Total Quality Management in the higher education sector: a literature review from an international and Australian perspective

In the past decade, much has been written about Total Quality Management (TQM) and Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI) in the manufacturing and healthcare industries; however, less attention has been paid to the application of these quality approaches in the higher education sector. This literature review will focus on higher education institutions in the US, UK and Australia to identify current quality management practices. The review, which will commence with the early TQM writings in higher education and proceed throughout the 1990s, will demonstrate that the degree of TQM development in education has not kept pace with that of TQM in the manufacturing and healthcare industries.