Increasing Accountability - Part 2

Other accountability mechanisms include the following.

Excellence in Research for Australia (ERA)

The Excellence in Research for Australia (ERA) Links to an external site. is a metrics-based research evaluation program intended to evaluate the quality of research in Australian higher education institutions, and allow for international comparisons.

Advancing Quality in Higher Education (AQHE)

Established by the Government in 2011, the AQHE reference group was charged with the task of assuring the quality of teaching and learning in higher education. In 2012, the report of the AQHE Reference Group outlined a suite of performance measurement instruments (i.e. surveys of students, graduates and employers) in addition to carrying out roundtable discussions with universities, employers and students. Results from the surveys were published on the My University website from 2013. MyUniversity was replaced by Quality Indicators for Learning and Teaching (QILT) Links to an external site. in 2015. QILT provides prospective students with information about Australian higher education institutions from the perspective of recent students and graduates.

Education Services for Overseas Students (ESOS)

This Education Services for Overseas Students (ESOS) Links to an external site. legislative framework provides a set of nationally consistent standards for education delivery, facilities and services to international students. Courses open to international students must meet particular conditions and must be registered with the Commonwealth Register of Institutions and Courses for Overseas Students (CRICOS) Links to an external site..

In addition to those listed above, there are also national surveys of students and graduates (employment, course experience, engagement), various professional bodies that accredit or register professional degree programs, and international rankings schemes (Croucher, Marginson, Norton, & Wells, 2013; Marginson, 2013). They include the following:

These combined regulatory and competitive pressures on universities are the result of many factors in the intersection of globalisation, massification and marketisation, but also serve to uphold these processes. Accountability and regulatory systems operate in this way at the macro and meso levels, and are becoming more apparent at the micro level outcomes (Stensaker & Harvey, 2011). The academic work of individuals, especially research output which is readily quantified, is increasingly subject to the measurement of defined metrics (e.g. specific annual targets for research funding, number of publications and citations, grant income) (Tyler & Wright, 2004). 

Take a look at how your individual institutions report on standards and rankings. How much accountability do you think is necessary? Is it subject to political whim? Is there a real suggestion that universities are not doing what they should be doing, or not doing it well enough? How might these accountability demands be shaping higher education?