A Perception on the Effectiveness of Undergraduate and Graduate Programmes Management through an ISO Certification Scope Merger

In-line with the requirements of the International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO) that mandated the shift to ISO 9001:2008, a merger of the ISO QMS for undergraduate and graduate programmes was implemented at the Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) in 2009. The merger is expected to benefit UKM as it will optimise utilisation of resources. A year later, a study was conducted to assess staffs’ awareness and acceptance of the QMS and to assess the effectiveness of the merger. The study was carried out using questionnaires with a Likert scale rating. The questionnaires were distributed to all faculties and four categories of staffs were identified as respondents namely academicians with administrative posts, academicians without administrative posts, administrative staffs and support staffs. Results of this preliminary study indicated that all categories of staffs particularly the support staffs concurred that the merger provides positive implications to time management and documentation. Besides, commands and procedures on ISO have become more effective. Results from this study will be used as inputs for further improvement to UKM's quality management system.