This study aims to examine how improvement and accountability can be effectively aligned in higher education to foster a quality culture at programme level.
An in-depth case study was conducted at a Flemish University of Applied Sciences. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews with lecturers, programme directors and educational advisors of three different educational programmes (n = 20).
The findings identify several opportunities for fostering a quality culture by strengthening the alignment between improvement and accountability. These include designing QA processes that balance institutional and programme-level priorities, fostering intrinsic motivation, enhancing quality literacy and – most importantly – developing a shared understanding of what constitutes quality. Such shared understanding is fundamental to aligning improvement and accountability and to cultivating a quality culture.
Research on how to foster a quality culture remains limited, as do studies examining how accountability and improvement can be better aligned at programme level. In addition, in-depth case studies exploring the perspectives of lecturers, leaders and support staff are scarce. This study contributes to addressing this long-recognised gap, which continues to represent a major challenge for QA and the development of a quality culture at programme level.
