Problematising the Quality Assurance Policy Shift in Taiwan: From External Towards Internal Accreditation Mechanisms

The year 2017 was a landmark in Taiwanese higher education when the quality assurance mechanism transitioned from being external to internal. Given that the external quality assurance mechanism was criticised for violating the autonomy of universities, the 2017 self-accreditation policy aimed to resolve the controversy and internalise a quality culture into every university. This study engages in a critical policy analysis and examines the peculiar conceptualisation of policy problems, thereby revealing the micro-politics in the QA studies. In this article, we draw upon Carol Bacchi's concept of problematisation to explore the national QA transition. We propose that any investigation into the transition from an external to internal mechanism needs to delve into the historical-political context because the change is fabricated by complex interplays between various discourses, structures, and relational networks. By examining policy problematisation, we argue that more attention within higher education policy studies should be focused on the articulation of the framed problem, particularly given its impacts on the shape of university practices in quality management.