Implementation of IEQMS model in engineering educational institutions – a structural equation modelling approach

Abstract

Quality education is considered to be pivotal and imperative in the present context of cut-throat competition. This has prompted higher educational institutions to go for a quality model. Responding to the stakeholders’ expectations and the government's regulations, most of the engineering institutions in India have implemented one or two of the quality management concepts in a bid to maintain quality in education. In compliance with the above, a comprehensive quality model called IEQMS (Integrated Educational Quality Management System) was developed incorporating the important dimensions from the following quality concepts. The quality concepts are ISO 9001:2008 Quality Management System, ISO 14001:2004 Environmental Management System, Occupational Health and Safety Management System, Six Sigma (Define–Measure–Analyse–Improve–Control [DMAIC] Methodology), Knowledge Management, Lean Thinking, and Total Quality Management. The objective of this paper is to evaluate the importance of the critical success factors in the implementation of the IEQMS model in Engineering Educational Institutions from the perspective of members of faculty. For this purpose, data were collected from 324 faculty members of engineering colleges in India through a structured, validated, and standardised questionnaire. The model fit was established by using the structural equation modelling technique. The findings of the research showed the goodness of the model fit.