At a time when student numbers are rising with no corresponding increase in funding, it is felt that the instruments for monitoring and control in the higher education sector, which are available in the traditional form of inspection and which principally come down to a standardisation of the conditions at the outset, are insufficient. At national and Land level, in higher education institutions, at the German Rectors’ Conference (Hochschulrektorenkonferenz – HRK) and in the Science Council (Wissenschaftsrat) a debate has therefore been in progress for some time about evaluating the efficiency of the higher education sector, especially in teaching and courses of study.