The higher educational institutions and in particular such institutions imparting professional education are faced with demands for greater responsiveness and accountability, which has manifested itself in the form of competition amongst such educational institutions, to provide for services better than their counterparts. The answer to such pressures lies in quality, especially if they have to compete with each other to satisfy their stakeholders, gain the edge and survive in the long run. Dosed on a theoretical foundation, this paper is an empirical study conducted on select higher educational institutions to identify the various quality elements/components for an Educational System. Starting with a theoretical background, an empirical study is presented with analysis and results. The study is exploratory and diagnostic in nature and has been confined to the internal as well as external customers of select engineering and management institutions awarding graduate and post-graduate professional degrees/diplomas. The study has helped identify the various quality elements/components that have been grouped under three factors/constructs, which have been termed as management system, technical system and social system.
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