There has been considerable debate about the impact of external quality assurance in higher education. This paper describes a discussion at the INQAAHE workshop in The Hague, attended by representatives of agencies, exploring the effects of external quality processes on institutions and programmes. The summary, probably for the first time,…

The battle-lines are drawn up in the various struggles for control of supranational external quality monitoring (accreditation and evaluation). The different types of supranational quality processes are outlined (as they existed at the time of the presentation of the paper to the Conference). The question asked is: who benefits from the extension…

This paper outlines the preponderant approaches to external quality evaluation, including the purpose, focus, object, rationale, and methods of external evaluations. Accountability, compliance and, in some countries, control are much more frequent rationales for external monitoring than improvement. Research on the impact of quality monitoring is…

Introduces the special issue and summarizes the views of delegates about each of the conference's three themes: "Has external quality review had its day?"; "Has control of quality been usurped by the market and by information technology?"; and "Does the development of mass education necessarily mean the end of quality?" (EV)

The annual meeting of the ENQA (European Association for Quality Assurance in Higher Education) IQA (internal quality assurance) Group gathered some 60 participants in the premises of the Accreditation Organisation of the Netherlands and Flanders (NVAO) in The Hague in June 2009. This seminar was a successful follow-up to the first ENQA IQA…

Analyzes the concept of "employability" and critiques the prevailing tendency to create employability measures based on outcomes. Asserts that the outcome approach results in employability being construed as an institutional achievement rather than the propensity of individual students to get employment. Outlines an alternative approach based on…

Various total quality management (TQM) approaches are explored and some core elements specified. Generic problems of TQM and those relating to higher education are analyzed. It is argued that while there are some aspects of TQM that are applicable in the collegiate setting, the specific approach is inapplicable in higher education. A new…