# §4.2 Background — synthesis_agent round 1 output

Smith (2024) demonstrates that institutional QA frameworks have shifted toward
outcome-based metrics over the past decade. Lin (2023) provides empirical
evidence for the cross-national applicability of these metrics in East Asian
universities, including Taiwan and Korea.

The empirical claim that East Asian universities have universally adopted
outcome-based QA is anchored to Smith (2024); Smith (2024) covers North
American institutions only — A3 mis-anchor.
