Designing and developing software systems that fulfil the requirements of different stakeholders is no simple matter. Quality assurance is required at each phase of the entire development process, starting from requirements elicitation, software architecture design, program design, and the eventual implementation of a system, since they are closely linked with each other. The quality of the artefacts from each development phase impacts on the rest of the system. The theme of QSIC 2012 is Engineering of Quality Systems. Under this theme, there are at least three major dimensions where research and investigations are ongoing. Firstly, quality assurance of artefacts such as software programs and software architecture design. Secondly, quality relationships between software development phases, for instance the quality of requirements and their impact on the quality of software architecture. Thirdly, codification and communication of knowledge and how they impact on software quality.

The QSIC series of conferences has a long tradition of bringing together researchers and practitioners to present and discuss innovative methods of assuring software and system qualities. In QSIC 2012, we emphasize on a holistic view of quality assurance across different aspects of software engineering. Additionally, we will have an industry track where experience reports from practitioners will be presented. We aim to facilitate discussions and cross cultivations between industry practitioners and researchers, and between researchers who study different aspects of quality assurance.