A Methodology to Improve Higher Education Quality using the Quality Function Deployment and Analytic Hierarchy Process

Abstract

In order to formulate an effective strategic plan in a customer-driven education context, it is important to recognize who the customers are and what they want. Using Quality Function Deployment (QFD), this information can be translated into strategies to achieve customer satisfaction. Since the final strategic plan relies heavily on the way QFD is used, this paper will first describe the existing problems in its use and then propose a better way to improve it. In this paper, the customers are divided into two major parties, namely, the internal and the external customer. The internal customer comprises of the lecturers and the students, while the external customer is the employers of the graduates. After collecting the Voice of Customer (VOC), the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) technique was employed to generate the priorities of the VOC for each group of customers. Then, the results were used as the input for formulating strategies or Quality Characteristics (QCs) to meet the Demanded Qualities (DQs) using QFD. A simple case study is provided to demonstrate the usefulness of the methodology. A sensitivity analysis was also conducted to anticipate the changes in the DQs that will affect the output of the QFD. This is useful for providing a better strategic planning for the education institution to meet the future needs of its customers.

Keywords:

• Quality of education
• quality function deployment
• internal customer
• external customer
• analytic hierarchy process
• sensitivity analysis
• future needs of customers

Acknowledgement

This research is partially supported by funding from Centre for Design Technology, National University of Singapore.