الملخص الإنجليزي
The purpose of this study was to investigate how to use the Total Quality Management(TQM) Approach in developing Postgraduate Studies Administration(PSA) at Sultan Qaboos University(SQU).More specifically, the study aimed at answering the following questions: . What are the theoritical principles of TQM and its implementation requirements in PSA at SQU? 2. What are the strengths and weaknesses in PSA at SQU? 1. What is the proposed vision for the TQM system for PSA at SQU? The system approach was used in this study .In order to answer the first question of the study , the researcher analyzed the relevant literature and found out that the significant TQM principles are: stakeholder satisfaction and commitment to continuous improvement. Moreover, the most significant TQM requirements in PSA at SQU were : the availability of leadership which can develop and disseminate the quality culture to the workers and adapt the zero-defect philosophy and seeing every process as a part of the whole system. The sample of the study composed of 82 academic members and 300 postgraduate students. The mean, the standard deviation and the rank were calculated to identify the strengths and weaknesses of the PSA at SQU. The main findings of field study were: the significant strengths were the postgraduate students are provided with the up-to-date knowledge relevant to the Omani society's needs, standards for students' admission are defined and clear and the postgraduate programmes make use of the latest development in science and technology. On the other hand the significant weaknesses were the postgraduate students are not encouraged to use self instruction, communication between postgraduate students and supervisors is not smooth and the available technological aids are not used to make the learning and teaching process more effective. In order to establish a vision of the TQM system of PSA at SQU , the researcher had an interview with 11 experts of PSA and TQM. According to the interveiw results and the literature review and the field study results, the research has developed a proposed vision for the TQM system for PSA at SQU.The system consists of three elements: the objectives, the administrative systems and the academic and research programmes. The researcher had also defined 5 stages for system application techniques. They are the preparation stage, the planning stage, the formative evaluation stage, the implementation stage and the final evaluation stage.
