Abstract:

Faced with new contexts and technological innovation, combined with the growing demands of internal and external stakeholders, Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) are challenged daily to promote and consolidate a culture of quality transversal to all areas of activity, in increasing change and continuous improvement, supported by a quality policy and objectives, which must be formally defined and widely publicized.

The promotion of quality, as well as the search for continuous improvement in all dimensions of an organization, can be guaranteed through the implementation of management systems. These make it possible to make organizations more efficient and optimized through the establishment of a set of organizational procedures, policies and objectives, processes, responsibilities, communication channels and action plans, developing solutions in line with the needs and expectations of interested parties, enhancing the increase of their satisfaction level.

In the existing literature there is little analysis and reflection on the construction for the development of the external quality monitoring system and the extension of the quality systems of the institutions themselves.

This research work aims to carry out an exploratory study, through the identification and comparison of the typologies of quality management systems between public HEIs in Portugal.

In particular, understand whether public HEIs are certified by the A3ES Internal Quality Assurance System only, or whether they have other types of certification, national or international (for example ISO) aggregated or disaggregated from the first.

It is also intended to assess how Certifications of Internal Assurance and Quality Management Systems, among other national and international ones, impact the image of the HEI and its training offers, namely in increasing the recruitment of new students, or in public image of the IES.

Finally, an analysis will be made of the degree of access to information related to this topic, namely by verifying public information made available by HEI capable of responding to the needs of internal stakeholders, but in particular external ones.

The research methodology will include literature review and content analysis through online research, namely documentation associated with the quality management systems of Portuguese public HEIs and their comparison with HEIs of the European System. Recommendations and actions to be carried out in HEIs will tentatively be set out to improve the perception and coverage of systems for all interested parties.

Keywords:

Higher Education, Quality, Accreditation and Certification, Internal Quality Assurance and Management Systems.