COST-BENEFIT ANALYSIS ON ISO 9001 CERTIFICATION an‎d HIGHER EDUCATION ACCREDITATION

ISO certified institutions expect to enjoy high level of accreditation as both ISO and accreditation support quality management system of higher education. This study aims to analyze the costs and benefits of the application of ISO 9001 which intersects with accreditation (APT) in the quality management system of higher education. The research was conducted through case study and descriptive approach. The research team conducted a survey of 120 new students of State Polytechnic in Batam with quota sampling technique for benefit estimation. Furthermore, a survey was conducted to 17 employees of the polytechnic who is responsible for the fulfillment of ISO 9001 certification and accreditation in all departments with purposive sampling technique to compare the benefits and costs. The research team found that both accreditation and ISO benefited the polytechnic. However, accreditation offers more benefits on performance improvement, student number, student satisfaction, and organizational reputation compared to that by ISO. Nevertheless, ISO benefits more on document improvement than accreditation. In terms of costs, ISO is considered to require a larger cost and more work time than accreditation. Thus, based on cost benefit analysis of both tangible and intangible aspects, quality management of higher education using accreditation is superior to using ISO alone.