LEARNING IN HIGHER EDUCATION AND ITS OUTCOMES

The increasing diversity and internationalization of higher education in Europe require greater sophistication in the means of assessment of individual higher education institutions, individual units within given institutions, and learning outputs and outcomes. A short historical overview of assessment in Europe and in the United States is given followed by proposals to refine and to broaden specific aspects of evaluation. The authors suggest the development of instruments and procedures aimed at measuring learned abilities and adressing them in the context of curricula, learning environment, teaching, and learning; instruments which can measure both vertical and horizontal differences; and instruments suitable for measuring both outputs and outcomes. They further suggest a number of study design elements and conclude with a recommendation that CHER stimulate research in this crucial domain.