Quality assurance systems and educational development: part 1 - the limitations of quality control

This is the first of two related articles examining the trend towards initiatives to ensure quality in teaching which has led to an increased emphasis on quality assurance or control measures which ensure that teaching and learning reach some minimum acceptable level. This first part presents a case study where a quality assurance mechanism, in the form of programme validation procedure, prevented the offering of a poorly developed degree proposal. It concludes with the understanding that quality assurance measures were crucial in providing the window of opportunity for the subsequent development of a radically different second proposal. The quality assurance measures could not, however, be responsible for the transformation that happened. The quality enhancement initiatives that occurred as a result of the opportunity provided by the quality assurance mechanism are the focus of the second paper.