Due to social, economic and political changes, universities in Europe have been challenged by 'new' social demands such as accountability, quality improvement, efficiency and cost effectiveness (Chan, 2001; Deem, 1998; Gueissaz & Hayrinen-Alestalo, 1999; Pollitt & Bouckaert, 2000). This wave of reform which has swept through universities and other public organisations all over Europe became known as the 'New Public Management' (NPM) or 'managerialism'. Higher education institutions have been encouraged by increased mass access, diversification and greater autonomy accompanied by budget constraints to be increasingly accountable for the quality of their education and research. Discussions concerning educational quality increasingly emphasise the diagnosis and assessment of quality (Bleiklie, 1998). One can speak of more intensive, extensive and elaborate quality assessment (Pollitt & Bouckaert, 2000). Quality assessment is meant to demonstrate accountability to shareholders (Wolff & Harris, 1994) and therefore plays an important role in current developments in European higher education. In addition, the Bologna Treaty promoted more comparability of quality assessment of education and research between European countries.It is hardly surprising that such managerial changes have been met by resistance. An important reason for the difficulty of implementing changes is the historical background of higher education and the intellectual autonomy of its individual professionals. With the appearance of managerialism a conflict appeared between 'the received values of academic scientists - those values acquired during their education and professional socialisation - and the values embodied in and required by their new conditions of work' (Hackett, 1990, p. 249). This conflict is called the managerial contradiction. In the Netherlands, universities have to be increasingly accountable for their performances, financially as well as in the area of the quantity and quality of students and the outcomes of research. The former 'visitations' (evaluations with a more advisory character) are replaced by a rigid system of accreditation. In future, accreditation of courses (Bachelors and Masterscourses) will be a condition for obtaining financial means, the right to award Bachelor and Master degrees and the accessibility to financial assistance for participating students. Since September 2003 the NVAO (the Dutch-Flemish Accreditation Organisation, www.nvao.nl) has taken over the responsibility for accreditation from the inspection of higher education. There are possibilities for differentiation between courses, courses that perform very well according to the NVAO may be awarded the title of Top Master. This new way of quality assessment will undoubtedly lead to organisational changes, also involving the managerial contradiction.Research question: How do the Dutch universities cope with the managerial contradiction in view of the current implementation of the system of accreditation? Which organisational activities are undertaken by Dutch universities to fulfil the new demands concerning accountability of performances in such a more rigid system? · Bleiklie, I. (1998), 'Justifying the evaluative state: New Public Management ideals in higher education', European Journal of Education, 33(3), pp. 299-316. · Chan, K. (2001), 'The Difficulties and Conflict of Constructing a Model for Teacher Evaluation in Higher Education', Higher Education Management, 13(1), pp. 93-111.· Deem, R. (1998), ''New Managerialism' and Higher Education: the management of performances and cultures in universities in the United Kingdom', International Studies in Sociology of Education, 8(1), pp. 47- 70.· Gueissaz, A. and Hayrinen-Alestalo M. (1999), 'How to Integrate Contradictionary Aims: The Configurations of Actors in the Evaluation of Universities', European Journal of Education, 34(3), pp. 283-297.· Hackett, E.J. (1990) Science as a Vocation in the 1990s: The Changing Organizational Culture of Academic Science. Journal of Higher Education, 61, 241-279.· Pollitt, C. and Bouckaert, G. (2000), Public Management Reform: a comparative analysis (Oxford, Oxford University Press). · Wolff, R.A. and Harris, O.D. (1994), 'Using Assessment to Develop a Culture of Evidence', in: Halpern, D.F. (Eds.) Changing College Classrooms: New Teaching and Learning Strategies for an Increasingly Complex World, pp. 271-288 (San Francisco, Jossey-Bass).