Accountability and Inspection in Higher Education

Accountability has now become a major theme for higher education internationally as well as in the UK. Universities were guaranteed autonomy by their charm, although polytechnics were accountable from their first designation. Both sectors now, however, have been asked to make themselves more publically accountable.
There are many different views about the purposes of higher education, therefore the measurement of its success is not easy. Some fm of measurement of the effectiveness of its activities in teaching and research is however urgently needed. The most important measure of teaching quality is the attainment of students at the end of their course, but the success of teaching depends on many external factors, including resourcing and effective institutional management.
Too few attempts to measure the quality of teaching in the classroom have been made, but Her Majesty's Inspectors have been assessing the quality of classroom experience for many years, and their reports have been published since January 1983. Their methodology of inspection has been developed considerably, and has many features worthy of note. It need not be seen as a threat to academic autonomy.