The International Conference on Lean Six Sigma (LSS) for Higher Education was founded by Professor Jiju Antony in 2013. The conference has attracted over 200 academics from over 25 countries since then. The fourth International Conference on Lean Six Sigma (LSS) for Higher Education will explore the development of Operational Excellence culture in Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) through the deployment of Lean Six Sigma. LSS is a powerful operational strategy that increases process performance, resulting in enhanced customer satisfaction and improved bottom line results in hard savings. The objective of LSS is to transform the HEIs from separate reactive operations, which are generally functionally oriented, into cross-functional process-focused organizations to meet the demands of 21st century education. Although a number of manufacturing and service organizations are utilizing the power of this integrated methodology, Higher Education Institutions have been slow to introduce and develop this operational excellence methodology.

There is a clear misconception across many public sector organizations that Lean Six Sigma is suited solely to manufacturing companies. However, the situation within the HE sector is very similar to that of firms within the manufacturing and service sector - facing fierce competition, limited budget availability, greatly reduced public funding, and students adopting a consumer approach to their learning. This conference aims to highlight that both Lean and Six Sigma have a role to play in developing HEIs processes by improving operational efficiency and creating a student-centric approach for higher education to better fulfil the educational mission.

The specific objectives of the conference are as follows:

• Build a network of individuals from HE sector organizations and academic institutions willing to take a pioneering role in promoting Six Sigma and Lean business process improvement methodologies

• Build an efficiency mindset for Senior Administrators in the HE sector to Champion Six Sigma and Lean methodologies through tools and techniques

• Share case studies of Lean and Six Sigma methodologies in the HE sector

• Share experiences on continuous improvement journeys from practitioners across HEIs in different countries

• Critically assess the current status of Lean and Six Sigma applications in the HE sector. This may include the challenges, success factors, failure factors and leadership models for the successful deployment of Lean and Six Sigma methodologies