Higher Education Institutions : Perspectives, Opportunities and Challenges

In the opening chapter the authors investigate and present the concept of internal quality assurance system implementation maturity, aiming to analyse the existing theoretical underpinnings on how maturity can be understood and approached in terms of an internal quality assurance system. Some pathways available to the higher education institutions towards the assessment of needs and the improvement of course planning, curriculum design and student guidance systems are discussed. An empirical study is presented seeking to validate the structure of total quality management construct with an objective of identifying the current total quality management practices employed as perceived by the staff of Islamic University in Uganda. The penultimate chapter focuses on a deeper understanding of the efficiency measurement and its determinants of the higher education institutions of Spain. The aim of the closing chapter is to explore the influence of a university environment on entrepreneurial activities of students and alumni in the post-Soviet context.