A prActicAl guide Benchmarking in european Higher education

HISTORY OF BENCHMARKING
A benchmark has to do with products (or services), while benchmarking has
to do with the organisations making products or services. In this handbook,
we shall also use ‘benchmark’ to denote the better-performing organisation
that is taken as the ‘standard’ or the ‘good practice case’ that serves as an
external example for one’s own organisation.
The history and concept of benchmarking will be further discussed later in
the chapter, however, first, we connect and contrast it with quality assurance,
as until recently benchmarking appeared as an isolated instrument to
enhance performance but without a close link to general governance. In particular,
the relationship to the various approaches of quality management
(TQM, EFQM, ISO9000) remained vague. This was seen as one of the biggest
“impediments to benchmarking in higher education” (Engelkemeyer, 1998).
18 A Practical Guide - Benchmarking in European Higher Education