24 Int. J. Cont. Engineering Education and Life-Long Learning, Vol. 28, No. 1, 2018 Copyright © 2018 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd. Implementation of quality tools in higher education process Pedja Milosavljevic, Dragan Pavlovic and Milena Rajic Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, University of Niš, Aleksandra Medvedeva, 18000 Niš, Serbia Email: pedja@masfak.ni.ac.rs Email: draganpavlovic10369@gmail.com Email: milenatod1@yahoo.com Ana Pavlovic and Cristiano Fragassa* Department of Industrial Engineering, University of Bologna, Viale Risorgimento 2, 40136 Bologna, Italy Email: ana.pavlovic@unibo.it Email: cristiano.fragassa@unibo.it *Corresponding author Abstract: The paper aims at examining the possibilities of enhancing the higher education process using quality tools, from the perspective of the number of passing exams, after introducing the Bologna process. One of the goals is modernisation of the teaching process by introducing e-learning. Several quality tools are used, such as: Pareto analysis, Statistical Process Control and Ishikawa diagram. After defining defects (seven basic types of waste) that have a negative influence on the final quality evaluation of higher education and how these defects can be eliminated, the Pareto analysis is done, which is used for establishing a vital minority of the exams that are critical for examination. SPC analysis is performed on the exams that are classified as a vital minority in Pareto analysis. Ishikawa diagram is applied in order to find the causes that effect on a small number of passed exams. Keywords: Pareto analysis; SPC analysis; Ishikawa diagram; higher education process. Reference to this paper should be made as follows: Milosavljevic, P., Pavlovic, D., Rajic, M., Pavlovic, A. and Fragassa, C. (2018) ‘Implementation of quality tools in higher education process’, Int. J. Cont. Engineering Education and Life-Long Learning, Vol. 28, No. 1, pp.24–36. Biographical notes: Pedja Milosavljevic, PhD, Full Professor, Manager of the Center for Lifelong Learning and Head of the Chair of Management in Mechanical Engineering at the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, University of Nis. His research interests are engineering management, organization of manufacture, process management, business process management, total quality management, total quality leadership and maintenance of technical systems. He participated over 10 projects by the Ministry of Science and Technology,