Purpose - The Indian higher educational systemis one of the largest in theworld.Besides, the growth of students and universities, the range of disciplines and universities in professional and vocational education has greatly increased.With the sudden immense growth of the educational institutes all over the country, educational institutions must improve the quality of their services to compete and achieve a leading position. Orientation towards quality and competitiveness in higher education in India has thus started gaining the attention of the policy makers, educational planners, and administrators as also the various stakeholders of the educational system. With the internal and external stakeholders becoming more demanding in a gradually liberalizing Indian economy, the issues related to quality need to be addressed from varying perspectives on the very conceptualization, implementation, and assessment. Starting with a theoretical background, the purpose of this paper is to present the results of an empirical study conducted on the administrative staff, so as to obtain the internal customers perspective on quality. Design/methodology/ approach - Based on the literature review followed by a pilot study and an earlier study based on the quality function deployment technique, certain elements critical to quality management in education are identified. Thereafter, the interpretive structural modeling (ISM) technique is applied. Findings - The ISM technique helps prioritize the strategic issues in quality assessment qualitatively, so as to propose a hierarchical structure through prioritizing, sequencing, and categorizing of ideas. The elements are classified as drivers, enablers and dependents, and the hierarchically structured. Practical implications - The adoption of such a framework in educational institutions would lead to the creation of an environment where the administrative staff would be satisfied and in turn, be able to deliver quality service to the other customers and stakeholders. Originality/value - An implementation of the integrated framework of such critical components can help policy makers, educational planners, and administrators as also the various stakeholders of the educational systemcontribute towards growth, success and survival in the rapidly changing environment. © Emerald Group Publishing Limited.