Could ‘Criteria’ used in Quality Assessments be Classified as Academic Standards?

Abstract

The Higher Education Funding Council for England was given responsibility by the government of the day for assessing the quality of higher education institutions in England. It deczded to make subject areas the focus of these quality assessments, within an objectives-based approach to assessment. Assessments are made by peer subject assessors during visits to institutions. The report postulates that criteria 'other' than the aims and objectives of the institutions and subjects areas were used in the assessments. An analysis was done of reports of the assessments done in 1993-94. The study dentifis which m'teria were used and argues that these could be labelled as academic standards.

Enhancing the quality and consistency of undergraduate dissertation assessment

“…As contended by Webster et al (2000), if the dissertations are very individual piece of work presented by students, surely it is the last piece of work which anyone would wish to standardise by insisting on the same or similar criteria and approaches. However, this has already been manifested in the scholarly literature by those who argue for professional autonomy, and those who emphasise the need for public accountability; between those who see a need for explicit criteria and performance standards in assessment, and those who regard assessment as akin to wine tasting (De Vries, 1996;Wright, 1996).…”