Distinctive Nature of Accreditation,
Accountability and Assessment
Accreditation, accountability and assessment overlap, but are distinct
processes fundamental to quality assurance. Each is relevant as
higher education changes in transition countries, as globalisation
increases, and as private institutions enrol more students. Each has
emerged at different points, but today they come together and
operate simultaneously in most industrialised countries. This triangle
of quality assurance processes applies to both public and private
institutions, although the particulars relative to accountability differ.
Given the financial support provided to public institutions by states
in the United States and by central authorities in the United
Kingdom and Western Europe, public institutions face more
accountability pressures. This is not true in transition countries,
where public institutions are largely immune to external accountability.
Unfortunately, much discussion does not distinguish among
the quality assurance mechanisms, leading to confusion and
redundancy.