為追求大學卓越，提昇高等教育品質，必須藉由實施或改革評鑑機制，以瞭解各校辦學績效，並不斷改進創新，以達到增進整體高教素質及國家競爭力之目的。近年來歐洲的高等教育評鑑作法開始受到重視，其中英國為高教發展歷史最為悠久的國家之一，且自1980年代以來，隨著績效責任要求的增加及高教預算的削減，英國開始成立不同的評鑑組織，監督各高教機構品質保證制度的運作與執行情形，以致造成高教機構必須重複接受不同機構的評鑑，造成評鑑頻繁，並浪費人力及資源。故在1997年英國為整合不同的評鑑機構及作法，成立高等教育品質保證局，以負責高教機構對教學品質保證機制及機構課程學術品質的審核工作，並自2002-2003年起，開始採取以審議為本的新品質架構，將機構和課程層級的評鑑加以統整，發展一套對大學內部品質保證程序進行外部審核的方式，稱為機構審議，為英國高等教育評鑑又開創新的局面。 爰此，本文旨在探討英國高等教育品質保證制度的最新發展--高等教育品質保證局的機構審議作法，首先分析英國高等教育品質保證制度的沿革與發展，其次分別探討機構審議的實際作法及其特色與問題，最後提出對我國大學評鑑的啟示與建議，以提供相關單位未來規劃與實施大學評鑑工作時之參考。

The quality assurance systems in European higher education have been receiving great attention in recent years. Britain is one of the European countries with the most profound history and the most complicated and diverse quality assurance systems in higher education. After 1997, the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education (QAA) was established to provide an integrated quality assurance service for Britain higher education, the system ushered a new era. Especially, since 2002-2003, the institutional audit in England replaced universal subject review, and institutional-level review. It was a new frame to ensure the effectiveness of an institution’s internal quality assurance structures and mechanisms. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to explore new developments in the quality assurance system of higher education in Britain, focusing on the practice of institutional audit by the QAA. In order to achieve this objective, this paper is organized into five sections. The first section presents an introduction. The second section reviews the historical development of quality assurance systems in Britain. The third and fourth sections explain the practice of institutional audit and analyze its characteristics and problems respectively. In the last section, the inspirations and suggestions to the development of Taiwan’s evaluation system in higher education are given.