Abstract:

The relationship between quality assurance and human resources management in higher education institutions is the focus of this paper. Academics’ perception of drivers and barriers to quality assessment was analysed and the contribution of internal quality systems to a more effective human capital management is highlighted. Hence, all efforts to compare higher education institution with for profit institutions could be ineffective and pointless. To do so, academics’ perception of drivers and barriers to quality assessment will be analysed and discussed.

To explore Portuguese academics’ perceptions concerning higher education quality assessment, an online survey was used. The data collection tool was designed not only to assess perceptions of the implementation of quality assurance system in their own higher education institutions, but also to access their perceptions of the real impacts in terms of HRM. Academics would freely identify the factors that, according to them, contribute or inhibit quality assurance regarding the organic unit in their own higher education institution, and their respective impact in terms of human resources management. This methodological option was made on the grounds of a research paradigm that views language as a carrier of meanings and as a representation of reality. Hence, content analysis privileges the semantic approach over a syntactic one. Data analysis was performed via content analysis, using MaxQDA10. This statistical analysis software allowed us to codify documents, and to analyse and explore such codification.

According to the results, academics seem to consider that when they work as active players in the quality assurance processes, they tend to impact it positively, although they can still recognize that, in given situations, they act as barriers. Both internationalization and processes were identified as having a positive impact on quality. However, academics complain about the high bureaucracy involved in quality assessment, the lack of time to deal with its demands and, the deviation of their focus from the most important issues of academic life - teaching and research. The lack of financial and infrastructural resources was seen as real inhibitors of quality, such as the dismastment and continuous change of guidelines and government policies, as well as vested interests.

Keywords:

Quality, Academics, HRM in Higher Education Institutions, Perceptions, Quality Assurance.