Perceptions about accreditation and quality management in Higher Education. Development of a Spanish-language questionnaire with a sample of academics from a private university

• Published in: Calidad en la educación 2020-12 (53), p.321-363
• Main Authors: González-Bravo, Luis, Stanciu, Dorin, Nistor, Nicolae, Castro, Bernardo, Puentes, Gonzalo, Valdivia, Maruzzella
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Accreditation; Acreditación; América Latina; Desarrollo de Escalas; Educación Superior; EDUCATION & EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH; Faculty Perceptions; Gestión de la Calidad; Higher Education; Latin America; Modelos de Ecuaciones Estructurales; Percepciones de Académicos; Quality Management; Scale Development; Structural Equation Modeling
• ISSN: 0717-4004; 0718-4565; 0718-4565
• DOI: 10.31619/caledu.n53.860

Quality improvement policies occupy a central place in higher education and represent important requirements for educational institutions in a globalized economy, and quality-related processes legitimacy is enhanced by the participation of academic community. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to develop and validate a Spanish-language scale intended to assess perceptions about the accreditation process and the quality management in Higher Education Institutions. Based on prior findings, and using a one-time, cross-sectional design, 339 academics across four Chilean major academic cities were surveyed. Using structural equation modeling, two solutions with adequate fit indices were found: a four-factor solution comprised of Institutional relevance of accreditation, Objectivity of accreditation evaluation, Internal Quality Unit relevance for accreditation, Value of accreditation to educational system, as main constructs, and a six-factors solution, which included two additional constructs, i.e., Continuous Quality Management value and Students’ participation value.The questionnaire developed in our research allows higher education institutions to objectively assess and quantify the benefits of quality management and accreditation. Its results are particularly pertinent for countries with Spanish as an official language, taking into account the importance of internationalization of higher education. Las políticas de mejoramiento de la calidad ocupan un lugar central en la educación superior y representan requisitos importantes para las instituciones educativas en una economía globalizada, en tanto que la legitimidad de los procesos relacionados con la calidad se ve reforzada por la participación de la comunidad académica. En consecuencia, el propósito de este estudio es desarrollar y validar una escala en castellano destinada a evaluar las percepciones sobre el proceso de acreditación y la gestión de la calidad en las Instituciones de Educación Superior. En base a hallazgos anteriores, y utilizando un diseño transversal en un solo momento en el tiempo, se encuestaron 339 académicos en cuatro ciudades académicas importantes de Chile. Utilizando el modelado de ecuaciones estructurales, se encontraron dos soluciones con índices de ajuste adecuados: una solución de cuatro factores que incluye Relevancia institucional de la Acreditación, Objetividad de la evaluación de acreditación, Relevancia de la Unidad de Calidad Interna para la acreditación, Valor de