Higher education is an increasingly strategic investment for countries and for individuals and it is regarded to be a crucial factor in human capital development and one of the foundations of knowledge societies. Accordingly, quality of higher education is seen important in various higher education contexts. Furthermore, there are signs that traditional collegial approaches to defining, assessing and monitoring academic standards are no longer sufficient on their own for yielding generalisable data on what graduates have learned and can do (Coates, 2010). However, there are no tools available to compare the quality of teaching and learning in higher education institutions on an international scale. OECD’s AHELO (Assessment of Higher Education Learning Outcomes) project (2009–2012) is an attempt to fill this gap. It focuses on developing criteria that will make it possible to evaluate the quality and relevance of what students learn in institutions around the world. AHELO project is in its feasibility study phase which focuses on scientific and practical development and assessment of research instruments to measure learning outcomes. Hence, the main aim of the AHELO study is to explore the feasibility of measuring higher education quality across different institutions, countries, languages and cultures. The AHELO feasibility study evaluates whether reliable cross-national assessments of higher education learning outcomes are scientifically possible and whether their implementation is feasible.

Coates, H. 2010. Defining and monitoring academic standards in Australian higher education. Higher Education Management and Policy, 22(1), 1-17.