ISO 9001 and EFQM Model: a good approach for Higher Education Institutions?

The evaluation of higher education in Portugal, similarly to what happens in most European countries is not a new topic, deserving, however, particularly relevance with the implementation of the Bologna guidelines. The Agency for Assessment and Accreditation of Higher Education (A3ES) is the organization responsible for conducting the assessment of Portuguese higher education. Parallel with the evaluation and accreditation of study cycles, and to simplify this task, A3ES proposes the adoption and possible certification of Internal Quality Assurance Systems (IQAS) for the Higher Education Institutions (HEI). At a time where the assessment and accreditation of study cycles is at cruising speed and whose procedures have been appropriated by HEI, it is important to understand how these institutions are responding to the assessment and accreditation requirements of their study cycles and how they see the A3ES guidelines for the implementation of the IQAS.
With the implementation of these systems, the Agency, seeks that HEI integrate in their organizational culture, cyclical assessment practices that can trigger continuous improvement actions. Since, in essence, these systems share the principles that support the ISO 9001 standard and the EFQM Excellence Model, one can raise the question: in what way the ISO 9001 standard and the EFQM Model can contribute for quality management and integration of the Internal Quality Assurance Systems in the organizational culture of the Higher Education Institutions?
This study, involving representative institutions of Portuguese higher education, universities and polytechnic institutes, public and private, intends to list a set of practices of quality assessment developed and employed in Quality Management Models, such as ISO 9001 standard and EFQM Excellence Model that can contribute to an easiest implementation of IQAS.

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Higher Education, International Quality Assurance Systems, ISO 9001, EFQM.