Effectiveness: Recent Discussions in the General,Higher Education and Australian Literature

Effectiveness is a topic of some interest in Australia at present. A knowledge of the literature would benefit researchers and evaluators who may wish to use effectiveness as a tool for analysis. It would also benefit policy makers involved in the management of higher education. Such knowledge could be applied to analyses of various levels of higher education: system, state, institutional or sub‐unit. The general literature, developing for half a century, is found to be complex and with many important points in dispute. In higher education, the use of effectiveness has been more recent and is at an immature stage of development. In Australia, there have been recent reports, largely at the system level, but in the main, there has been limited reference to the vast literature available. Effectiveness research is needed at all levels of higher education in order to clarify its meaning and use and prepare the way for the future development of helpful instruments and processes that might assist institutions or their sub‐units in assessing effectiveness.