This chapter offers a set of recommendations for two-year and four-year institutions related to the evaluation and implementation of transfer policy and practice. These recommendations were drawn from a major study to investigate the perspectives of students, staff, and administrators.

In the current environment, presidents and chancellors can expect to have their institutions under nearly continuous scrutiny from regional accrediting bodies. The number of reports, the expected details of outcomes measures, and the level of ongoing interaction between the institution and the regional association will continue to increase. In…

Because there is more doubt than ever before about the accomplishments of today's college graduates, the public, employers, often the graduates themselves, and others seek assurance that a program's graduates are competent and qualified. There is now the expectation that accreditation will give them that assurance. Moreover, nearly everyone seeks…

Accreditation is a process of external quality review created and used by higher education to scrutinize colleges, universities, and programs for quality assurance and quality improvement. Accreditation in the United States is more than a hundred years old, emerging from concerns to protect public health and safety and to serve the public…

In this chapter, the author contemplates the future of accreditation in the changing landscape of higher education in the United States. He presents a set of proposals for how accreditation can regain the confidence of college leaders and public policymakers. He begins with the assumption that changes in accreditation--some significant in their…

Institutional research (IR) offices on campus are not all alike, any more than campuses are all alike. They may differ in their reporting line, range of responsibilities, level in the campus hierarchy, and work emphasis. Institutions differ in complexity (number and level of programs, colleges, and schools), size of the student body, affiliation,…

It is argued that leaders within higher education should examine the culture of their own institutions and academic disciplines in order to respond effectively to faculty who are at the margins. Ultimately, creating a culture of respect will lead to positive change. Yet is this a realistic goal in times of budget constraints, increasing demands…

This article presents working definitions of efficiency, accountability, and quality, offering a framework in which an individual institution can make idiosyncratic use of these definitions, suggests tools for managing educational processes with respect to these three attributes, and presents examples of how institutions have improved efficiency,…

Governmental and accrediting entities are demanding increased accountability and efficiency from colleges and universities. This chapter discusses strategies for developing institutional data sets that create a "culture of evidence." (Contains 5 figures.)

As an enterprise that relies heavily on state funding, public higher education has long seen its support rise and fall with the boom-and-bust cycle of the economy. This chapter examines how the University System of Maryland repositioned itself as a state system able to thrive in an era of permanently diminished resources and perpetually escalating…

The past decade has provided a unique opportunity for the New Hampshire College & University Council (a multipurpose statewide consortium) and Campus Compact for New Hampshire (a state affiliate of a national consortium) to leverage the role of consortia toward building campus cultures of service-learning and civic engagement among member…

In the United States greater attention is being paid to learning that is more collaborative, actively engaged, and technologically enhanced.

Multiple jurisdictions engender variegated governance procedures for improving quality in the universities of Canada.

Public accountability for higher education has undergone a paradigm shift. (Contains 1 table.)

Kentucky links state-level and institutional accountability indicators to the public agenda for its postsecondary education system.