Five universities have joined the London School of Economics in announcing plans to splinter from Quality Assurance Agency inspections. University College London and the universities of Oxford, Cambridge, Edinburgh and Birmingham are the latest institutions to reject QAA assessments as a standard of academic review. The agency is funded by subscriptions from universities and colleges, as well as through contracts with the main funding bodies. David Triesman, Association of University Teachers' general secretary, has called for a rethink of the quality assurance framework and its burden of bureaucracy in higher education. "Of the estimated £250 million a year spending on 'accountability exercises' within higher education, the QAA is the worst offender," he said.