TQM In Higher Education: The Australian And Swedish Experience

Institutions of higher education now operate in a global marketplace and, as a result, compete for both scarce resources and research funds within a market that is fast reaching maturity. Alongside of this 'globalisation' and saturated market is the increasing emphasis placed on the concept of quality and its impact on the providers of education programs. The aim of this paper is threefold: firstly, to look at the concept and meaning of the internationalisation of higher education; secondly, to explore the issues of quality in the higher education sector and their relationship to the internationalisation process; and, finally, to provide an overview of quality assurance systems within the Australian and Swedish higher education sector.