This research broaches the implementation of quality management in Tunisian colleges, particularly in the field of engineering. The case study is a college which experimented with this approach, sponsored by the Ministry of Higher Education. Quality is the spearhead of the Tunisian administration so as to contribute to the socio-economic development of the country and to the competitiveness of Tunisian higher education. . The implementation was embedded in the TQM framework and methodology that are outlined in the first part of the dissertation, as an international norm and standard. It enables a teleological implementation of quality management, resulting in getting the accreditation by importing a western and global approach to quality. This method structures the quality of products and processes and drives the operation management. However, we assume that there is a need for an axiologic axis to supplement the teleological axis in Tunisia so as to propose an integrated approach to quality management, which requires designing a compatible theoretical and methodological framework. Our research shows that the socio-economic approach to integrated quality management is required to enable such compatibility. The intervention methodology doesn’t consist in defining quality only through the objectives, but through the conditions and possibilities of change, and through transforming the very underpinnings and infrastructure of the organizations so as to better reach the objectives.
