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Higher education was strictly controlled by the central government in Taiwan until the advent of democracy in 1 987．Subsequently,Taiwan’S higher education institutions began to enjoy far greater academic freedom and autonomy but the rapid expansions of higher education,a growth in the number of private institutions,diversification,and cuts in funding of higher education have aroused increasing concern over the quality of higher education．In parallel,the government has attempted to make Taiwanese universities internationally competitive and more responsive to national needs．The main means introduced for achieving this was through the introduction of a national quality assurance(QA)system,which initially played an advisory and developmental role．However,the role of the QA system has since been extended and it now informs resource allocation．This has been interpreted as a threat to university autonomy and as distorting universities’teaching and research．The govemment conducted the first subj ect evaluations in agriculture,science and medicine to ensure the quality of higher education and to promote national goals by encouraging competition between universities in 1 975．This early QA system remained under continuous development for the next 30 years,but it was not until recently that it moved beyond providing advice and guidance to universities．In 2005,the“Higher Education Evaluation&Accreditation Council of Taiwan”(HEEACT)was established and the“University Act”was revised．Based on these changes,the government was effectively given the authority to use the evaluation system to regulate and supervise the universities．Following the introduction of the“University Act”．the Ministry of Education was able to distribute expenditure and change student numbers based on the results of its evaluation exercise．This move has been controversial significantly changing the higher education landscape and provoking allegations that it is in conflict with university autonomy．This article traces the development of the current the QA system in Taiwan,identifying its key features and exploring the impact of the current evaluation systemon higher education institutions．First．the historical and policy analysis were used toexamine the genesis and developmental stages of the new evaluation system between1 975 and 20 1 1．The paper then uses documentary analysis,focusing on HEEACTpublications and related articles,to discuss the issues that have arisen since theimplementation of the QA system．The investigation illustrated how higher education evaluation in Taiwan has beeninfluenced by international trends．Whilst the evaluation system has lts positiveimpacts on universities,especially in terms of responding to the demand foraccountability from Taiwanese society;the relationship between the state and academia has changed．The government allocates funding based on the results of higher education evaluation．In order to achieve the desired outcomes,universitieshave to adjust evaluation because it brings financial rewards and punishments to universities．Higher education evaluation has become the main tool for university ranking and the government can guide the development of universities by carrying out evaluation．