Theorising Quality in Higher Education

Britain now has the most heavily regulated higher education system in the world and institutions must deliver best education value. Quality assurance, used to ensure that funds are correctly spent, is now a central mechanism for standardisation. This book explores the political and psychic economy of quality assurance in higher education and interrogates the discourse and practices associated with the audit culture in Britain. It raises important questions about the political pre-conditions that have enabled quality assurance to develop to such a powerful extent. Using a sociological framework, Louise Morley examines how regimes of power are experiences micropolitically in the academy. She subjects key concepts, including accountability, autonomy and continuous improvement, to critical scrutiny. This is a timely and thought-provoking analysis of an issue that affects all those who work in higher education.

ISBN 0854737065   Volumes 1 ISBN13 9780854737062 (What's this?)   Weight (grammes) 100 Publisher Institute of Education Publications   Published in London Imprint Institute of Education Publications   Series ISSN 0261-007 Format Paperback   Series title Bedford Way Papers Publication date 04 Nov 2004   Height (mm) 210 DEWEY 378.1   Width (mm) 148 DEWEY edition DC21   Spine width (mm) 4 Pages 48   Academic level Professional / Scholarly

1 The political economy of higher education Quality as policy technology The global market 2 How did this happen? Managing risk and manufacturing panic Continuous improvement: adding value or self-beratement Consuming by numbers 3 Getting it right The genesis of the quality assurance movement Thoroughly modern methods? 4 Reining in Accountability, autonomy and the audit culture Regulating research Performance indicators: the myth of measurement 5 The political is personal The psychic economy of quality Performativity and the power of discourse The stress of split focusing 6 In the long term

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