States that quality of university education has recently become a subject of major concern. The job market is getting tighter, and even a degree from a reputable university does not guarantee employment in the area of the student’s expertise any more. Students, their families, employers and...

Since they were introduced internationally in 1987, ISO 9000 standards have been criticized for their lack of flexibility, emphasis on bureaucracy and paperwork, deficiency in quality improvement, usefulness of application in small businesses and service organizations, confusing terminology and...

Quality audits are prominent and proven management tools for assessing compliance and effectiveness of quality systems. They are commonly used in the effort to improve overall business performance. However, similarly to any other physical or conceptual system, they may fail to achieve objectives...

ISO 9001 and ISO 9004 were created as a “consistent pair” of standards so that businesses that wanted to exceed the requirements of 9001 could use the principles of 9004 to move towards business excellence. In this paper, opinions from Canadian quality standardization experts were used to...

Purpose – To analyze the changes in the perceived benefits of ISO 9000 with the passage of time. Design/methodology/approach – An empirical survey of 399 companies conducted in 2002 in Catalonia (region of Spain). Findings – ISO 9001: 2000 registered organizations report benefits to a...

This paper addresses the implementation of ISO 9000 international standards in the university environment, and presents examples of developing a quality system based on these standards in a Canadian university department. The application is based on a holonic systems concept, which is first...