Total Quality Management: The Pathway to Quality Research Supervision of the Postgraduate Diploma in Education Programme at the Zimbabwe open University

The study dealt with the degree to which Total Quality Management (TQM) could be the pathway to quality research supervision of the Postgraduate Diploma in Education programme at the Zimbabwe Open University (ZOU). It is a qualitative study that purposively sampled its research participants who responded to questions that were raised using an open-ended interview. The study found out quality was about meeting customer’s expectations. TQM was perceived as a means of conforming to Postgraduate Diploma in Education students’ research supervision defined needs. TQM involves every member of the university in the pursuit of effective research supervision process. TQM empowers everyone in the research supervision business. TQM was found to be not easily understood, time taxing and laborious. The study recommended the need to train all university staff in research methodology, including hypothesis testing and Information and Communication Technology (ICT). It further recommended for the need for universities to twin, and send deserving due staff to contact and sabbatical leaves for the purposes of learning good and bad practices from other universities.