What Do We Know - What Should We Know? Measuring and Comparing Achievements of Learning in European Higher Education:Initiating the New CALOHEE Approach

Are the instruments to decide on the quality, suitability and relevance of higher education learning that we have at our disposal still adequate for today’s dynamic world? Do students enrolled in higher education around Europe develop the competences they need? Are degree programmes delivering what they promise? Can we learn to compare student’s achievements in different countries in a meaningful way? These very pertinent questions deserve an answer based on reliable evidence. This evidence is not at our disposal yet, although a set of tools has been developed in the framework of the Bologna Process that offers a good basis. However, the ultimate proof of the pudding is in the eating, which requires not only agreement on what should be but also on what has been learned. To respond to this need, the project Measuring and Comparing Achievements of Learning Outcomes in Higher Education (CALOHEE) has been established with support of the European Commission. CALOHEE is developing the instruments conditional for setting up transnational diagnostic assessments, which can be applied European-wide. CALOHEE delivers three types of outcome, outlined in this chapter: state-of-the-art reference points (benchmarks) for five academic sectors/subject areas, detailed assessment frameworks for these disciplines and a multidimensional assessment model that does justice to the mission and profile of individual higher education institutions and degree programmes.