Throughout the world a paradigm shift is taking place within higher education and in the relationship between higher education institutions (HEIs) and their quality assurance bodies. Viewed by some as a fundamental paradigm shift in higher education, it is created out of a fundamentally new emphasis on student learning, its assessment and measurement. This paper examines the nature of this paradigm shift from the perspective of U.S. higher education accreditation, in specific the efforts of the Western Association of Schools and Colleges, Senior Commission to develop a new model of accreditation to which its member institutions can become fully committed.