This paper presents the results of a systematic literature review showing how the literature on quality management (QM) in higher education (HE) has evolved. As a first contribution, this work presents a systematic breakdown of research in the field of HE quality management. Its second and most innovative contribution is its coverage of the process of introducing quality management into institutions’ global management systems. Theoretically, we believe this second point to be a general trend in the evolution of the quality management literature, and empirically it represents a trend for quality management principles and practices in governance and management systems of higher education institutions (HEIs). The literature was analysed by distinguishing three main levels in HEIs: a process level, an organisational level, and, since our focus is specifically on the field of quality management, a quality management principles level. Overall, this paper concludes that integration at the three levels of analysis is strong. Moreover, we were able to identify a trend towards the development of holistic and comprehensive quality management approaches both in conceptual and empirical research studies.

Quality assurance is currently an established activity in Europe, driven either by national quality assurance agencies or by institutions themselves. However, whether quality assurance is perceived as actually being capable of promoting quality is still a question open to discussion. Based on three different views on quality derived from the literature – quality as culture, as compliance and as consistency – the current article sheds light on this issue by identifying the main obstacles to quality as perceived by Portuguese academics. The analysis reveals that academics tend to see those obstacles as essentially related to the view of quality as culture and especially with its structural component, including the design and functioning of institutional governance and management. Although this may indeed correspond to the Portuguese higher education institutions’ reality, one must not forget that academics tend to have a poor knowledge about the structural frames that are embedded in governance and management. By highlighting obstacles related to different views on quality, this study may serve as a base to the development of more effective quality assurance mechanisms.

Purpose: Quality 4.0 is being presented as the new stage of quality development. However, its overlying concept and rationale are still hard to define. To better understand what different authors and studies advocate being Quality 4.0, a systematic literature review was undertaken on the topic. This paper presents the results of such review, providing some avenues for further research on quality management.Design/methodology/approach: The documents for the systematic literature review have been searched on the Scopus database, using the search equation: [TITLE-ABS-KEY (“Quality 4.0”) OR TITLE-ABS-KEY (Quality Management” AND (“Industry 4.0” OR “Fourth Industr*” OR i4.0))]. Documents were filtered by language and by type. Of the 367 documents identified, 146 were submitted to exploratory content analysis.Findings: The analyzed documents essentially provide theoretical discussions on what Quality 4.0 is or should be. Five categories have emerged from the content analysis undertaken: Industry 4.0 and the Rise of a New Approach to Quality; Motivations, Readiness Factors and Barriers to a Quality 4.0 Approach; Digital Quality Management Systems; Combination of Quality Tools and Lean Methodologies and Quality 4.0 Professionals.Research limitations/implications: It was hard to find studies reporting how quality is actually being managed in organizations that already operate in the Industry 4.0 paradigm. Answers could not be found to questions regarding actual practices, methodologies and tools being used in Quality 4.0 approaches. However, the research undertaken allowed to identify in the literature different ways of conceptualizing and analyzing Quality 4.0, opening up avenues for further research on quality management in the Industry 4.0 era.Originality/value: This paper offers a broad look at how quality management is changing in response to the affirmation of the Industry 4.0 paradigm.