ABSTRACT
The previous case studies have shown what individuals and course teams can achieve to hold on to quality. Subject groups and departments that co-operate to pool resources can achieve more than can isolated individuals but this requires academics to give up some of their autonomy concerning what and how they teach. This case study illustrates a broad-scale strategic approach implemented co-operatively. Here a sociology group decided to distinguish between courses which could be taught expensively and inexpensively. Expensive courses were those where much staff time was invested in preparation, classroom contact and assessment. These expensive courses could be run only by also designating other courses as cheap. These latter were usually lecture-based and assessed by unseen exams.
