In this paper we focus specifically on assessment and feedback, arguing that it merits a strategic approach and a more central place within institutional policy on three main grounds. Assessment and feedback are closely bound up with standards and quality. The academic standing and public esteem of a university are therefore vulnerable where concerns persist about, for example, the adequacy of feedback given to students, the consistency of marking, or a growing disparity between the skills and qualities that assessments call for and what is expected of graduates in life and work beyond graduation. Such concerns are unlikely to fade in the coming years as debt-laden students become increasingly preoccupied with value for money and clearer ‘service standards’ – in assessment and feedback as in elsewhere.
