Impact of globalization : a study of quality assurance systems of higher education in Hong Kong and Singapore

Fashionable terms，such as “excellence,” “competitiveness,” “efficiency,” “accountability,” and “devolution,” and different strategies, such as internal audit, quality assurance, performance pledges, and management-byobjectives, have been adopted by many governments and institutions as they attempt to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of public services. Education is an important public service, and, as such, it is not immune from the tidal force of “managerialism” and the prominence of “economic rationalism” that are sweeping the public sector. This article examines how higher education in Hong Kong and Singapore has been aflFected by one aspect of globalization - the tidal force of managerialism - particularly the mechanisms and managerial systems that the City University of Hong Kong (CityU) and the National University of Singapore (NUS) have adopted in response to the global wave of “quality assurance.”