Capacity Building as an Instrument of Institutional Reform : Improving the Quality of Higher Education Through Academic Audits in the UK, New Zealand, Sweden, and Hong Kong

As countries convert from state to market-centered public policies, interest increases in new forms of public accountability. Capacity building initiatives that reform institutions are useful policy instruments during this period of transition. What are the impacts and implementation problems' characteristic of this approach? The paper reviews the experience with "Academic Audit," a capacity building accountability instrument for universities adopted in the UK, Sweden, New Zealand, and Hong Kong. Academic audits altered the incentives for cooperative behavior among faculty members to improve student learning. Identified implementation problems included: training for the new process, the uncertainty of capacity building benefits, and the central role of information