The issues of accountability, affordability, and access loom large for postsecondary education not only in the United States, but across the world. The educational system of some countries is based on a long history with strong traditions and administrative processes, and yet other countries are just now beginning to expand their educational system to the postsecondary sector. Chapters discuss: Accountability, Access, and Affordability as Key Challenges in the Reform of Croatian Higher Education Pursuing Quality and Equity of Higher Education: A Review of Policies and Practices in East Asia The Australian Perspective: Access, Equity, Quality, and Accountability in Higher Education Creating an Impetus for Institutional Analysis in South America: Quality Assurance Listen to the Urgent Sound of Drums: Major Challenges in African Higher Eduation The Balancing Act: Accountability, Affordability, and Access in American Higher Education A Few Reflections on Accountability, Affordability, and Access Worldwide Although the chapters included in this volume are merely a small sampling of assessment-related issues faced in some countries or regions of the world, these discussion contribute to the larger set of conversations that seek to examine and strengthen post-secondary education around the world. This is a supplemental issue of the Jossey-Bass quarterly higher education report series New Directions for Institutional Research. Always timely and comprehensive, New Directions for Institutional Research provides planners and administrators in all types of academic institutions with guidelines in such areas as resource coordination, information analysis, program evaluation, and institutional management.

Author Biography

Karen L. Webber is associate professor of higher education at the Institute of Higher Education at the University of Georgia.