Considering accountability, affordability, and access through the experiences in Chile, East Asia, Australia, Croatia, and the United States offers a clear reminder that trends and issues in higher education are often more similar across national contexts than they are distinct. Across higher education, institutions and systems are responding to massification, with concerns related to an often dramatic increase in participation prompting efforts toward quality assurance. That these accountability initiatives require enhanced capacity in institutional research is an essential lesson from the accounts of the five national experiences. In this article, the author provides a few reflections on accountability, affordability, and access worldwide.