A model for total quality management in higher education

Total quality management (TQM) is widely recognised as a management philosophy for improving customer satisfaction and organisational performance. However, there is no consensus over the critical success factors of TQM, in particular, in higher education (HE) and developing countries. Literature shows mixed results on the success and applicability of TQM principles in education, thus, underlining the need to revisit the application of TQM principles in HE. This paper identifies the critical success factors of TQM in Pakistani universities. Data was collected from faculty members of universities through questionnaires. The findings reveal that ‘leadership’, ‘vision’, ‘measurement and analysis’, ‘process control and evaluation’, ‘programs design and resources allocation’ and ‘stakeholder focus’ emerge as the critical success factors of TQM in HE. The findings have implications at macro, meso, and micro levels of HE.     

Measuring health expenditures and outcomes in saarc region: health is a luxury?

The objective of the study is to investigate the link between health care expenditures (HCE), economic growth and health outcomes (i.e., life expectancy (LE), infant mortality and the share of elderly people) for a panel of South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) countries; namely, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka; over the period of 1995–2010. The developed panel cointegration technique is employed for analysis of short and long-run relationship between the variables. The results of panel cointegration found that there is a long-run relationship between health expenditures, economic growth and health outcomes in SAARC region. The estimated results indicate that both, LE and share of elderly people in population have a negative relationship related to the HCEs which signifies that HCEs are luxury goods in SAARC countries. The burden of aging population can be lowered by provision of quality health services and utilization of their experience and knowledge in dynamics of economic development forecasting. Furthermore, there is no significant relationship found between infant mortality rate (IMR) and HCEs which implies that HCEs do not provide sufficient benefits to reduce infant mortality. Similarly, HCEs are not enough in generating GDP, lowering IMR and increasing LE in SAARC region. The implementation of appropriate tax reform, stable food prices and trade promotion for low transaction cost medical equipment is required for the SAARC region.     

Development banking and technological development: a case study of industrial development banks in the GCC countries

This article explores the important role of Industrial Development Banks in promoting the quality of technological development. It is argued that the historical experiences of the developed economies and several developing economies during recent times support the need and potentials of a more pro-active role by Industrial Development Banks. Against this background, the specific experiences of Industrial Development Banks in the Gulf Co-operation Council Countries are examined and the results of a select field survey are reported. This exploratory study suggests that some fundamental steps are needed in order to develop Industrial Development Banks from being comparatively passive conduits of technological aid to more active promoters of technological development.