ABSTRACT
In 1992 the Scottish Higher Education Funding Council (SHEFC) was established. Its role in assessing the quality of educational provision offered by universities and colleges in Scotland is outlined, together with some comments on the first year of operation. The Funding Councils in England, Scotland and Wales each operate their own arrangements for quality assessment. Those for Scotland are described; the other Councils have a broadly similar approach, but there are some differences in practice and experience. SHEFC responsibility for external evaluation of the actual provision of education—of the quality of teaching and learning—involves subject-specific assessment by peer scrutiny of institutional documentation and student work, direct observation of teaching, interviews, and attainment, completion and employment rates. 'Quality' does not lend itself to easy or precise definition, but there is general agreement that the quality of any activity should be assessed in relation to its purpose.
