The Position of the Fine Art Student in the Context of Public Accountability of Higher Education, with Specific Reference to the Quality Assurance Agency Experience

Abstract

This paper investigates the Quality Assurance Agency and the potential problems in applying its criteria to a Fine Art undergraduate degree programme. Starting with a suspicion that such a generic criteria cannot account for some of the attributes valued in Fine Art, the paper suggests that the QAA strategy needs to be addressed at the level of discourse. In the light of a general discourse of public accountability in Higher Education, I argue that the QAA experience naturalises certain forms of knowledge and marginalises others, some of which pertain in particular to Fine Arts education. In raising questions about what counts as knowledge and which 'skills' count as 'key', I argue that, contrary to appearances, the QAA structure is far from neutral as a measuring strategy.