Quality assessment and university change in china

Abstract

The present book uses the Quality Assessment of Undergraduate Education (QAUE) as an example to reveal the impact of quality assurance system on institutional transformation in China. This chapter presents an analysis of the QAUE’s outcomes and discusses the reasons why it can or cannot cause genuine change in the evaluated institutions. Both the external and internal forces for change are discussed. Drawing on the empirical findings from the QAUE, a model is proposed to describe how external quality assessment causes university change. The ideal conditions in which quality assessment can generate university change are proposed; meanwhile, the limitations of quality assessment, as an external force, to cause university change, are indicated.