Accountability In UK Higher Education: Policies And Practices

Accountability is an obligation to report,to explain,to answer the resource how to be located reasonably. Under different condition, accountability owns different meanings. Accountability cares about who, what, to whom and how. It is initially used in the management field, and then introduced into education, especially into higher education. Its function mainly include: strengthen the high education institutes'validity;retain and exalt its education quality, give its proper evaluation from the outer;explain the manner and to forecast the future. Therefore, accountability pays more attention to the education quality, accreditation and performance. Accountability in higher education is related to efficiency, benefit and evaluation, by an effective manner to prove the higher education receive the expected results. The motility in UK is from to their needs. The background and foundation is the Neo- liberalism and New Public Management. Accountability in higher education emphasizes the market and performance.The article is made up of four parts:The first part is to explain the meaning and types of accountability in higher education."Accountability"is a popular world recently to rise up. It is from the management and then used into higher education, forming a complex system. Accountability can be as a kind of icon, social relation and liability. The government and accountability in higher education have the intimate relations, they provide the legitimate right to independence, and make the accountability possible. The accountability and accreditation and assessment are the different sides of quality assurance, standardized testing also occupies a certain position. Besides, academic audit as one way which appraised as the quality is widely being utilized. But, accountability at present is not effective. We should seek the effective way.The second part is about the emergence and the development of higher accountability in UK. In 1970s, there had being a big transformation in the education field. The universities have the elevated burden: the consumers gain ground, the guardians ask for more and the loss from the public. So from the 70 years governments take the measures, the relationships between the governments and the institution have been changed.The third part introduces the practice of high education accountability in the UK from between institution and university. The purpose of high education accountability in the UK is the quality assurance of education. For the high education, the UK has a strict quality control system, namely inter audit of the university, quality control of the government and the society. Imperial College has committed to building the world's best goal of the University, science-based, best known for teaching and research. Imperial College always attached importance to the quality of teaching and research. In the quality audit report of HEQC in April 1994, the audit revealed a number of commendable practices and features of quality assurance in the College.The fourth part analyzes the characteristics of high education accountability in the UK. It is an important that the nation and the society strengthen high education accountability. From 1980s, high education policy of the UK focuses on efficiency and strengthens the quality. At present, the distinct accountability has formed, and shows the different features .It is as follows: The institutions of high education in the UK think highly of the quality of teaching and learning. There is the structure of the accountability in the high education of the UK. The power and the responsibility are identified in the University of the UK. The popularization of higher education calls for the system assurance and accountability.