ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts presents in this book. The specification of standards in higher education has long been the subject of academic debate in countries around the world. Jenny Moon explores the issues related to level descriptors, learning outcomes and benchmark standards. She provides an overview of the current debate, drawing on her own experiences in a Department for Education and Employment-funded project in Wales on credit development. Benchmarking information will help the new cadres of academic reviewers to make informed judgements in the setting of standards. Alex Appleby robustly challenges the assumption that the business model is readily transferable to the higher education context. Sally Gosling describes a collaborative approach to the accreditation of professional development of physiotherapists, which, while not part of the Quality Assurance Agency pilot exercise, throws some interesting light on the process as it might be applied nationally.
