美国高等教育认证制度的变革趋势研究（下）

On the Reform of Higher Education Accreditation System in the United States

由大学协会主导的美国高等教育认证制度在世界上几乎是独一无二的。作为一种[公共产品]，美国高等教育认证制度的内在逻辑要求其从由高等教育机构组成的[独立]的治理结构（Governance）发展成为其它利益相关者可以参与的共同的治理结构。2005年，由美国时任教育部长发起了一轮以认证制度为核心的高等教育改革，本文试图通过对改革进程的详细记录和解读，阐释上述逻辑在美国特有的文化传统和政治体制下的展示方式。改革的失败似乎表明，由于高等教育对学术自由的特殊依赖性，美国社会更倾向于选择不把高等教育认证制度纳入公共管理范畴。

The US System of higher education accreditation dominated by associations of higher education institutions is unique in the world. As higher education accreditation is public goods， there is an internal tendency that the accreditation is confined to public administration domain. To examine the internal tendency in the context of the US culture， tradition and political system， the paper analyses the higher education reform centered on the accreditation institution and led by the then Secretary of the US Department of Education. The failure of this reform suggests that the US society is not inclined to put the institutions of higher education accreditation into public administration domain due to the fact that academic freedom is the core value of US higher education system.