Accountability in Higher Education: Global Perspectives on Trust and Power

The latest volume in the Routledge International Studies in Higher Education series, Accountability in Higher Education takes an in-depth look at accountability initiatives around the world. Various evaluations, reporting schemes, and indicator systems have been initiated both to inform the public about higher education performance and to help transform universities and colleges and improve their functioning. This edited collection provides a comparative analysis of the promises, perils and paradoxes of accountability, and the potential effect on power structures and higher education autonomy, trust and the legitimacy of the sector.
Part I describes how accountability is perceived and understood in different regions of the world, identifies some of the most common elements in established accountability initiatives, especially related to quality assurance, and provides direction for possible future development. Part II focuses on responses to new demands for accountability at institutional, national and international levels, and provides practical guidance for handling accountability going forward, emphasizing the dynamic relationship between international development, government strategies and organizational change.
This volume is a must-have resource for HE managers, administrators, policy makers, researchers, HE graduate students and those interested or involved with HE accountability practices.

Bjørn Stensaker is research professor at NIFU STEP – The Norwegian Institute for Studies in Innovation, Research and Education in Oslo.
Lee Harvey is professor at Copenhagen Business School in Denmark, and former director of the Centre for Research and Evaluation at Sheffield Hallam University.

1. Introduction and overview of the book, Bjørn Stensaker and Lee Harvey

2. Accountability: Understandings and challenges, Bjørn Stensaker and Lee Harvey

Part I. An overview of accountability schemes in different regions

3. Accountability in Australia: More power to government and market, Jeanette Baird

4. Accountability in Africa: A disciplinary power in African higher education systems, Gerald Wangenge-Ouma & Patrício V. Langa

5. Accountability in China: Primitive attempts, Shuiyun Liu

6. Accountability in Eastern Europe: Becoming like everywhere else? Paul Temple

7. Accountability in Western Europe: Shifting quality assurance paradigms, Andrée Sursock

8. Accountability in Latin America: Focusing on quality assurance and funding mechanisms, Maria-José Lemaitre

9. Accountability in the United States: Sorting through an American muddle, Robert Zemsky

Part II. International trends, challenges and responses to accountability initiatives

10. Accountability and Cross-border Higher Education: Dynamics, trends and challenges, Robin Middlehurst

11. Transnational Accountability Initiatives: The case of the EUA-audits, Alberto Amaral and Maria João Rosa

12. Managerial and Political Strategies for Handling Accountability, William F. Massy

13. Conclusions and reflections, Bjørn Stensaker and Lee Harvey