The Management of Assessment in Higher Education

ABSTRACT

The management of assessment—in contrast to assessment methods themselves—has received surprisingly little attention in the literature, yet is of considerable importance at a time when students are increasingly taking on customer‐like roles, with all that this implies for complaints, appeals and—in extreme circumstances—litigation. It is argued that three broad conditions need to be satisfied if the management of assessment is to be effective: there has to be a clear definition of the purpose(s) to be served; a strategy designed to lead to the fulfilment of purpose(s); and an operationalisation that ‘works’. This paper considers factors (at institutional, departmental and individual levels) that bear on the satisfaction of these conditions, and how they interrelate. It concludes by making a number of general recommendations regarding practice.