How quality as transformation is manifested and enabled in a student vision of an ideal university: implications for quality management in higher education

Abstract

The qualitative research study conducted in the Polish higher education context confirms that students’ vision of an ideal university strongly embraces the concept of quality as transformation. The enhancement and empowerment are manifested by multiple facets of transformation that the students look for at an ideal university, including intellectual, critical, personal, emotional and physical development. Quality culture and transformative pedagogies form important enablers for operationalising quality as transformation. In support of the transformative power of the ideal-type university, implications for quality management in higher education are proposed.

Keywords:

• Quality as transformation
• higher education
• university
• enhancement
• empowerment
• quality culture

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 S01–S64 are the anonymised codes representing the authors of particular student quotes.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by an internal grant from the Faculty of Economics and Sociology, University of Lodz.