Internal and external quality assurance approaches for improvement and accountability : a conceptual framework

The keys to advancing Quality Assurance are to, first, strike a balance between Internal/External and Improvement/Accountability emphases; second, recognize the value of various Quality Assurance approaches, for different purposes; and, third, acknowledge the trade-offs and tensions inherent in various approaches. The changes implied by Quality Assurance must start at the local level, i.e., individualcourses and programs of study such as Engineering Education. The task of documenting such changes and, thereby, recognizing the impact of Quality Assurance policies and practices (Accreditation and Evaluation or Assessment) makes it necessary to use different metrics at different levels of a higher education institution. This is where the value of the conceptual framework described in this chapter canbe seen, since it acknowledges a wide range of Quality Assurance approaches, thus providing a means of engaging all stakeholders in a constructive way about how to define quality, how to document it, and how to make needed improvements.