The Changing Face of Accountability: Monitoring and Assessing Institutional Performance in Higher Education

Abstract

As part of the changing relationship between government and higher education, state governments are placing an increasing burden on higher education to play a pivotal role in transforming the existing low-wage economic structures into high-performance, technology-based economies. Governments are increasingly looking to the different sec- tors of higher education to augment learning skills and improve work- ers' ability to develop and use technology, thus enhancing productivity and strengthening the state's economic position. According to Marshall (1995), former U.S. Secretary of Labor, "Education is the crucial ele- ment in this transformation process. It can no longer be considered apart from the state's overall economic strategies" (p. 62). Marshall is infer- ring that education, and increasingly higher education, has become an essential component of national economic investment strategy. In a com- petitive and global environment, increasing educational investment to produce a highly educated and skilled workforce is a vital element for future economic growth. Without this investment and reliance on educa- tion, and especially tertiary education in industrialized societies, the competitive status of a nation will substantially deteriorate in the com- ing years. This reliance