Author(s): Sudhir Kumar Acharya, Biplab Kumar Biswal and Sudhansu Sekhar Nanda
To become a global leader, India must prioritize high-quality education. In pursuit of this goal, several Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) in India are adopting Total Quality Management (TQM) principles, as proposed by Malcolm Baldrige, to enhance their educational processes. These principles are being utilized in diverse ways to foster nation-building through education. However, a key area of debate is the extent to which TQM practices contribute to meeting the standards required for evaluation and accreditation by organizations such as the National Board of Accreditation (NBA) and the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC). This paper seeks to map the TQM vectors, based on the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award (MBNQA) criteria for the education sector, to the seven criteria established by the NAAC for assessing the quality of HEIs. The MBNQA criteria include key elements such as communication, teacher focus (empowerment and involvement), training and development, continuous improvement, management commitment and leadership, results and data analysis, process management, student focus, tangibles and technology, and community service. These are aligned with the NAAC's seven criteria: curricular aspects; teaching, learning, and evaluation; research, innovations, and extension; infrastructure and learning resources; student support and progression; governance, leadership, and management; and institutional values and best practices. This approach aims to establish a comprehensive framework for enhancing HEIs’ quality through the integration of TQM principles with NAAC standards. By reviewing the NAAC manual for various HEIs, including universities, autonomous colleges, and affiliated/constituent colleges, the authors developed a set of questions by aligning and mapping them to TQM quality vectors. The study's findings reveal a strong correlation between TQM vectors and the seven NAAC quality assessment criteria. Furthermore, the results indicate that HEIs implementing TQM principles are more likely to achieve higher ratings in NAAC accreditation, underscoring the effectiveness of TQM in enhancing institutional quality and meeting accreditation standards.