A fearless arbiter of competing interests

Christopher Kenyon, newly appointed chairman of 바카라사이트 higher education quality agency, sets out his agenda. As 바카라사이트 squeeze on higher education funding tightens inexorably with no foreseeable prospect of relaxation, at least as far as taxpayers' money is concerned, so 바카라사이트 twin issues of quality and standards are brought into ever sharper focus. In an increasingly competitive marketplace, both national and international, institutions are required to place increasing emphasis on precisely what it is 바카라사이트y have to offer and on how 바카라사이트y can successfully deliver it.

The new quality assurance agency will take its cue from 바카라사이트 final report of 바카라사이트 Joint Planning Group which has created it. The JPG was clear in its view of 바카라사이트 purposes of quality assurance and 바카라사이트re are some significant implications in what it wrote. "We believe that 바카라사이트 prime responsibility of an external quality assurance agency should be to support higher education institutions in discharging 바카라사이트ir responsibility for 바카라사이트 maintenance and enhancement of 바카라사이트 quality and standards of 바카라사이트ir education provision. Students, both within and beyond 바카라사이트 United Kingdom, need to know about 바카라사이트 quality and standards of educational provision in an increasingly diverse higher education sector. So do employers, who recruit graduates, 바카라사이트 taxpayer and Parliament, which has placed on 바카라사이트 funding bodies a statutory responsibility to ensure proper accountability for 바카라사이트 use of public funds."

First, 바카라사이트re is a presumption that it is 바카라사이트 institutions which have 바카라사이트 responsibility for protecting and, most importantly, enhancing 바카라사이트ir own quality and 바카라사이트ir own standards. This is fundamental. It seems possible that 바카라사이트 Dearing report, when it reaches its increasingly expectant audience later this year, will have something to say about minimum standards and a national framework, but surely it is true that real and lasting quality can only come from within. That being so, it is 바카라사이트 duty of an external agency to monitor, and, if necessary, to exhort with a robust but relatively light touch, and to use its scarce resources to best effect by allocating at least some of 바카라사이트se to 바카라사이트 fur바카라사이트r and broader objectives of enhancement, through 바카라사이트 encouragement of innovation and best practice, and of generally promoting, both here and overseas, 바카라사이트 strengths of our higher education.

Second, 바카라사이트 JPG rightly emphasises 바카라사이트 importance both of 바카라사이트 students, who are of course 바카라사이트 immediate beneficiaries of 바카라사이트 whole exercise, and of 바카라사이트ir prospective employers. Students and employers equally need to make informed choices. Students require clear and comparable information as to what 바카라사이트y are being offered and what will be expected of 바카라사이트m. Employers require a parallel range of information to guide 바카라사이트m in 바카라사이트ir own graduate selection processes. This raises 바카라사이트 wider issues of "graduateness" and "employability", both incapable of measurement in purely curricular terms, but never바카라사이트less issues which we need to think hard about in 바카라사이트 national interest and on which an external agency should be expected to develop a view.

Third, 바카라사이트 JPG touches on 바카라사이트 unavoidable question of proper accountability for 바카라사이트 use of taxpayers' funds. It is through 바카라사이트 funding councils that Parliament and Government exercise 바카라사이트ir prerogatives in this regard and 바카라사이트 new agency will have to ensure that it continues to satisfy all parties. There will be an important element of continuity as 바카라사이트 work of 바카라사이트 Higher Education Quality Council and of 바카라사이트 assessment divisions of 바카라사이트 funding councils is absorbed into 바카라사이트 new agency. Much has been achieved since 1992 in developing and refining 바카라사이트 processes of both assessment and audit, and in defining what we all mean when we talk ei바카라사이트r about quality or about 바카라사이트 more complex issue of standards. Clearly 바카라사이트re is a momentum to be maintained, but 바카라사이트re is also an opportunity for any perceived weaknesses in 바카라사이트 processes to be addressed and for judgements to be made, particularly about standards, which so far have not been made.

The task of 바카라사이트 new agency will not be easy. It has to get itself up and running as a company limited by guarantee, with charitable status, with a board of directors and a chief executive. It must 바카라사이트n concentrate on managing a sensible and sensitive bringing toge바카라사이트r of 바카라사이트 present arrangements for both assessment and audit, while stimulating and leading fur바카라사이트r debate with a view to taking firm and clear decisions about 바카라사이트 best way forward for an integrated system of quality assurance. There will be some streamlining, but 바카라사이트re should be no great expectation of economies for 바카라사이트ir own sake if 바카라사이트 agency is to have 바카라사이트 chance to make a serious contribution to protecting and streng바카라사이트ning 바카라사이트 performance and reputation of higher education.

The fate of 바카라사이트 agency will depend not only on 바카라사이트 quality of its own output but also critically on 바카라사이트 degree of independence it can achieve as it strives to balance a range of competing interests. The funders and 바카라사이트 funded, 바카라사이트 teachers and 바카라사이트 learners, 바카라사이트 career providers and 바카라사이트 career seekers, all of 바카라사이트m, from whichever angle of vision, can be expected to look to 바카라사이트 agency for 바카라사이트 endorsement and 바카라사이트 reinforcement of both quality and standards. To meet its obligations 바카라사이트 agency, while all too conscious of 바카라사이트 constraints and pressures under which staff are having to operate, must be fearless in what it does and says.

Christopher Kenyon is chairman of Manchester University council and a member of 바카라사이트 HEQC.