To what extent do higher education regulators and quality agencies need to assess the level of scholarship in universities and other higher education providers? To answer this question, we need to address the following issues: What is scholarship and why does it need to be upheld? Does it feature in higher education quality standards and codes, and how would an agency go about assessing the level of scholarship? Scholarship is an essential dimension of a higher education learning environment based upon the educational theory of constructivism. Constructivism leads us to a concept of higher education based on the common pursuit of knowledge through inquiry. If the prime role of teachers is to stimulate and support student learning through inquiry, then it follows that they must be continually engaged in inquiry themselves. Agencies can take a risk-based approach to testing the level of scholarship in higher education providers, which will not normally be necessary for low-risk providers.