The process of teaching and learning cannot be explained without an understanding of the assessment processes, methods and strategies that are used and their implication for students’ learning. In the decades since the adoption of the European Higher Education Area (EHEA), which places students at the center of the learning process and highlights the relevance of university education to professional life, a variety of studies on learning and assessment have been conducted. A common feature of these studies is the emergence of an integrated perspective of teaching and learning and competences based- assessment  (Rust, 2007; Pereira, Flores, & Niklasson, 2015).

The transition from learning assessments to assessments based on competences is a slow and complex process that requires changes at all levels, from study programme design to student participation and teacher professional development. This change in the higher education paradigm requires adjustments in not only how learning and teaching are conceived but also how teachers and students understand the assessment process. The EHEA emphasizes competences and learning outcomes (Baartman, Bastiens, Kirchner, & van Der Vleuten, 2007), and assessing competences and learning outcomes requires that standards and criteria be defined and highlights the importance of the partnership between teachers and students. The challenge of this process is to ensure student learning through assessment design by first supporting meaningful learning and then promoting the transfer of that learning to professional life (Boud & Molloy, 2013).

The Bologna Process (1999) represented a milestone for higher education, and an analysis of the Bologna Process nearly 20 years after its implementation demonstrated the sustained level of research interest in learner-oriented assessment (Pereira et al., 2015). In the Bologna Process, all involved actors’ perceptions are important (Cano & Fernandez, 2016). Although teachers’ understanding of teaching and assessment (Brown, 2004, 2006, among others) and students’ perceptions of teaching and learning are critical topics (Lizzio & Wilson 2013). In addition students and academics’ views on assessment methods and the emergence of innovative strategies that foster the competences development represents relevant topics for the  future of the higher education system.

In this context, this symposium addresses these important questions:

1. Which are the most emergent understandings of competences based assessment in higher education?

2. What is the students’ perception about the efficiency of assessment methods for future learning and self-regulation processes?

3. How the students’ participation in assessment enhance their professional competences?

4. How teachers’ conceptions of teaching affect their teaching and assessment processes?

5. How professional development programs for higher education academics enhance good practices in assessment?

Through a mixture of theoretical and empirical papers, from four different educational context (Spain, UK, Holland and Belgium) the symposium adopts multiple perspectives on the competences based assessment in higher education. At the same time, because the papers share a coherent theme and concrete example of good assessment models and practices, we expect the presentations and the consequent discussions to contribute to the knowledge base around this timely and relevant subject.

Baartman, L.K.J., Bastiens, T.J., Kirchner, P.A., & Van Der Vleuten, C.P.M. (2007). Evaluating assessment quality in competence-based education: A qualitative comparison of two frameworks. Educational Research Review, 2, 114-129. Boud, D., & Molloy, E. (Eds.). (2013). Feedback in higher and professional education: Understanding it and doing it well. London: Routledge. Brown, G. T. L. (2004). Teachers’ conceptions of assessment: Implications for policy and professional development. Assessment in Education: Policy, Principles and Practice, 11(3), 305–322. Brown, G. T. L. (2006). Teachers’ conceptions of assessment: Validations of an abridged version. Psychological Reports, 99, 161–170. Cano, E., & Fernandez, M. (Eds.) (2016). Evaluación por competencias: la perspectiva de las primeras promociones de graduados en el EEES. Barcelona: Octaedro. Lizzio, A., & Wilson, K. (2013). First-year students’ appraisal of assessment tasks: Implications for efficacy. Engagement and performance. Assessment and Evaluation in Higher Education, 38(4), 389–406. Pereira, D., Flores, A. M., & Niklasson, L. (2015). Assessment revisited: A review of research in assessment and evaluation in higher education. Assessment and Evaluation in Higher Education, doi: 10.1080/ 02602938.2015.1055233. Rust, C. (2007). Towards a scholarship of assessment. Assessment and Evaluation in Higher Education, 32(2), 29–37.