Abstract

MANEIRO, Ninoska; MEJIAS ACOSTA, Agustín; RAMIREZ, Marlen  and  RAMOS, Magaly. APPLICATION OF THE QUALITY FUNCTION DEPLOYMENT FOR EVALUATING AND IMPROVING AN ENGINEERING POSTGRADUATE PROGRAM. uct [online]. 2009, vol.13, n.51, pp.103-112. ISSN 1316-4821.

This work reports the results of a research performed in the Industrial Engineering Master Program of the University of Carabobo using the methodology of Quality Function Deployment (QFD), which has been applied in the last years on the redesign of studying programs more adapted to the voice of the service’s users and beneficiaries. In order to determine the postgraduate students needs and expectations of the Postgraduate Program (PMII), a survey based on the SERVQUALing Model was designed and applied; the sampling adjustment measure was determined and by means of the use of statistical techniques as the Factor Analysis five underlying dimensions corresponding to the competences associated to the knowledge areas of Industrial Engineering were identified: Corporative abilities, Research and Development, Competitive Strategies and Advantages, Directive Abilities and Planning, Conceptual Design and Operations Logistic. Based on these dimensions, the House of the Quality for classifying such competences was designed according to the importance granted by the students. As conclusions of the study can be mentioned: QFD methodology allowed evaluating the perception of the quality service supplied by the Program through an analysis of the beneficiaries, users and employers requirements; the comparison with the subjects offered, shows that there is a gap related to the students satisfaction which suggests the taking of actions for improving the image of the Program and to increase its positioning within the market and the necessity of strategies for activating plans for picking up new participants.

Keywords : QFD; Quality Function Deployement; Higher Education; Factor Analysis; Engineering Postgraduate.