Quality Management in Education

Having considered the current situation of the Croatian educational system and the quality of all its individual components, we can’t help but notice that the awareness of the importance of education as a foundation for the growth and development of each country isn’t strong enough. Education quality is becoming increasingly important for those who are involved in it either directly or indirectly, and for those who use its services. Access to education and quality education are to be regarded as mutually dependent and indivisible needs and rights. This is primarily achieved by developing creativity, civic and democratic values, as well as by knowledge, abilities and skills needed for everyday and professional life. Basic education is not sufficient or complete, and therefore should be considered only as a basis for learning that needs to be used all life long. Lifelong learning for all has become one of the pillars of development. Quality management is a part of management aimed at achieving quality goals through planning, monitoring, assuring and improving quality. Involving all members of the organization brings us closer to total quality control (Total Quality Management, TQM). Efficient Total quality management system in organization can facilitate quickly challenge in word market. Total quality management realize target and mission in education of young generation. TQM upgrade management quality and quality of work in education institute in general. The key points for the improvement of education are scientific and technological development, social changes and organizational changes. Education efficiency and success don’t depend just on quantity but as well on quality. The quality indicator system of education, as well as the criteria related to the quality indicators help schools to identify the crucial areas of their activities - their own advantages, disadvantages and development opportunities.quality, quality management, total quality management, educational system, quality indicators

The Seventh EU Enlargement and Beyond: Pre-Accession Policy vis-à-vis the Western Balkans Revisited

The accession of Croatia to the European Union is yet another milestone in the history of EU enlargements. After seven enlargement rounds the membership has increased from the original six founding countries to twenty-eight Member States. Many claim, quite rightly, that the enlargement policy is the most successful of the EU’s foreign policy tools. Even those who bring this bold argument into doubt have to agree that, when contrasted with other external policies, and the European Neighbourhood Policy in particular, the overall balance sheet of the enlargement policy is positive. The accession of Croatia is symbolic in a number of ways. As argued in this article, it closes one big chapter in the history of EU enlargements but, at the same time, opens another. Croatia is – most likely – the last country to join the EU this decade. After a sometimes painful pre-accession process, it has proved to be a ‘success story’ of the stabilisation and asso-ciation process. As the European Commission claims, it is living proof that the raison d’être and mechanics of the policy employed vis-à-vis the Western Balkans have their merits. However, a quick look into the future proves that the next enlargements will be far more complicated affairs. The current list of candidates and potential candidates is a mix of a heavyweight (Turkey) and the Western Balkan countries, all struggling to meet the fundamental prerequisites for a democracy based on the rule of law. Failure to comply with the Copenhagen criteria, together with a dwindling appetite for further enlargement among some Member States, create a rather dangerous mix. This article argues that following recent enhancements to the pre-accession policy, further improvements are necessary to make future expansions of the European Union possible. If only from the geopolitical perspective, this is in the joint interest of the European Union, its Member States and the countries of the Western Balkans

A research study on emotional adjustment of a spouse following stroke

This research project focuses on age as a predictor in the emotional adjustment of a spouse following his/her partner\u27s stroke. The medical records of 80 stroke cases were reviewed at Kaiser Permanente Medical Center, Fontana, California. Patients and spouses were examined in two age groupings, age 55 and below, and ages 56 and above. Study of these two age groups afforded the most meaningful division to study spouse adjustment

Why Information Systems Development Projects are Always Late

Information systems development projects (ISD) are characterized by high rates of failure and escalation. To address this concern, in this paper a novel explanation for the poor performance is developed, which explores the influence two variables: task variance and task dependence. The findings suggest that the improvement in performance has been slow because of the interactive effect of the two variables driving both the level of, and variance in, performance. To address this problem, the paper concludes with a number of practical suggestions