Professional Degree – 1^st Cycle Quality Management

 

① Fundamental Objectives >>

② Curriculum >>

③ General Competences >>

④ Subject-Specific Competencies >>

⑤ Course content >>

① Fundamental Objectives of the First Cycle Professional Degree in Quality Management

The aim of the first cycle professional degree in Quality Management is providing students with fundamental knowledge from the field of organization sciences with a broad understanding of research methods and a good knowledge of models, standards, and tools for quality.

Graduates of the first cycle will be able to understand the overall meaning and have the opportunities to use knowledge that is based on contemporary organization theory in a real environment within organizations that emphasize determining opportunities for continuous improvement of quality products and services, processes, and the entire process-based organization.

With a broad interdisciplinary knowledge, graduates of the first cycle programme will be able to participate in the creative work process within an organization. These organizations can vary among economic, public administration, non-governmental organizations. Also, first cycle graduates have the opportunity to continue their studies at the second cycle and later at the third cycle.

Upon completion of the first cycle professional programme in Quality Management students are provided with the internalisation of building blocks within contemporary organization theory that is based on an organization as a target-oriented relationship among individuals and people and internalisation of the concept of autopoiesis in reference to quality management and excellence founded on the spiralling order of planning, doing, checking, and acting (Deming’s PDCA cycle).

A crucially important emphasis will be given on understanding contemporary approaches, models, and tools used by exemplary organizations in their daily practices.

According to the learning outcomes, the study program is classified into 7^th level of the Slovenian Qualifications Framework (SQF), 6^th level of the European Qualifications Framework (EQF) and the 1^st level of the Qualifications Frameworks in the European Higher Education Area (QF-EHEA).

② Curriculum

In January 2020, the updated curriculum of the First Cycle Professional Degree in Quality Management was adopted, which will be implemented from the academic year 2020/2021 and will apply to newly enrolled students.

Existing students who make regular progress will be able to complete the study program according to the old curriculum, but may choose to complete the study according to the new curriculum. In this case, they will receive a notice from the Students Affairs Office about the obligations they have to complete in order to complete their studies under the new curriculum.

The rest of the students will complete the study program according to a new curriculum.

The first cycle professional degree in Quality Management lasts for three years (six semesters) and is awarded with 180 ECTS. The programme is formed between common 20 compulsory/required courses  and 5 elective courses, an internship, and the undergraduate diploma thesis.

Year One
No.	Type	Learning units	ECTS
1st Semester
1	A	Fundamentals of Organizations	6
2	A	Research Methodology 1	6
3	A	Fundamentals of Management	6
4	A	Business Statistics	6
5	A	Business English 1 / Business German 1	6
2nd Semester
6	A	Total Quality Management and Business Excellence	6
7	A	Process-based Organizations	6
8	A	Marketing	6
9	A	Development of products and processes	6
10	C	Elective Course 1	6
Year Two
No.	Type	Learning units	ECTS
3rd Semester
1	A	Theory of Organization	6
2	A	Production	6
3	A	Purchasing	6
4	A	Logistics	6
5	A	Legal Framework of Business Management	6
4th Semester
6	A	Human Resource Management	6
7	A	Economics of Organization	6
8	A	Project Management	6
9	C	Elective Course 2	6
10	C	Elective Course 3	6
Year Three
No.	Type	Learning units	ECTS
5th Semester
1	A	Informatisation of Business Processes	6
2	A	Business English 2 / Business German 2	6
3	A	Change Management	6
4	C	Elective Course 4	6
5	C	Elective Course 5	6
6th Semester
6	WP	Work-placement	18
7	DT	Diploma Thesis	12
Electives
No.	Type	Learning units	ECTS
1	C	Management Systems	6
2	C	Strategic Management	6
3	C	Business Communication	6
4	C	Quality Management System	6
5	C	Environmental Management System	6
6	C	Safety Management System and Occupational Health	6
7	C	Social Responsibility of Organizations	6
8	C	Entrepreneurship	6
9	C	Career planning	6
10	C	Business Coaching	6
11	C	Undergraduate Research Seminar	6
12	C	Project Practicum I	6
13	C	Fundamentals of Work WellBeing Management	6
14	C	Military management, leadership and military ethics	9
15	C	Military defense systems	6
16	C	Military operations	9

A - compulsory course
C - elective course
IW - individual work

③ General Competences

Students in the first cycle professional degree in Quality Management will acquire the following general competencies:

1. Comprehending and understanding processes, process-based organizations and the ability to manage continuous improvements.
2. Comprehending and understanding a wide range of approaches, models, tools, and standards for continuous quality improvement of organizations and application in real environments.
3. Use and develop methods and techniques for efficient and effective process management and continuous improvement of quality of work, products, and services.
4. Ability to analyse, synthesize, and to apply knowledge in practice.
5. Applying research methods, procedures, and processes in the field of organization studies.
6. The ability to establish and maintain cooperative relations for teamwork and with other interested individuals as well as the ability for creative dialogues.
7. The development of critical and self-critical assessment.
8. Knowing the importance of quality and enhancing the quality of professional work through autonomy (self-) critical, (self-) reflexivity and (self-) evaluation.
9. Ethical reflection and commitment to professional ethics in a social environment.
10. The ability to manage organizational change within an organization in response to changes in the environment.
11. Sensitivity to individuals, directing relationships among them, and the development of communication skills and skills in domestic and international environments.
12. Ability to establish and maintain partnerships with all stakeholders (consumers, employees, owners, social environment).
13. Ability to lead departments and / or groups, organizing active and independent tasks, and training employees.
14. The ability to connect interdisciplinary knowledge from various subjects.
15. Qualifications in being a mentor, for professional development, and lifelong learning.
16. Developing and using digital competences domestically and internationally.

④ Subject-Specific Competencies

Students in the first cycle professional degree in Quality Management will acquire the following subject-specific competencies:

1. Internalisation of building blocks within contemporary organization theory that is based on an organization as a target-oriented relationship among individuals and people.
2. Knowing and understanding the concept of autopoiesis in reference to quality management and excellence founded on the spiralling order of planning, doing, checking, and acting.
3. Ability to understand and apply contemporary organization theories in a practical environment.
4. Applying methodology and technology research in the field of organization studies.
5. The ability to understand mathematical and statistical principles with emphasis on their applicability in practice.
6. Active communication in a foreign language with an in-depth knowledge of terminology from the field of organization studies.
7. Knowledge and understanding of the philosophy, approaches, models, tools, and standards of total quality and business excellence as well as competence in their applicable use in practice.
8. Ability to identify, control, and the continuous improvement of processes in an organization and its links to a comprehensive system of processes.
9. Internalisation of decisive important directives towards the expectations of consumers and management of fundamental concepts and methods of marketing.
10. Knowledge of the basic concepts in the process of developing new products and services.
11. Knowledge of approaches and models of the quality control process in manufacturing products and services.
12. Ability to recognize and manage partner relationships with suppliers and the entire supply chain, sales, and after-market.
13. Knowledge and management of logistical processes and their interconnectedness with other processes within the organization.
14. Managing key practical approaches in the area of human resource management in terms of releasing their creative potential.
15. Ability to identify and manage key aspects in the economics of organizations.
16. Applying basic knowledge and practical approaches to achieve effective and efficient management of an organization with an emphasis on leadership by example, business communication, management of projects, informatisation of processes and systematic thinking.
17. Training for managing and continuously improving work in production and service organizations.

⑤ Course content

Fundamentals of Organizations
Lecturer: prof. dr. Boris Bukovec

• Concept and role of organizations.
• Organizational structures and structure of organization.
• Methods of researching organizations.
• Organizing functions.
• Organizational design.
• Organization of work.
• Evaluating work.
• Organizational process.
• Organizing group work.
• Organizational strategy.
• Organizational culture.
• Changing contemporary organizations.
• Examples of good practice.

Research Methodology 1
Lecturer: doc. dr. Franc Brcar

• Organizational science and science research,
• Research goals and research designs,
• Theory and experiences, scientific findings and causality,
• Research methods,
• Quantitative research:
  • Basic features of quantitative research,
  • Association between variables and hypothesis,
  • Measurement and measurement instruments in quantitative research,
  • Analysis of data and presentation of data,
• Qualitative research:
  • Paradigm of qualitative research.
  • Features and the development of qualitative research.
  • Research problem and research questions.
  • Analysis of qualitative methods.
• Combined and mixed methods of research:
  • Reasons to implement mixed method.
  • Combined and mixed methods in research of complex problems.
• Objectivity, valuation, and ethic foundations of research.

Fundamentals of Management
Lecturer: mag. Iris Fink Grubačević, viš. pred.

• Fundamentals of management
• Organization as a system
• Organisation and management development
• Organisational culture and company philosophy
• Business ethics of management
• Leading, decision-making and responsibility
• Tasks of managers
• Global management

Business Statistics
Lecturer: doc. dr. Franc Brcar

• Basic concepts of statistics.
• Editing and displaying statistical data.
• Relative numbers / statistical degrees: rang. quant.
• Mean values: median, mode, arithmetic mean.
• Data variability: variance (dispersion), standard deviation.
• Asymmetry and measures of asymmetry.
• Time series, concepts, analysis, trends.
• Correlations, t-test, regression Chi-square test.
• Random patterns.
• Concepts of statistical hypothesis.
• Hypothesis testing.
• Null hypothesis, alternative hypothesis.

Business English 1
Lecturer: Mihaela Pečnik, pred.

• introduction and review.
• Topics and terminology from various areas of business-administrative areas.
• Professional vocabulary and selected grammar concepts.
• Written and oral communication using professional expressions, content and events as well as communication for everyday use at the B1/B2 level on the Common European Framework of Reference for languages.
• Business communication in various situations and contexts.
• Digital literacy.
• Current events around the world.

Business German 1
Lecturer: Irena Golobič, pred.

• Assessment and review of grammar and selected vocabulary.
• Introductions of self, colleagues, companies, structure of a company and types of companies.
• Receiving guests/customers/business partners including talks, planning the itinerary for the visitor, scheduling, reservation of hotel rooms, tables at restaurants, etc.
• Talks about private topics that includes talking about family members, non-business events, talking about hobbies and free time, completing forms.
• Needs, ordering and purchasing including samples, offers and ordering, comparison of goods, planning business trips.
• In the office and out in the field including tools and functions of an office, fairs, orientation.
• Numbers and data that includes describing the trip, companies, work organization, and describing people.
• Selected grammatical items.
• Seminar paper presentation (speech presentation).

• Change as an issue and opportunity.
• Total quality as a business philosophy of continuous improvement.
• Excellence.
• From management quality to quality management.
• Economic aspects of quality.
• Principles of total quality management and business excellence.
• Models of quality improvement and business excellence.
• Methods of quality improvement and business excellence.
• Standardization and standards.
• Quality functions in organizations.
• Examples of good practices.

Process-based Organizations
Lecturer: doc. dr. Matej Jevšček

• Theory of process organization.
• Concept of process organization.
• Process design of the organization.
• Changes in organizations.
• Connections between processes and strategy.
• Main, support, and management processes in organizations.
• Management of processes within organizations.

• Defining basic concepts of marketing. Marketing development.
• Basic market-oriented strategic planning of an organization, the meaning of consumer-oriented marketing.
• The importance of the vision and mission of the organization in creating strategies.
• Analyzing internal and external environment – SWOT analysis. Finding competitive advantages.
• Developing marketing mix with influence of internet and digitalisation.
• Marketing management.
• Market research.
• Marketing environment analysis – micro and macro business environment.
• Definition of product (service), level of the product (service), decisions on brand naming, decisions for online products.
• Marketing services and some aspects of the marketing mix for service industry.
• Pricing and conditions.
• Business distribution of products and marketing logistics.
• Direct marketing and electronic marketing.
• International marketing.
• Practical examples of marketing programs.

• The role and importance of research and development.
• Strategy of Development.
• Products life-cycle.
• Designing and developing products.
• Development of process.
• Concurrent engineering.
• Research-development process and projects.
• Change Management.
• Aspects of developing products and processes in models, standards, and methods of total quality and business excellence.

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