Growth, Standards and Quality: the case of coursework master's degrees

Abstract

Taught master's degrees are a growth area in the English‐speaking world. This article documents that and, in the process, shows something of the diversity of programmes. While there are strengths in diversity, diversity can also be a source of problems for educational consumers, problems that are compounded by tacit, uneven notions of the standards that define master's level achievement. Nor do commonly‐followed approaches to the promotion of quality in higher education sit well with consumers’ interests, particularly given pressures on academics that are associated with the casualisation and intensification of their work. The conclusions are that a better research base would be helpful to all concerned; that attempts to make clearer what programmes offer have some value; and that disciplinary networks have some power to clarify standards and quality in coursework master's programmes.