Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to develop a holistic understanding of quality in higher
education which reveals the current debates about accreditation or quality process standards as
insufficient, and to propose an enhanced model for quality culture in educational organisations.
Design/methodology/approach – The conceptual framework is based on relevant research in the
field of quality development for education, and integrates it with a series of previously published
works related to quality methodologies, quality literacy and quality as a multidimensional concept.
Quality is approached from an educational science perspective, and is understood as a relationship
among all the participants and resources of an educational scenario.
Findings – The paper establishes the foundation for a comprehensive understanding and analysis of
quality culture in organisations, focussing on higher education. While this understanding of quality as
part of the organisational culture seems to gain more importance there is still a lack of fundamental
research and conceptual understanding of the phenomenon in itself. Quality development in higher
education is often limited to bureaucratic documentation, and disregards the development of quality as
an organisation’s holistic culture. However, there is a need to focus on promoting a quality culture
which is enabling individual actors to continuously improve their educational practice.
Originality/value – The original value of the paper is to approach quality development in higher
education from an organisation’s cultural perspective. When the conceptual foundations for empirical
research are worked out, the professionals can benefit by understanding the interrelated nature of
educational quality and organisational culture in higher education institutions.
Keywords Quality culture, Higher education, Quality, Education, Quality management,
Organizational culture
Paper type Conceptual paper