Total Quality Improvement in the Classroom

Abstract

This paper is a case study of the application of total quality improvement (TQI) to an undergraduate economics course to promote learning outcomes. Though there is world‐wide discourse on quality in higher education, infusing TQI into instruction has received little attention. Most of the quality movement in higher education focuses on improving management. The challenge for a lecturer is to use TQI to help students develop their potential. TQI in teaching has three major principles:

1. customer focus, represented by the learning outcomes (competences);

2. student involvement, represented by team research projects to create knowledge; and

3. continuous improvement, represented by evaluations of the course and teaching carried out by a student team.

While some attention goes to the team activities, we concentrate on the development of multiple evaluations to assess the effectiveness of the exercise. The evaluations indicate strong student satisfaction with the TQI‐orientation of the course, with suggestions for improvement.