Assuring Program Quality to Meet the Challenges of Accountability in Higher Education

Universities are accountable to the community for the academic mission assigned to them through public support. The purpose of this study is to investigate the strategies employed by a department of a university in South China to achieve the accountability goals established by the university. The focus is on examining how faculty and staff at the department level of the university have correspondingly developed practical plans to assure their program quality to meet the university goals. This article starts with a review of current literature on program quality assurance and accountability in higher education. A case study of the targeted university and the special education program was designed by reviewing the university and department documents in file searching for details of accountability strategies aiming at university goal achievement. The findings of the study indicate that the targeted department has performed exceedingly well in achieving the university accountability goals of Academic Development, Research and Knowledge Transfer, and Management and Infrastructure.