Process Management Model for Higher Education: Improvement of educational programs in software quality

This paper presents a Processes Management Model for Higher Education (PMMHE) characterization. With the PMMHE is possible to produce a comparative measurement system (benchmarking) of organizational, tactical, logistical and operational processes for formation, training and coaching programs in higher education institutions. The current PMMHE´s release has impact on engineering programs and emerges as a strategy of the Colombian Government in its effort to articulate the university and industry, particularly the software industry and education of software engineering and their related areas at technical, technological and professional levels. The model is defined as knowledge management tool, which provides a scenario of variables and requirements classified by process categories and areas, practices, resources and products of processes, in which the institutions can to develop assessment practices to exchange resources, knowledge assets and best practices. This scenario is seeking to promote the establishment of a process improvement environment in higher education programs of engineering. It is very important to emphasize that the model´s strategy is the transition from the subjective to the objective, for obtaining impact and spread and internalization knowledge, beyond the mission statement of institutions. This derivation from hypotheses to the thesis supported in facts, leads the formal use of statistical process control for knowledge management which includes the measurement systems analysis and collect measures about teaching - learning collective and individual processes under constantly balancing between the theory and the practice about the scientific and professional aspect. Also, this paper presents the lessons learned and the assessment for applying the model to 58 companies and 5 institutions of higher education related with the software industry in Colombia.