Significant changes in the policies of higher education in Vietnam have changed the structure and governance of the system since the mid-1990s. The most commonly agreed-upon positive outcome of the governance renovation process is that the formation of a nationwide quality assurance scheme, which is stimulated by accreditation, in the higher…

The analysis begins with a comprehensive overview of legal provisions for student participation in higher education governance over the past few decades. How has the involvement of students in decision-making processes developed? The answer will be provided for the sub-institutional level of faculties and degree programmes; the institutional…

The article discusses the question of student participation in higher education governance at the national and the institutional levels in Norway. Two ideal-type perspectives on governance are developed in order to illuminate the Norwegian case: a democratic perspective and a market perspective. The article provides a brief overview of the…

Evaluation of higher education can be described a species of its own with only few connections with other fields of evaluation. When considering the future developments in higher education evaluation (quality assurance), it is useful to observe its similarities and differences with various evaluation approaches in other than higher education…

Discusses the role and position of an educational buffer agency, as exemplified by the Swedish National Agency for Higher Education, with references to: (1) accreditation; (2) quality audit; (3) support of academic leadership; and (4) internal quality enhancement. Concludes that change is best accomplished by emphasizing support in the early…

One issue facing countries in transition concerns how to ensure quality for a broader and more diverse set of institutions. Quality assurance processes (i.e. accreditation, accountability and assessment) have particular relevance today as higher education undergoes dramatic changes in countries in transition, as the world becomes more…

This article introduces the agency theory to the field of higher education research. By applying agency theory to the inter-organisational relationship between government and higher education institutions, it is possible to illustrate general problems facing control and governance in a more theoretical and analytical way. The conceptual arsenal…

Increasing attention on quality assurance, a decentralisation of responsibilities and need for quantitative data in accountability and decision support led to the development of a student satisfaction monitoring instrument at Utrecht University (UU). Initially marketing worked as a catalyst activity to prove the added value. At a later stage the…

During the last few years, a national quality assessment system for evaluation of the core activities of universities has been established in Sweden. Beyond participating in these national efforts, Lund University has also participated in the European benchmarking programme managed by ESMU (European Centre for Strategic Management of…

This paper reports a recent national study by the Centre for the Study of Higher Education into contemporary practices in student assessment in Australian higher education and the issues of quality assurance facing the sector in the light of public speculation and concern about academic standards. A major issue emerging from the project is the…

Teaching quality emerged as a significant issue in higher education during the 90s. This led to the implementation of numerous quality control, assurance and enhancement schemes as institutions attempted to stay abreast of demands from various stakeholders in a rapidly changing educational environment. More recently, with the establishment of the…