Offering a comprehensive, clearly articulated theory of quality in higher education, this unique volume focuses on the attributes of academic programs that result in high levels of improvement in student learning. In addition to combing the research literature, the authors incorporated interviews with 781 students, faculty, and administrators in a broad range of academic and professional disciplines at a wide variety of colleges and universities. Their goal was to determine the factors that consistently foster excellence and result in positive learning experiences for students. In the course of their investigation they identified seventeen specific factors, which are described here along with the actions taken by administrators, faculty, and students to create an environment in which educational excellence thrives.

The book is organized around one central idea: that student learning is the focal point of a high quality undergraduate or graduate program, and that program quality is a result of student, faculty, and administrative engagement in teaching and learning. To help those involved in evaluating and improving academic programs, the authors have grouped specific quality characteristics into five clusters of attributes and provided a template to show how these attributes might be implemented in other programs.