<![CDATA[General Background: Higher education institutions continuously seek effective approaches to improve educational quality, institutional performance, and stakeholder satisfaction. Specific Background: E-governance and quality cost management have emerged as important mechanisms for supporting administrative efficiency and quality improvement within universities. Knowledge Gap: Although previous studies have examined governance and quality management separately, limited attention has been given to the mediating role of quality costs in the relationship between e-governance and higher education quality. Aims: This study aimed to examine the relationships among e-governance, quality costs, and quality in higher education and to determine the mediating role of quality costs. Results: Data collected from faculty members at the University of Mosul showed significant positive relationships among the study variables. E-governance explained a substantial proportion of variation in higher education quality and quality costs. The findings also revealed that quality costs partially mediated the relationship between e-governance and higher education quality. Novelty: The study integrates e-governance, quality costs, and higher education quality within a single analytical framework in Iraqi universities. Implications: The findings suggest that universities should strengthen e-governance practices, quality assurance systems, staff training, and quality cost management to support continuous improvement and sustainable institutional development. Keywords: E-Governance, Quality Cost, Higher Education Quality, Quality Management, University Performance Key Findings HighlightsQuality cost dimensions showed significant associations with educational performance indicators.Governance practices contributed substantially to institutional improvement outcomes.Cost management acted as an intermediary mechanism linking administrative processes with educational excellence.]]>
