The paper describes a level and method of appraisal which combines traditional academic and professional criteria with a range of comparative and contextual criteria drawn from the needs, demands, expectations and characteristics of an institution's markets. It is suggested that, as higher education enters a period of stringent questioning about its purposes and practices, this method of ‘portfolio analysis˚s can generate answers and arguments which recognise and reconcile a variety of perspectives, notably those of students, academic staff, educational managers, employers, and local and central government. Such ‘appraisal for justification˚s may well be the soundest and safest foundation for institutional policies at a time of centralised educational planning.
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Ray Cowell (1983) studied this question.