Quality management in postgraduate education: An application in Social Sciences Institute of University of Inonu

Development of a country, its ability to produce products and services of quality is possible only through a good educational system. Many universities are very much interested in measuring and improving the quality of education and increasing the students? satisfaction with the education that they get. If the quality is not measured, it cannot be managed or improved. This study underlines the basic factors determining the quality of the postgraduate education and their relationships with some other variables and their level of importance. This research has considered the quality management?s relation to education both academically and administratively and mostly focused on universities in general and on institutes in specific. In the first part of this study, an explanation on the basic concepts of quality management and higher education is presented to the reader. In the second part, the relationship between factors determining the quality of the postgraduate education and other variables is uncovered.In this research, data that are discovered by survey method has been used. Survey population consists of students who are getting their master?s degree and doctorate in Social Sciences Institute of University of Inonu in 2012. Derived from the literature the five factors, composing the quality of postgraduate education has been confirmed with this research. In this study, it has been demonstrated that satisfactory results could be achieved by applying quality management models in postgraduate education. The most comprehensive approach to the education quality is the ?system approach.? Education quality can only be achieved by high quality in administrative processes. The quality of the inputs and the process is reflected by the quality of the output. The output of the education is the result of the value added input. Academic success is a generally accepted measure of the educational quality.This model, designed by system approach, is presented as the ?Factors Determining The Quality Of The Postgraduate Education? and provides guidance to the administrative activities to reach high quality in postgraduate education. It is expected that the factors determining the quality of the postgraduate studies will be highly recognized other institutions. By means of the evaluation method provided, the academic institutions providing graduate studies evaluate themselves and improve their educational quality via results derived from these evaluations. With this research, a model is portrayed which could be further developed in the area of quality management in postgraduate studies. It?s been found out that there is insufficient number of researches questioning the quality management in postgraduate education. In conclusion, it is suggested that further researches in the area of quality management in postgraduate education at a national level should be done.