How to ensure the quality of a Higher Education Institution and why it is so important?
The broad answer is a “skilled workforce” coming from the university. The quality of one’s life is correlated in many ways by the quality of education that one has. Today, many more adults are going back to school for many different reasons, but the common denominator for most is a more secure job with a brighter career path. Many of these students are adults who are eager to learn new skills and they demand results. Within the Higher Ed realm, adult learners are demanding the quality that the institutions are promising and thus the institutions must deliver to this new and increasing clientele who also tend to learn differently from the traditional age college student and require flexibility. Schools need to enhance the quality of its delivery of goods through accountability, improvements, transparency and innovation.
Higher Education Institutions today need to compete for visibility, funding, and partnerships to ensure that they stay competitive in the market. Institutions are a business and the product they are delivering is an education. Just like any other business, the goal is to deliver goods to whomever is buying in Higher Ed, and the students are the buyers.
What is the value of an institution and how is it measured? For Higher Ed, it is graduation rates, degree production, credit accumulation, as well as educated citizens who are successful in the job market thus fostering the reputation of the institution. When companies recruit for students on a campus, it is usually because they have hired a student from that institution previously, who has excelled in their company, helping the company to grow. The company then hires more students and it grows more, to the point where other companies are noticing. The competitors will then look to see where this pool of highly skilled workers are coming from, and recruit at that school themselves. Advertisement for the University will speak for itself by the product that is delivered.