BS recommends that the academic community has collective responsibility for management of standards. National standards can be assured within the peer review system of a reputable body with market credibility in its field. The new single agency for quality assurance in Higher Education should reach an accord and enter into a licensing arrangement with such bodies and accommodate their quality and standards assurance mechanisms. We believe this approach strikes the right balance between concerns for central accountability and the needs of the marketplace and would avoid costly duplication. It is ABS opinion that franchising and partnerships are at the limit of expansion without prejudice to the quality of educational experience and standards achieved if not accompanied by local quality assurance mechanisms.
Local mechanisms can accommodate quality assurance of degree classifications.
The market, which is increasingly global, is demanding far greater clarity and better information with regard to national quality mechanisms and standards. The ABS and AMBA with the full support of the Business Schools are developing a national accreditation process for the MBA which is linked to a pan European mutual recognition scheme, designed to improve market transparency and the overall quality of programmes. The drive towards self audit, benchmarking, accreditation and quality improvement which the scheme embodies is therefore a significant example of professional and subject based approaches which the new agency should accommodate. This approach could form part of the accreditation model already outlined above but also involving lead bodies, Occupational Standards Councils and National Training Organisations. In short, a new and much more flexible solution is needed at the higher levels if the huge investment to create and update occupational standards is to be proved worthwhile.