TY - JOUR
T1 - Audit cultures and quality assurance mechanisms in England
T2 - A study of their perceived impact on the work of academics
AU - Cheng, Ming
PY - 2010/6/1
Y1 - 2010/6/1
N2 - Proponents of the concept of the audit culture in UK higher education argue that from the late 1990s onward audit functioned as a form of power control and had a profound effect on academics and their work. Such arguments continued to be made into the early 2000s. Since then, however, the level of external scrutiny surrounding UK academics' teaching has decreased. This paper presents a case study of academics at a pre-1992 university to examine how they perceived the audit culture and audit-related quality assurance mechanisms. This paper reveals that nearly two-thirds of those interviewed considered audit and quality assurance mechanisms as a bureaucratic practice that had little impact on their work. Only about one-third found the audit useful for improving undergraduate classroom teaching practice, particularly increasing academics' awareness of the importance of good teaching.
AB - Proponents of the concept of the audit culture in UK higher education argue that from the late 1990s onward audit functioned as a form of power control and had a profound effect on academics and their work. Such arguments continued to be made into the early 2000s. Since then, however, the level of external scrutiny surrounding UK academics' teaching has decreased. This paper presents a case study of academics at a pre-1992 university to examine how they perceived the audit culture and audit-related quality assurance mechanisms. This paper reveals that nearly two-thirds of those interviewed considered audit and quality assurance mechanisms as a bureaucratic practice that had little impact on their work. Only about one-third found the audit useful for improving undergraduate classroom teaching practice, particularly increasing academics' awareness of the importance of good teaching.
KW - Academic work
KW - Audit culture
KW - Perception
KW - Quality assurance mechanism
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U2 - 10.1080/13562511003740817
DO - 10.1080/13562511003740817
M3 - Article (journal)
AN - SCOPUS:77953719467
SN - 1356-2517
VL - 15
SP - 259
EP - 271
JO - Teaching in Higher Education
JF - Teaching in Higher Education
IS - 3
ER -