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Does Auditing HE Against Standards Encourage Masterpieces or Paint-by-numbers?

The quality of higher education in Australia is often described in terms of national and international standards. A new entity called the Australian Universities Quality Agency (AUQA) has been established to audit the manner in which universities, self-accrediting institutions and state accrediting agencies achieve quality higher education. Designing such an audit framework requires consideration of a number of variables, not least being the term 'standards', with a view to recognising the ways in which they affect behaviour within the sector. A framework is presented that addresses the types of standards, the effects of different standards-setters, the manner in which auditees respond to the audit requirement, the manner in which the auditees undertake their task, and a consideration of what effects the audit process has. The paper is presented in two parts; the first develops the analytical framework, and the second uses the framework to explain AUQA's approach to audit.