Quality assurance in education

Quality Control and Quality Assurance principles were introduced in manufacturing industry as early as in the 1940 - 50's, and have since been developed to include all activities in any business. In the last decade the Quality Assurance principles have been adopted in a number of public services such as colleges and universities. Recently stringent quality requirements have been put forward towards colleges and universities throughout Norway. These quality demands come from a number of national and international governing bodies such as the Ministry of Education and, specifically for Maritime Academies, IMO (International Maritime Organization). In connection to what is mentioned above the objective of the work carried out has been to find a way to efficiently monitor and develop the quality of the education. It is considered beneficial to approach this problem by analysing the academic organization as a whole, using organizational development as a tool to pinpoint areas of improvement. At the end of the day we want even better and more professional graduates to enter the labour marked from our college.