Quality Control in Dutch Higher Education: Internal versus External Evaluation

Abstract

In the current discussion in the Netherlands on the way the quality of higher education should be assessed and controlled there seems to be broad agreement on the startingpoint that the institutions of higher education themselves should be responsible for the development of an adequate quality control system. This view was stated in a government paper (HOAK, 1985), which stands for 'Hoger Onderwijs: Autonomie en Kwaliteit' 'Higher Education: autonomy and quality'), in which self-regulation was proposed as the new mechanism for steering higher education, and the development of a formal quality control system was regarded as an important condition for the transition from central guidance and regulation to self-regulation. However, this new approach also created an area of tension between the responsibilities of government and those of the institutional governing boards in that it is at odds with the sections of the two new Higher Education Laws enacted in 1986 on the role of government in ensuring the quality of higher education. Since the publication of the HOAK paper, therefore, the debate has focused on the question whether external evaluation activities by or on behalf of government are legitimate and desirable. Before outlining the positions of the interested parties, the major elements of HOAK and some developments in Dutch higher education relevant to its contents will be discussed briefly.