A Framework for Design, Development, and Delivery of High Quality On-Line Higher Education Program in the U.s Using Six Sigma Approach

INTRODUCTIONOur nation's institutions of higher education are continuously seeking creative ways to offer high education to our growing adult students by managing the ever increasing costs under constant pressure of public criticism and cut in private and public funding with very little success. A recent survey revealed that 93% of the American public agreed with the proposition that an universities are among the most valuable resources in the U.S (Gilbertson, 2004). On the other hand, funding for higher education has been continuously dwindling and loosing priority and public support due to intense desire of tax payers for immediate tax relief. Consequently, there has been efforts to raise income by such measures such as fund raising campaigns, seeking endowment and alumni support and unfair tuition rate hikes. While taking cost cutting measures such as hiring freeze, not even replacing retiring faculty and staff with new ones, increasing faculty loads and even increasing class size and teaching classes with part-time lesser qualified faculty and graduate students. These traditional common income raising and cost cutting measures eventually lowers the quality of our higher in the long run, Since there is now quick fix of this long term problem unless academic administration's traditional old fashion easy going attitude and bureaucratic management approaches are replaced by innovative and aggressive management approaches such as Quality Function Deployment (QFD), Six Sigma Quality Management, and Lean Service Management (LSM), many of our nation's institutions of higher education will soon run bankrupt and our nation will face a major crisis in the coming decades.Literature reviewBok (2006) stated that up to the Civil War, American colleges and universities were linked to religious institutions. The curriculum was generally restricted to mathematics, logic, English, and classical literatures (with Latin and Greek). The other emphasis was on behavioral and social issues. But after the Civil War, a number of reforms started modifying the curriculum, and in 1900 and majors or specializations in various areas such as literature, mathematics, and behavioral science, was made available to students. By the end of World War II, the introduction of the G.I. Bill led to an emphasis on preparing students for job market He also mentioned that in the development of curriculum, there was an emphasis in measuring only easily measureable outcomes. Unfortunately, many outcomes were not easily measurable (Bok. D., 206. p. 59).Mac Taggart (2011) addressing the president of universities and colleges, and their governing boards, suggested the following five changes in their campaign which should use quality principles for design and delivery of their education programs Change goals to appeal all stakeholders (policy makers, opinion leaders, and the public)1. Develop communications program for presenting the initiatives as positive2. Engage internal stakeholders (campus executives and faculty)for development and delivery of programs.3. Set up units with different missions for contributing to change in different ways.4. Develop and implement quantitative measures for outcomes5. Establish close relationships between the governing board and the executive leadership. (MacTaggart, 2011, p. 119).Nica, E,(2013 noted that leadership of institutions of higher education has been becoming more and more difficult task as the environment is changing rapidly and the issue of program reform has been becoming more and more complex. He also added that leadership had generally been coming from below and from faculty with aspiration for academic leadership. He suggested that faculty with strong reputations should advocate for high standards of programs and emphasize high level of scholarship. He also reported that while academic leadership has an indirect influence on student achievements and it is the faculty who has been the primary driving force in design and delivery of higher education programs (Nica, E,2013, p. …