Qualitative assessment is a decisive factor in education. The topicality of assessment quality is caused by increased student competition in higher education institutions, and therefore higher demands for fair assessment. The aim of the work is to evaluate quality – validity and reliability - of assessing student professional foreign language competence with the help of the Test in one of professional areas.

Ultimate aim of professional foreign language assessment is assessing professional foreign language competence, which is a dynamic combination of professional, communicative and intercultural competences (Luka 2005). Communicative competence implies successful use of all four language skills with communicative function. Intercultural competence (Stiers 2004, Korhonen 2004) consists of communicative competence together with ability to act in intercultural context, and experience of international work. Professional competence is a combination of communicative and intercultural competences, as well as professional competence, inseparable part of which is professional experience.

Contemporary professional foreign language control works assess the use of skills and competences in situations, resembling target situation as close as possible, besides. Main qualities of professional foreign language tests are validity, reliability and practicality. Valid tests assess what they are intended to, and reliable tests do it in a systematic way.

Latvian higher education laws and regulations indicate that assessment must possess such qualities as summing up positive achievement, reflecting student development; fairness, including openness and clarity of assessment criteria; variety of the forms of assessment and adequacy: control work correspondence to the content of the study course, mainly knowledge acquired and skills and competences developed (MK noteikumi Nr. 141 "Noteikumi par valsts pirmā līmeņa profesionālās augstākās izglītības standartu, a.o. Documents).

New development in the sphere of foreign language testing in higher education institutions in EU space of education are GULT task-based tests (GULT Project description, on-line), which use authentic reading and listening materials. European researchers have developed several models for evaluating the quality in one study course (Lasnier 2007; Meder, Iske 2009; Rudzinska 2009).  Integral part of these models is assessment, quality of which is evaluated with the help of such criteria as clarity, adequacy, deep approach, attractiveness, and test reliability.

Test validity is evaluated with quality model, developed by author (Rudzinska, 2011), consisting of 7 quality Criteria: Adequacy, Clarity, Attractiveness, Deep approach, Objectivity/Subjectivity; Originality/Similarity; orientation to study Process/orientation to study Result.

The nature of the criteria is different, the first 4 increase quality with higher values, but the last three criteria are dialectic ones, they combine opposite qualities: qualitative tests should be both original and standard, they should be evaluated both objectively and subjectively, and they should evaluate also process, not only study result. Quality Indicators form several (2-4) quality Criteria.

The results show that the designed model is reliable for test quality evaluation, and give some insights about the quality of the Test.

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