Quality management in a Danish business school – A head of department perspective

Abstract

The global change in the dominant idea of public higher education from a social institution to an industry has had a dramatic influence on the way that universities are organised and managed. Focus on efficiency and effectiveness has led to increasing demand for performance measures. In Denmark the tendency has been the same and in this article we discuss the latest proposed set of performance measures from the Ministry of Science. The purpose is to use the measures to allocate resources across universities. But it is obvious that these performance measures will have important behavioural consequence both across faculties, departments and within departments at a university. We are focusing on these aspects in this article.

Keywords:

• higher education
• performance measures

Notes

1. In Denmark education is free, i.e. Danish universities are not allowed to charge students a tuition fee, unless they come from outside Europe.

2. http://www.ubst.dk/publikationer/undersogelse-af-arsager-til-frafald-blandt-ph-d-studerende/undersogelse-af-arsager-til-frafald-blandt-ph-d-studerende/?searchterm=None (in Danish, accessed March 19, 2008).

3. http://www.regjeringen.no/nb/dep/kd/dok/hoeringer/hoeringsdok/2006/Hoering-av-Sammen-om-Kunnskap- II-Operatsjo.html?id=98645 (in Norwegian, accessed March 19, 2008).