Critical issues for TQM implementation in higher education

While total quality management has been adopted by many organizations world‐wide, its implementation in non‐profit organizations, such as higher education institutions, presents more challenges and difficulties than those encountered in business organizations. A critical step in TQM implementation is the process of customer identification. In addition to customer identification, there are other issues such as leadership, cultural, and organizational issues that tend to create difficulties for TQM implementation in higher education. These issues along with the role of students from a quality perspective and performance measures for higher education are discussed, and suggestions are made for their resolution.