Quality system awards offer blueprints for assessing quality in vocational education as well as in business and industry. The three most prestigious awards recognizing quality improvement in business and industry are the Malcolm Baldrige Quality Award, Deming Application Prize, and ISO 9000 Registration. When comparing standards for the quality management systems awards to vocational education standards of achievement, two themes are evident: assessment of standards for learning and performance (student and employee) and assessment of education/management process and design (school and business/industry). Criteria for the Baldrige Award can be used to assess the educational institution's effectiveness in meeting customer needs and expectations. The Deming Prize offers the strategy of using statistical methods to assess vocational education enrollment, completion, and recruitment patterns; student progress; and market share gain. The ISO 9000 Registration attests to the use of established standards as a benchmark for meeting quality requirements. The industry-based skill standards offer a benchmark to help vocational educators improve the quality of education. Two models of skills standards are being explored--skills component and professional. Recommendations have been made for how the ISO 9000 system's 20 basic elements that affect quality might be applied in higher education. This framework is useful in guiding the institutional process through which student learning occurs. (YLB)