Quality Assurance and Its Result Use in Taiwan Higher Education: Implication on Fully Accredited and Non-Fully Accredited Institutions.

Abstract

Because Asian quality assurance agencies are either governmental institutions or affiliated with government, evaluation use and impact on accreditation outcomes in higher education institutions is an important concern in Asian society. Higher Education Accreditation & Evaluation Council in Taiwan (HEEACT), a leading national accreditor in Taiwan, carried out program and institutional accreditations over four-year universities and colleges since its establishment in 2005. Over the past decade, two cycles of program accreditations and one institutional review have been completed. Hence, the public demand to assess the impact of quality assurance on higher education institutions and to realize its use in quality policy making is getting stronger and stronger. The purpose of the chapter is to explore the impact and implication of accreditation on Taiwan higher education via a survey of academics and staff. There are several major findings in the study. First, accreditation outcomes greatly affected both fully accredited and partially accredited institutions, particularly on faculty recruitment and academic program development. Second, the respondents from the accredited institutions tended to be more satisfied with the current QA policy. Third, the attitude toward evaluation use as a requirement of the Excellence Project and application for self-accreditation differed between the respondents in the fully accredited and partially accredited institutions.