It might not have been quite what he had in mind when he said it, but Aristotle was right: good quality assurance must be a habit embedded at every level within higher education, not an isolated occurrence. But even good habits can become mere routine, in danger of being emptied of their original purpose and meaning. Periodically, review and renewal are desirable, even essential. This paper is the author's personal view, some months into his role as Chief Executive of QAA, of the UK HE quality assurance story so far in the context of current concerns, and emerging emphases and preoccupations. The Quality Assurance Agency (QAA) was established in 1997 following the recommendation of the Joint Planning Group that was originally convened from the funding councils' and institutions' representative bodies to design a unified quality assurance system. In this paper, the author offers some indication of how the QAA is changing to meet changing public and sector expectations for its work and for quality assurance in HE generally. He believes that UK will have a more flexible quality assurance system, with a greater emphasis on providing public assurance. Students will be central to all stages of the quality cycle, from the provision of public information, through providing evidence for audits and participation as auditors, to engagement with the outputs from QAA reviews. (Contains 1 figure.)