This paper focuses upon the faculty at low-prestige universities, and their awareness of quality assurance for bachelor programs. It also explores the characteristics of faculty who have a positive image of quality assurance. The findings are as follows.
Faculty at low-prestige universities realize the importance of quality assurance, but this doesn’t necessarily mean that they consider classification and functional differentiation should be promoted in order to assure educational quality. However, this awareness of quality assurance is not based on a judgment that the classification and functional differentiation of universities are not an effective measure for achieving the quality assurance of education at low-prestige universities. In other words, the existence or non-existence of vested interests that should be protected is related to the awareness.