The development of quality management in higher education institutions accredited under the Institutional Accreditation Program of the Turkish Higher Education Quality Council: a conformity score-based comparative analysis

Abstract

This study examines the development of quality management in higher education institutions accredited under the Institutional Accreditation Program (IAP) of the Turkish Higher Education Quality Council (THEQC) through the conformity score method. The sample consists of 28 higher education institutions that voluntarily participated in the study among institutions holding active full or conditional accreditation under the THEQC IAP as of the 2025 data collection period. The data were collected using the Higher Education Quality Management Conformity Scale, originally developed by Taştan (2021) and Taştan and Yılmaz (2022). After excluding 21 zero-variance items at the institution level, conformity scores were calculated using the remaining 43-item analytical set based on Özen’s (2000, 2002) method and converted to a 0–100 scale. The findings show that the overall mean conformity score was 77.00 (SD = 9.17), with scores ranging from 51.66 to 84.06. The mean conformity score of the fully accredited group (M = 79.65) was 5.29 points higher than that of the conditionally accredited group (M = 74.36), with a medium effect size (Cohen’s d = .592). The results indicate that quality management practices have become widely diffused across the higher education field, yet notable differences persist in the depth of normative conformity across institutions. Overall, the findings suggest that the THEQC system generates field-level homogenization, while the depth of institutionalization remains unevenly distributed among higher education institutions.