This book presents college and university education as a quality-oriented service with students, parents, and legislators as customers demanding quality. It attempts to blend the concept of strategic management of quality in industry with the latest thinking on the administration of higher education. The first chapter discusses the importance of quality in three different types of organizations: a university, a hospital, and an automobile manufacturing plant. Chapter 2 develops the argument that the strategic management of quality is a viable option for academic administrators. The next six chapters merge the philosophy and tools of strategic quality management from industry with the thoughts of campus administrators. Each chapter examines a different quality opportunity: satisfying the customer; choosing distinctiveness; attending to process improvement; involving everyone in quality improvement; nurturing human resources; and understanding. The final two chapters concern the creation of a culture in which the pursuit of quality becomes the standard operating procedure within the organization, and describes how the management philosophy and tools outlined in the book can help promote quality by utilizing sharply-defined measures. Contains an index and a 26-item bibliography. (GLR)