Growing social concerns have led organisations to think evolutionarily about quality as it is not only relevant to satisfy customers, generate quality products or services and focus on results but also to encourage a participatory, flexible and sustainable value-oriented management. Due to the complex environment and structure of higher education, quality measurement and management have created a number of challenges. Around the world, higher education institutions have adopted various quality management practices, mostly drawn from existing models. Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), like most management concepts, has been gradually incorporated into the management practice of organizations. The implementation of TQM systems can facilitate the incorporation of the CSR objectives and practices by operating changes in organizational culture. TQM and Social Responsibility are undeniably two dimensions increasingly associated with organisations of any kind, including higher education institutions. Quality indicators on sustainable development for education have been of growing interest and for this reason the possibility of creating a model that fits the reality of higher education integrating total quality and social responsibility should not be overlooked. Nevertheless, this work is focused on an approach to the relationship between TQM and Social Responsibility associated to organisations in general but also related to higher education institutions.

Erasmus+ is an EU programme in the fields of education, training, youth and sport for the period 2014–2021 with a major impact at the international level. These areas are making important contributions to help address socioeconomic changes and the key challenges that Europe will face until the end of the decade as well as to support the implementation of the European policy agenda for growth, jobs, equity and social inclusion. The general objectives of the Erasmus+ Programme are intended to contribute to the overall achievement of the objectives of the Europe 2020 Strategy, among others related to sustainable development. Therefore, the main question is: “To which Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) do the Erasmus+ Programme and the mobility projects for higher education directly contribute to?” The answer to this question will allow us to start filling the knowledge gap at the borderline between SDG and Erasmus+. The purpose of this research is to identify, among the 17 SDGs, those that could be more relevant in the context of mobility projects in higher education within the Erasmus+ Programme and how these projects contribute to these identified SDGs. Through the analysis of the general objective of the Erasmus+ Programme, its most important characteristics and the objectives of Key Action 1 and mobility projects, we can conclude that, from the 2030 Agenda, the most relevant SDGs for the programme and for the action and mobility projects are 4 (quality education), 5 (gender equality) and 8 (decent work and economic growth).

Any element that enables higher education institutions (HEIs) to set themselves apart in a positive and superior way in terms of their performance would be advantageous given the competitive climate in which they operate. The Erasmus+ Programme provides HEIs with yet another option to become more competitive and to contribute to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) via the improvement of educational quality (SDG 4), reducing inequalities (SDG 10), climate action (SDG 13), and peace and justice (SDG 16). The goal of this work was to explore the potential relationships and synergies between HE sustainability and Total Quality Management (TQM) issues through the SDGs. The methodological approach was concentrated on the qualitative study of academic papers on TQM, sustainability, and the SDGs in HE as well as on the analysis of Regulation (EU) 2021/817, which established Erasmus+. We concluded that TQM and sustainability have synergies related to the SDGs, and the Erasmus+ Programme can support the sustainability of HEIs by promoting these SDGs. Leadership; education and training; the participation of staff members; measurement, evaluation, and control; and other stakeholders are essential factors for the effective implementation of TQM and sustainability in HEIs.

The development and optimization of Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) is becoming more and more important. Consequently, Human Resources Management (HRM) has gained greater prominence in the management of these institutions. Due to the complexity of academic contexts of HEIs, HRM models need to be able to respond to new challenges. These challenges concern selection, motivation and development of their staff. Currently, especially in Southeast Asian countries, Human Resources approaches need to be more efficient and tailored to current labor and societal needs. In order to support Higher Education organizational changes in Southeast Asia, a consortium of 4 institutions from Europe (Spain, Portugal, Italy and Lithuania) and 8 from Asia (Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos and Thailand) lead by the University of Danang (Vietnam), applied to a Capacity Building for Higher Education project under the framework of the Erasmus+ Program. The project "Strategic Human Resources Management for Southeast Asian Universities" (HR4Asia) approved in 2016 and co-funded by the European Commission aims at contributing to Higher Education organizational reform in Southeast Asia by improving HRM at the target HEIs from Cambodia, Lao PDR, Vietnam and Thailand. Each partner has well defined tasks according to the work packages established on the project. This research is focused on the competences that workers need to achieve to have a better performance in the institution. It was necessary to present and deconstruct, among others, the concepts of competence as capacity and competency as performance, to learn how to measure competencies and to manage competency and Human Resources. Staff involved in this project will be able to design and define the competencies model of the structures of each HEI to define the competency model per structure (mapping of organizational competencies and a model of competences of structures). This is one more step to achieve the following final goals: introduce in Southeast Asian HEIs a scheme to developing and implementing innovative HRM approaches, paying attention to transversal and additional skills, such as communication and self-learning. Tailor-made dissemination activities addressing non-partner HEIs, Ministries of Higher Education and other stakeholders will promote the project objectives, paving the way for its sustainability.

Total Quality Management (TQM) is an integrated management effort aimed at improving quality at any level to achieve excellence and corporate social responsibility, like most management concepts, has been gradually incorporated into the management practice of organizations. It is important that in order to effectively manage socially responsible business, the organization needs to define strategies, programmes and action plans. CSR and TQM can improve the institution efficiency, reduce bureaucracy by eliminating duplication of policies and procedures and provide the alignment of goals and processes. There is a strategic influence of CSR in everyday practice of quality. The implementation of TQM systems can facilitate the incorporation of CSR objectives and practices by operating changes in organizational culture. Because of the environment and complex structure of higher education, quality measurement and management have given rise to a number of challenges. In a higher education institution, as in any other organisation, on the road to achieve excellence, there must be management commitment, support from administrative staff and teachers, effective and continuous communication, review, verification, validation and constructive alignment of processes. Quality indicators on sustainable development for education have been of growing interest and for this reason the possibility of creating a model that fits the reality of higher education integrating total quality and social responsibility should not be overlooked. Therefore, with this thought in mind, this work analyses the relationship or synergies between Total Quality Management and Social Responsibility themes not only associated to organisations but also associated to universities/higher education institutions.