Evaluation criteria for selected administrative and support systems in South African higher education institutions

Abstract

The aim of this research is to identify criteria for the evaluation of support systems applicable to public higher education institutions from a limited international and national perspective. The objectives of the research are to identify the criteria available from existing and related fields through a literature review and to validate the evaluation criteria using an empirical study. The existing literature describes the relevant academic processes, but very little has been written on criteria for evaluating support systems. The research for this study attempts to address this deficiency. The criteria from the Coetzee Model were used as a basis for this research and other models in the existing literature were also referred to, including the Baldrige National Quality Program for Education Criteria, ISO 9001:2000, European Foundation Quality Model and the South African Excellence Model. This research also draws on information deemed important by the Higher Education Quality Committee and the South African Qualifications Authority. Both qualitative and quantitative data collection methods were used in the investigation. The research instruments used included questionnaires and interviews. Questionnaires were distributed to all public universities, universities of technology, and one technikon in South Africa. The results of the study revealed that most respondents agreed with the generic criteria against which units should be evaluated; namely “leadership”, “strategic goals and performance indicators”, “resourcing and funding”, “policies and procedures” and “self-evaluation guidelines”. Statistical analysis was done on the criteria. The two main findings of the research showed that the first five generic criteria were valid and reliable and that there was good internal consistency among the items in each of these criteria, which confirms that the results were valid. It is recommended that for future research, the study should be expanded to support units in higher education not included in this study. The suitability of generic criteria and the development of further specific criteria should be determined. Quality-related arrangements for community engagement, where appropriate, should be adequately resourced and monitored for each unit. Once evaluations and surveys have been conducted on support units using the criteria, the process of benchmarking should be used for preventing potential problems and improving results.

KEYWORDS Administration, audit, core processes, criteria, customer, evaluation, higher education, key performance indicators, principles, quality, support processes, systems