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This chapter offers a systematic review of research into quality assurance and quality management in higher education. It begins by considering quality as theory and discusses the methodology applied. The origin and meaning of the terms quality assurance and quality management, as they are used in higher education, and their application and practice, are then discussed. The issues and critiques that have been raised concerning quality assurance and management are identified, before some conclusions are reached.

Higher education research has substantially expanded in recent years, to become a subject worthy of study in its own right. Higher education journals are arguably the most important location for the publication of the outputs of such research. This paper examines the articles published in 14 leading higher education journals internationally in the years 2000, 2010 and 2020. It compares the volume of outputs, the themes addressed, the methodologies employed, the theories applied, the levels at which analyses were undertaken, and the characteristics of the first authors involved. It concludes that the field of higher education research is growing and that its reach is increasingly global.

The great majority of contemporary research into higher education follows well-established social science norms, making extensive use of interviews, questionnaires and documentary sources, and carrying out careful and standardised analyses of the data collected thereby. System policy, course design and related topics attract the widest interest, with most research pitched at the course, institutional or system level. By contrast, there is relatively little published research on higher education that takes a more critical stance, examines the details of the academic experience and focuses on the individual or group (Tight, 2003a, 2004).