Higher Education Institutions and Academics Perceptions Towards Quality Evaluation and Accreditation

Although quality assurance and accreditation systems have been in operation for a number of years, there are no extensive studies about their effects over teaching and learning quality nor on the different reactions linked to academic tradition and the norms and values of scientific areas, from schools and higher education institutions. This research project main purpose was the contribution to the study of higher education institutions, scientific areas and academic actors’ perceptions and reactions to higher education quality evaluation, in general, and to the recently implemented Portuguese quality evaluation and accreditation system, in particular. The project goals were achieved throughout the project development, being worth to mention: 1) the undertake of a literature review on higher education quality evaluation and assurance, which allowed to develop the project’s theoretical framework; 2) the design of a questionnaire to collect the empirical data, which identifies a set of possible goals and purposes for a quality evaluation system; 3) the analysis and discussion, based on the data collected through the questionnaire application, of Portuguese academics’ perceptions on what should be the goals and purposes of quality evaluation, as well as on what should be the Portuguese quality evaluation and accreditation system; 4) an analysis of the academics’ perceptions based on their different characteristics, namely the subsystem they belong to (university or polytechnic, public or private), their scientific area, their gender and the fact of having, or not, being involved in quality management activities within their institutions; 5) the identification of the factors that facilitate or impede a quality higher education in their institutions.