Abstract
The merger of Higher Education Institutions
(HEI’s) has created monolithic organisations of inefficiency and
ineffectiveness in administrative and academic processes. It was
the result of mismatched and outdated processes inherited from
merged institutions. The student or customer is deprived of a
quality service by the unwieldy processes. The end users of the
product from the HEI’s are uncertain of the quality of the
finished product that would be employable. Employers measure
qualified students to certain quality standards. In the past-two
decades industry realized to remain competitive, continuous
improvement became imperative for success. HEI’s is not
excluded from competitive pressures. The debate currently
raging is whether total quality management (TQM) principles
could be applied in HEI’s. The methodology of TQM has been
utilized in industry over an extended period of time with
impressive results. A major obstacle in applying TQM in HEI’s
is the argument that there are environmental differences
between industry and HEI’s. The aim of the article is to find
common ground between industry and HEI’s. The above could
be achieved by tailoring the major features and potentialities of
basic TQM principles and guidelines to fit HEI’s.