A MAturity Model for HigHer educAtion institutions

The adoption of business process improvement strategies is currently a concern of most organizations. The quest for the benefits of this improvement on resource optimization and the responsiveness of the organizations has raised several proposals for process improvement methodologies. These approaches differ both in the principles that support them, and in the specific area to which they are intended. However, proposals and results of scientific research on process improvement in higher education institutions, extremely complex and unique organizations, are still scarce. This research project intends to propose the extension of a process improvement model for this particular type of organization. We propose to undertake a review of process areas, goals and practices used in reference maturity models, such as Capability Maturity Model Integration or Business Process Maturity Model, to determine which ones apply to academic organizations and which should be included, adapted or deleted. The resulting maturity model will be further validated in a Portuguese higher education institution. This study is being developed under the University of Algarve Informatics Engineering Doctorate program.