INTRODUCTION

Quality is the necessary for higher education institutions in term of performance assessment particularly by stakeholders. However, the assessment of higher education high quality management based on the perception. The stakeholder’s perception based on how they have identified and interpret the information presented by higher education institution through the establish platform and the sharing among the industry players.

Quality is one of the main requirements for the assessment of the higher education institutions performance. This is one of the approaches where the stakeholders are going to assess the performance and functions of every higher education institutions to ensure that they serve purpose of the formation of each institution. This quality criteria and requirements are being determined by their community of higher education institutions within the industry. One of the process of assessment that is happening in high education assessment is based on the perceptions.

So, by the way, perception is the process where their stakeholders are going to identify and interpret the information that they are going to gather from the higher education institutions platform of which this is going to be shared to the community. And this perception of management is very important in the process because it is going to determine how the stakeholders are going to judge the high education institutions either they would consider them as has been performing according to what they expect or not and also in term of the achievement that the organization are supposed achieve to serve to the community, the industry and the country.

QUALITY STANDARDS IN HIGHER EDUCATION

In term of content, there are certain discipline or programme standard that is being determined by the industry, by the sector, by the academic standardization authority to make sure that every degree that are going to be issued or that going to be conducted or that is going to be offered by the higher education institutions supposed to be able to achieve to certain level of quality standards to make sure that those who are going to undergo the academic system and the teaching and learning of the programme will deserve a certain level of degree,  qualification either at the level of the undergraduate or postgraduate. This is also going to be divided by the discipline for example in the discipline of the business management, engineering, pure science, medical discipline and other examples. These academic programme standard is determine not only by a local authority but also the standard being determine at international level because of the academic discipline are going to monitor at the global level as though that the qualifications that going to be issued by a particular higher education institution are going to be recognized at international level as well for example for the purpose of the employment and also for the purpose of the further study. So, the recognition of quality standards for every academic programme is very important for the graduates to make sure that when they leave the university or higher education institutions, the certificate that they are going to carry is going to be worth it or going to be recognized by the industry for the purpose of employment and also for the purpose of higher education institutions wherever the graduates want to apply for further study either locally or internationally. So, this is where the perception of the quality academic standards supposed to be intact or in place to make sure that the higher education institutions who are going to offer a particular programme are going to be monitored, audited, accredited as and when they have achieved the expected or required quality standards.

QUALITY OF ACADEMIC DELIVERY SYSTEM

The other aspect of the teaching and learning is the delivery system.  This would include the availability of the resources including the academic human resources, the infrastructure and support system and also the availability of financial strength or capability of the higher education institutions. This is very important to make sure that the higher education institutions are capable of and be able to deliver the content of the academic programme effectively and successfully to make sure that the students are be able to graduate with the right quality conducive environment and they are being equipped by the required support system and infrastructure to make sure that they are be able to achieve the expected level of learning outcomes either the course learning or the programme learning outcomes. So, these two aspects of the quality of the content and the quality of the delivery system will ensure that the stakeholders in this case including the students, parents and also the higher education institutions monitoring system will have the right perception that higher education institution has achieved. the required quality standards for them to be able to function as academic institutions to offer a particular degree programme.

QUALITY PERSPECTIVE IN RESEARCH AND CONSULTANCY

The other significant aspect of the academic activity of higher education institutions is on the research and consultancy activities. As far as the research activities, this is the main activities that would ensure the scholarly research activities are being conducted to make sure that the academic staff including the researchers within the high education institutions are actually working towards exploring the frontier of knowledge within the particular area of research within the particular discipline of research. In ensuring quality in the research, there are several aspects that also are going to influence the perception of the stakeholders which includes the process of research delivery and research process are supposed to go to a particular procedure, requirement and also methodology. Another aspect of quality research is at the end of day, it is related to the process of publication where the reviewed articles which is derived from the output of any particular research process are going to be reviewed, are going to be assess through a particular editorial board to ensure that only a quality piece of the research output are going to be published for the purpose of general reference and further research.

Meanwhile, another aspect of quality perception in research is about the impact of the research in term of academic value or the commercialization of the research output. So, in term of commercialization of the research input is going to influence the activities beyond the research which is how much the research output are going to be able to bring an economic return to interested parties in this case including the industry. So, any product that are be able to being produce from a research, they are be able to commercialize that would indicate that the products are well accepted by the market are be able to reduce for the purpose of customers or general public utility and also are be able to provide return or sales to the industry or the businesses.

INDUSTRY AND COMMUNITY PERCEPTION TOWARDS HIGHER EDUCATION

And another aspect of why it is required influenced the perception of the industry because this will determine the grant or the sponsorship that can be derived from the investment decisions of the industry. Higher education institutions supposed to be able to attract or convince the industry to invest in their research activities when they are be able to prove that the research outputs are be able to provide good return in the industry for them to invest in the research activities to be conducted by the higher education institutions.

Another aspect of the research output that will determine by the quality of this process is also on its impact to the community. Research output is also supposed to be able to benefit the community in the way that the research outputs are supposed to be standard to the community so that they can lead the better life in term of education, in term of their social livelihood and also in term of their life daily activities.

And this is also are going to be supported by the government because the social well-being of the society is part of the responsibility of the government. So, in this case, the perception of the quality research is going to be determined by the performance of each research academic activities of higher education institutions to convince the government to provide grant for the research activities so that at the end of the day, the outputs of the research activities are going to benefit the community, the society and also the country as what this is also be the responsibility of the government. So, that is the perspective of quality to the industry, society and the government.

QUALITY OF RELATED SUPPORT SERVICES

Another aspect of the quality perception is also reflected on the non-academic activities on the higher education institutions. One of the aspects of the non-academic activities of higher education institutions includes the service and the system that is provided by the universities. The non-academic activities of higher education institutions would include the well-being of the students in the campus within the university activities which includes accommodation of the student’s activities, which includes the food facilities of the students, transportation of the students and also the extra-curricular activities of the students when they are in the campus. So, the welfare of the students will include the student’s financial assistance and also the safe environment that is going to be assured by the higher education institutions whenever the students are in the campus. As far as accommodation is concern either the students are going to pay for the accommodation or the accommodation are going to provide as free by higher education institutions or the available accommodation supposed to be provided by the higher education institutions around the campus for students to choose which are most convenient and affordable accommodation for them to stay in the campus or around the campus while they are studying at the universities.

HIGHER EDUCATION BEYOND ACADEMICS

Extra-curricular activities are considered as necessity for the student’s activities because that would provide the soft skills and also the quality of the life of students when they are in the campus. In most higher education institutions, extra-curricular activities are being included as one of the course requirements for the students to graduate because that would consider the holistic perspective of student's quality when they are going to graduate for a particular institution. The non-academic activities which is extra-curricular activities that students supposed to be made compulsory to go through would ensure that the quality of the graduates are being evaluated not only based on their academic achievement but also the graduates are going to be assess in term of their soft skills that supposed to be reflected by their attitude, their leadership, quality and also their communication skills. So, it is the responsibility of the higher education institutions to provide convenient environment so that the students are be able to develop all of these required qualities of graduates to make sure that they are be able to compete in the employment market as this are also the soft skills required by the potential employers.

Another aspect of the student’s well-being is in term of their safety and security. The aspect of safety is very important for the student’s livelihood in the campus because they want to make sure that within the period they are staying in the campus, there are no harmful activities that are going to affect their safety. And the aspect of security would also include the information security when they supposed to be able to make sure that all of their personal information are well capped and make sure that they are be able to graduate from the universities with all their information are also will be capped secured by the higher education institutions.

INTEGRATED SCOPE OF HIGHER EDUCATION FUNCTIONS

So other aspects of non-academic aspect of quality perception towards higher education institutions is on the resources and infrastructure. The aspect of resources would include the human resources. This will determine the capability of higher education institutions to offer a quality academic programme based on the competency of their academic staff.  So, there are certain requirements to make sure that higher education institutions are providing the right benefits and conditions and also the congenial environment to their academic staff to make sure that they are be able to develop their competencies and also to stand their knowledge within their discipline and expertise and also be able to develop their career to the higher level from time to time.

Another significant aspect of quality of academic activities requirement of higher education institutions are in term of the technology and infrastructure which is very much at the moment based on the utilities that is provided including the IT systems. It is always categorized as the fundamental infrastructure that is going to be the basic requirements of any higher education institutions is the information technology infrastructure which includes the hardware which is the computer hardware and also the cabling infrastructure and also the software which includes the system programme and application that is developed by the higher education institutions. One of the fundamental infrastructures that is required to determine quality delivery of academic programme is the learning management system (LMS). Every higher education institution supposed to develop their own LMS to make sure that the academic activities are not going to be affected and also with the current situation of Industrial Revolution 4.0, the requirement of academic application on internet and also artificial intelligence, the requirement of technology infrastructure is no more an option. This will determine the quality of higher education institutions on their ability to deliver the academic programme successfully and effectively make sure that the quality of the learning content are supposed to be able to be delivered with the expected by the programme learning outcomes and the programme educational goals of the institutions.

HIGHER EDUCATION INSTITUTION IMAGE

Finally, another factors that would influence the quality perception of higher education institution is on their accreditation and recognition. The reputation of the higher education institutions is based on certain aspect including the accreditation of the higher education institutions, the promotion activities of higher education institutions and also the scholarly contribution of the higher education institutions in the perspective of their stakeholders. On the ranking and rating exercise of the higher education institutions, this is also one of fundamental thing that supposed to be achieved by higher education institutions to make sure that the institutions are being recognized and approved up to the certain quality standards nationally and also internationally.

The accreditation will convince their stakeholders the higher education institutions as provided of all the quality requirements and being audited and also being monitored by certain agencies of qualification who are responsible to issue the accredited certificate. So, in term of the scholarly contribution of the higher education institutions, this is also supposed to be govern by certain body or agencies to make sure that the academic contribution of the higher education institutions including the publication and also the contribution in the conferences has achieved the quality standards as they have been recognized by editorial board or reviewers. So, in term of the quality of the publication of higher education institutions has been considered as the main criteria to determine the reputation of the higher education institutions within the discipline or within the higher education sector itself.

BUILDING THE INSTITUTIONAL REPUTATION

Another factors that will influence the quality reputation of the higher education institutions is their promotional activities of the institution itself. So, the promotional activities including how the universities are communicating and interacting with their stakeholders including their students, industry, community and also the government. This somehow will determine the image of the higher education institutions and also for them to promote their reputation and achievement so that the information that going to be shared to the required audience are being verified as the correct information to be reflect the actual reputation of the higher education institutions.

The higher education institutions also supposed to be able to promote their extension activities and their knowledge sharing activities to the community will make sure that whatever their function is not only focus internally within the campus but their activities are also going to benefit and involves the community around the institutions. So finally, the perception of the stakeholders on the quality performance of the higher education institutions is very important to make sure that the higher education institutions are be able to portray the right image of the institution as what is it expected by their stakeholders. And the quality perception would influence the judgement of those entities to make sure that they are always being regard as the important institutions to the community, industry and country as a whole.