Self-validation

Abstract: The traditional respect accorded by the public to the universities and the professions has been based upon an acceptance that the processes by which standards were set, although internal, would stand examination by comparable outside agencies. Since such agencies rarely existed the argument was circular, and the wider public interest remained unaddressed. Self-validation, if it is to meet the expectations of modern society, will have to be prepared to work openly, without artificial or historical restrictions or secrecies. The newer universities, because of the CNAA experience of peer review, are better able to face this than the old, but it presents more serious challenges to the culture of small private colleges and newly emergent, often small and defensive, professions - not least because it is an expensive process.

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