches to be more customer‐focused and conducting their activities in a more business‐like manner. A consortium of UK universities is currently implementing the European Foundation for Quality Management (EFQM) excellence model as a means for addressing these issues. The focus of this paper is the implementation of EFQM excellence model self‐assessment in the UK HE sector. This paper describes the specific issues in implementing the model in UK HE, with a particular focus on the choice of self‐assessment methodology, and compares and contrasts these with self‐assessment issues in the wider public sector. The early signs are that EFQM excellence model self‐assessment can help to produce a more customer‐oriented culture in HE institutions, providing that the lessons learned from the wider public sector are put into practice.