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Academics’ support for quality assurance (QA) depends on several factors, including their sense of ownership, which seems to be influenced by academics’ participation in QA’s implementation. This paper aims to understand whether this participation is indeed contributing to academics’ ownership of QA. Findings from a survey of Portuguese academics’ on their participation in study programmes accreditation suggests that this may not be the case. Academics present a partial withdrawal towards effective participation in study programmes’ accreditation, especially regarding external assessment. Furthermore, they do not seem willing to enhance this participation nor are they very critical about it. Since academics’ sense of ownership is essential for the successful implementation of QA, these results may represent a challenge for both institutions and QA agencies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]