Implementation of Six Sigma in Academia

- The Six Sigma (6σ) method is used to improve and optimize an organization’s products, services, and processes by constantly decreasing defects. In this paper we try implementing the 6σ methodology in Academia. The challenges and actuality of implementation of 6σ methodologies successfully in Academia are immense. However, the benefits of applying 6σ are equally great. The objective of this paper is to understand the evolution, benefits, and challenges of 6σ practices in academia through a case study of Presidency University situated in Bangalore, Karnataka, India. The problem statement in the paper is the poor performance of students in academics and by using the DMAIC approach of 6σ we try to identify and understand the causes and set out to improve them so the students can have better placement and academic opportunities. This paper is also an attempt to show the readers about the wide application of 6σ in fields other than manufacturing and how it can be beneficial.

And after reviewing, "Lean Six Sigma Implementation in Engineering Institutions", [4] by C.R.S. Kumar, the author talks about lean six sigma for academic excellence and lists' out several Critical to Quality (CTQs) parameters, such as Student Success rate in examinations, Graduating percentage of students, Percentage of students with distinction, Percentage of Syllabus completed, etc. and also talks about the faculty members playing a vital role. From the perspective of teachers and instructors, Lean Six Sigma can be applied as follows: And in "Impacts of Lean Six Sigma on improving a higher education system: a case study", [5] given by Milad Haerizadeh and Vijaya Sunder M, was conducted at Allameh Tabatabai University in Tehran, Iran that was experiencing a high level of student complaints related to student services and advising. And six sigma tools were applied with survey approach in the measure phase similar to us here and Based on these findings the LSS team formed a focus group of students to explore more deeply the low satisfaction ratings. The findings from the focus group indicated and To improve the student service processes the LSS team implemented several improvements based on the data and focus group results such as, a faculty adviser was added as another resource for students for each major to provide perspective on technical aspects and job prospects; advising hours were extended into the afternoon until 5.15 p.m. on Saturday through Wednesday; an online database system was created to store student records electronically. This allowed all advisers to have immediate access to students' real-time files from any computer. It also reduced filing time and note taking to improve efficiency and much more.

Six Sigma Methodology
Six Sigma has two methodologies. As mentioned before the DMAIC method or approach for projects aimed at improving an existing business process at the company and the DMADV method used for projects aimed at creating new products or design processes from scratch. In the Educational industry, processes cannot be created from scratch as established institutions have rules to follow which once in place can be only amended to a certain degree in which case DMAIC methodology is chosen.

Define
Development of SIPOC process map.

Measure
To find out the factors affecting the process and student performance using sigma calculation and establishing a data measurement system.

Analysis
Development of Cause & Effect (Fishbone) diagram and plotting Control charts using Minitab software.

Improve
The causes for failure or poor quality are be identified with a solution using FMEA and drafting an implementation plan.

Control
The results of the new standardization or procedures are controlled over time and further improved using different six sigma tools.

Threats and Opportunities Matrix
Project Objective 1. Investigate the application of six sigma in academics 2. To improve the CGPA of students for better academic opportunities.
3. Increase the number of students eligible for placement activities.

Project Sponsor
Head of Department.

Project Stakeholder
Students, Parents, Employers and Faculty members.

Threats Opportunities
Short term (less than 6 months)

Define Phase
DMAIC begins with the identification and the defining of the problem statement. The goal of the 'Define' phase is to define the project goals and customer deliverable.

Problem Statement
The cumulative grade point average (CGPA) of a group of students studying mechanical engineering is taken into consideration. It is discovered that more than 65% of students have scored less than 6.5 CGPA. As a result, the number of students who did not cross the 6.5 CGPA mark are unable to attend the campus interviews, as the market demand of companies is 6.5 CGPA and above.
To improve the number of students eligible for interviews in the future, the academic performance data of the above set of students are analyzed using 6σ tools, as we found that 6σ methodology can be used to improve the academic performance of the students and from the literature reviews, we understand that students can be considered as raw material in educational institute's process.

Project Charter
Project Name

Implementation of Six Sigma in Academia
Description & Goals Improvement of CGPA for better placement and academic opportunities

Scope
Meeting the requirement of the stakeholders and customers

Business Case
CGPA is the most valued component of a student's life in university, CGPA often works as the primary parameter when applying or being considered eligible for interviews or master's programs. This paper is based on the motive of increasing the student eligibility, the case study is done for the Mechanical department of the 2018 batch in Presidency University where there are 140 students. Out of which we have considered the data of 75 students by random sampling, in this project, we considered 6.5 CGPA as the minimum criteria for being eligible for placement or for having a good academic record. In the process we found out that only 33.33% of students were in the eligibility criteria (6.5 CGPA and above). Therefore, the goal of the project is to provide a solution by using the Six Sigma methodology to establish at least 70% of the students eligible.

months
Quality Improvement of students CGPA

Deliverables
Better placements and academic opportunities

Key Resources
Data from Controller of Examination (COE)

Measure Phase
This phase is where most of numerical studies and data analysis takes place. We focus on the validation of the measurement system and gathering the root causes of the problem.
Goals of Measure Phase are: i. Develop a data collection plan and collect relevant data.
ii. Validation of measurement system.
iii. Determinations of the process capabilities.

Normality Test
Normality Test is a Statistical process used to determine if a Sample or data collected fits a standard normal distribution. We use Minitab software to plot this graph.

Figure 2. Normality test graph
In the graph plotted (refer to figure 2), the blue points represent the students who scored CGPA less the 6.5 in the 27 subjects covered till the 4th semester. The top right side of figure 2, P-value table is shown. If the P-Value ≥ 0.05, then the data is Normal. If the P-Value <0.05, then the data is not Normal. When we look at the above graph the points are in and around the straight line and the P-value is 0.770, hence we can say that the data collected is normally distributed. And the six-sigma process can be continued.

Base Lining or Sigma Calculations
The based lining or initial sigma calculation is done to understand the current process functioning level.
Here are some of the formulae used:

Total number of students = 75
No of students who score less than 6.

Analysis Phase
In this phase, critical analysis is carried out with the help of Six Sigma tools like the Fishbone diagram, also known as the Cause-and-Effect diagram, and Pareto diagram.

Control Chart
The control chart is a graph used to study how the process changes overtime. A control chart always has a central line for average, an upper line for upper control limit, and lower limit for lower control limit. The

Pareto Diagram
A Pareto is used to filter the many causes to vital and critical few. Pareto is a special form of Histogram, which shows the trend line and also the cumulative percentage contribution by the causes listed in the Fishbone Diagram. It works on the Pareto principle, also known as the 80/20 rule. It states that "For many events, roughly 80 % of the effects come from 20% of the causes." Now to form the Pareto chart/ diagram the causes must be quantifiable, as we can see the causes mentioned in the Fishbone cannot be quantified as they are human factors so the only possible way to quantify the causes are for us by conducting a survey.
We opted to conduct a survey among the students by asking questions based on the causes and answer them by rating the causes based on the level of importance on the scale of 1 to 5 and based on the responses the following Pareto chart was made.

Improve Phase
In this phase FMEA is carried out to identify the possible failures and an implementation action plan is drafted with possible solutions for each failure identified.

Failure Mode and Effect Analysis (FMEA)
The objective here is to list out all possible failures that could occur from the shortlisted causes listed the

Control Phase
In this phase, it is required to standardize the improvement-plan -results obtained from the Improvement

Conclusions
The higher education process at Presidency University showed a 3.46σ level which requires significant improvement to achieve a 6σ level. The primary objective of a student is to achieve 6.5+ CGPA to stand a chance for better academic and job opportunities, wherein failure in achieving the set CGPA, the student is considered as a defect in the 6σ process. Some of the causes we identified for the poor performance of students are due to variations such as students coming different backgrounds, mentality, teachers and there different teaching styles, social and environmental factors, etc. After identifying the issues and defining the problems, solutions are suggested. Control charts can be used to continuously improve the education process in Presidency University and higher levels of customer (student, parents, etc.) satisfaction. The information and tools provided in this paper are an attempt to showcase how the implementation of Six Sigma is possible and successful in academia.

Members of the Six Sigma Project
The following are the core team members of the project without whom this project would not be possible: