University World News, OECD to launch university outcomes benchmark system
As we all wait for the Green Paper that was promised yesterday, Global BU turns its attention to the OECD’s decision to replace the Assessment of Higher Education Learning Outcomes [AHELO]. The new approach to benchmark higher education systems performance/learning outcomes not only aims to help students ‘make rational informed choices’, but also aims to better advise future policy. Similar to the UK’s focus on balancing teaching quality with research as demonstrated by the TEF, the aim of the OECD’s new project is to ‘give learning outcomes equal status with research’. The OECD Deputy Secretary-Gernal Kapferer says: ‘A key aim of this project is to facilitate the sharing of higher education policy developments across countries and learning from each other’s experiences about how to tackle some of the common challenges higher education systems are facing’. The ultimate challenge, however, is whether learning outcomes can be internationally comparable, and how to insure the indicators are not biased by particular cultural mindsets.