Integrated management system at higher education institutions: Case study from Poland

Integrated management systems in enterprises are of interest to researchers, but at higher education institutions (HEIs) this issue has not been the subject of in-depth research to date. The main purpose of this article is to explore the integration process of standardized management systems (MS), namely quality MS (compliant with ISO 9001), environmental MS (ISO 14001) and energy MS (ISO 50001) at HEIs. The objectives are: (1) examining the reasons for integrating standardized MSs at HEIs, and (2) identifying the stages of the standardized MS integration process at HEIs corresponding to the Plan-Do-Check-Act (PDCA) cycle. To achieve this goal, a case study research strategy was adopted. One case, namely the University of Applied Sciences in Nysa, Poland, was analyzed. Multiple sources were used to obtain the data, and these were documentation, archives, interviews and participant observations. It was concluded that the main reason why the authorities of the analyzed HEI made the decision to integrate quality, environmental and energy MSs was to improve the university’s performance. This research made it possible to identify activities carried out at the HEI in the process of MS integration which correspond to all stages of the PDCA cycle