Quality management at the Technical University of Varna - approaches and impact

The structural reform in the higher education urged the universities in Bulgaria to change their philosophy in respect of the marketing efforts they have to put in. Part of this change became the creation of a new attitude to the quality of the educational product. The Technical University of Varna pioneered this field and introduced the first certified quality management system for the education in Bulgaria. New role of the existing information systems of the university was defined as part of this project. The paper gives general outline of the main features of the quality system. An in-depth analysis is given to the place and the importance of using the modern IT for sustaining high quality criteria. Special attention is given to the link between IT, quality of the training process and customer's satisfaction. An initial attempt is made to assess in quantitative (economic) terms the introduction of modern information technologies in quality management. The authors note as well the special role that this initiative of the university had for the modernization of the national educational legislation.