Summary

Increasing importance is being attached to the concept of quality assurance and control. This new book describes the development and evolution of several major forms of regulatory systems for higher education on both sides of the Atlantic, with particular emphasis on the increasingly complex and self-regulatory intentions and characteristics. It focuses primarily on the nature and development of evaluation systems as they are experienced in the wider concept of regulation - their attributes, strengths, limits and how they can be improved. It analyses the patterns that are emerging, the apparent national determinants and the critical relationships between purposes and means in the systems. The book is intended both as a reference source and as a guide for policy-makers in institutions, collaborative organizations and in governments seeking to consider the possibilities of self-regulation in higher education. It aims to help achieve the potential benefits of such systems, including the preservation of universities and their autonomy amid the considerable and understandable pressures to make them more effective and efficient.