The Research Performance Evaluation within a Theoretical Framework of Complexity

The phenomenon of Performance-Based Research Assessment (PBRA) in higher education is a national, regional, and global one. It is a broad-ranging area of research and commentary and not a field that is easy to capture or summarize. In attempting to do so, this article will predominantly draw upon the wide range of research that has been conducted on national systems of PBRA in higher education as well as the comparisons made of these different national systems. It will also address, however, the continued significance of “global league tables,” most notably the Academic Ranking of World Universities produced by Shanghai Jiao Tong University in China and the Times Higher Education Supplement University World Rankings in the United Kingdom. It is important to note that these PBRA systems are constantly in flux, so anything that is written can quickly become outdated. This article is organized in terms of themes, which capture the historical and political significance of predominantly national PBRA systems and the significance they have in challenging our ideas of universities, how they should be governed and funded and ultimately in potentially re-shaping the mission of higher education institutions and changing the work done by academics and the production of disciplinary knowledge. It is a diverse research field with a wide range of disciplinary perspectives that have been taken to investigate this topic and the span of disciplinary theories and methodologies, including disciplines such as statistics, policy analysis, and sociology. Those authors writing on PBRA in higher education are academics across all disciplines within the broad areas of the sciences, social sciences, and humanities as well as non-academic managers and leaders within higher education. It is an issue that is debated by individuals across the whole system of higher education. The literature can be broadly based within two areas, a perspective that views PBRA systems as a means to improve accountability and efficiency of research in higher education, which attempts to compare and contrast the PBRA systems and argue for the best and most efficient way of organizing them while recognizing that improvements must be made to ensure fairness and equity. The other is a critique of the whole project of PBRA systems, which are seen to be allied to neo-liberal and new public management ideological agendas and employs critical theoretical perspectives to show the deleterious impacts of such systems on knowledge production within universities and academic work and identity.

Academic Writing Assessment (AWA) in higher education is essential for students, educators, and institutional stakeholders, as it not only evaluates students’ writing proficiency but also informs pedagogical practices and supports ongoing curriculum development. Despite an expanding body of literature in this domain, comprehensive bibliometric studies that systematically map the publication landscape, identify influential contributors, and trace the evolution of research themes remain scarce. This study addresses this gap by conducting a systematic bibliometric analysis of AWA research in higher education, examining publication trends, thematic development, and key authorship from 2000 to 2025. A total of 545 Scopus-indexed journal articles were analyzed using VOSviewer, Biblioshiny-R, Microsoft Excel, and OpenRefine. The results indicate a consistent growth in publications, particularly after 2010, with a marked surge since 2018. Teng M.F was identified as the most prolific author, offering future researchers clear reference points for seminal works in the field. The most cited publication, Strobl with 212 citations, examined the integration of digital technologies in academic writing. Geographically, the United Kingdom accounted for the highest publication output. Thematic analysis revealed central topics including "academic writing," "higher education," and "assessment," alongside emerging themes such as "collaborative learning," "ChatGPT," "artificial intelligence," and "academic integrity." Current trends suggest that technological integration is reshaping AWA, frequently prioritizing efficiency and measurable outcomes over students’ metacognitive, literacy, critical thinking, and analytical development. These findings highlight the need for more holistic assessment approaches that consider both the processes and outcomes of academic writing. Future research should integrate evaluations of writing processes, learning outcomes, and technological applications to foster a comprehensive understanding of AWA in higher education.

Feedback is an integral part of education and there is a substantial body of trials exploring and confirming its effect on learning. This evidence base comes mostly from studies of compulsory school age children; there is very little evidence to support effective feedback practice at higher education, beyond the frameworks and strategies advocated by those claiming expertise in the area. This systematic review aims to address this gap. We review causal evidence from trials of feedback and formative assessment in higher education. Although the evidence base is currently limited, our results suggest that low stakes‐quizzing is a particularly powerful approach and that there are benefits for forms of peer and tutor feedback, although these depend on implementation factors. There was mixed evidence for praise, grading and technology‐based feedback. We organise our findings into several evidence‐grounded categories and discuss the next steps for the field and evidence‐informed feedback practice in universities. Context and implications Rationale for this study To gain a better understanding of effective formative assessment and feedback approaches in higher education (HE). To promote a more evidence‐informed approach to teaching and learning in universities. Why the new findings matter The findings highlight a small number of promising strategies for formative assessment and feedback in HE. They also draw attention to a lack of (quality) evidence in this area overall. Implications for policy‐makers and practitioners Universities and their regulators/funders should be encouraging and supporting more, high‐quality research in this important area. Researchers in the field also need to look to developing more ambitious, higher‐quality studies which are likely to provide robust, causal conclusions about academic effectiveness (or other outcomes). Those involved in teaching and learning in university should use the findings to inform evidence‐informed approaches to formative assessment and feedback and to challenge approaches which do not appear to have foundations in strong evidence. Students could be made more aware of teaching and learning approaches that are likely to support their academic progress.

Reviewed by: Outcomes Assessment in Higher Education: Views and Perspectives Cia Verschelden Outcomes Assessment in Higher Education: Views and Perspectives, ed. Peter Hernon and Robert E. Dugan. Westport, Connecticut: Libraries Unlimited, 2004. 350 p. $50(ISBN: 1-59158-098-6) In the fall of 2000, the Higher Learning Commission visited our campus on a re-accreditation site visit. The following spring we received their report—we were reaccredited but they would be back for a "focused visit" in 2005 to look at our progress on assessment of student learning. That summer, I took on the task of "capacity building" in an effort to develop a positive and sustainable assessment of student learning culture at a large, public land-grant institution. I have since met with dozens of people to talk about student learning outcomes, assessment criteria and measures, and using assessment results to improve student learning. I found it almost impossible to get through this book! In virtually every chapter, I found myself taking time to highlight interesting or essential parts, make notes in the margins, or notes to myself about what I need to do with this or that section. My notes were comments like: "The Provost must see this ASAP"; "This is exactly the argument that I've been having with Professor __________ in biology for two years"; "Every department head needs this list and this chart tomorrow;" "I told them that's how it's supposed to happen!" This book addresses real issues. It reflects on precisely the kinds of challenges that I and my colleagues from across the country experience every day in our work. I found that many of the articles provided a barometer of sorts for me. I found myself assessing our progress and reflecting on the "opportunities" still ahead. The experts in this volume have described the path that promises to lead eventually to an effective "culture of assessment" at our institutions. In several of the articles, the authors provide progress checklists, which one can use to mark off accomplishments and see very clearly the direction and purpose of the next step. When I started in this work three years ago, I began to create an assessment of student learning handbook for department heads. I included three papers as critical background reading: "Assessment Measures and Methods: Advice from NCA," by Cecilia Lopez (North Central Association Commission on Institutions of Higher Education: Opportunities for Improvement: Advice from Consultant-Evaluators on Programs to Assess Student Learning, March 1996); "Assessment of Student Achievement: Levels of Implementation," from NCA's Handbook of Accreditation, 2nd edition (March 2000); and "Moving from Paperwork to Pedagogy: Channeling Intellectual [End Page 138] Curiosity into a Commitment to Assessment," by Peggy Maki, former director of assessment for the American Association for Higher Education (AAHE Bulletin, May 2002, pp. 3-5). In addition, I highly recommended Mary Huba and Jann Freed's Learner-Centered Assessment on College Campuses (Boston, MA: Allyn and Bacon, 2000), itself ahandbook of sorts for faculty who are beginning to develop a "culture of evidence" within their degree programs. Now, in the fall of 2004, I am recommending to the provost that every College Assessment Committee have a copy of Outcomes Assessment in Higher Education. This book offers four things: (1) a review of the mandate for the kind of accountability that is addressed by assessment of student learning processes (Chapter 4, "Institutional Assessment Planning"); (2) a series of very practical and concise "how-to" instructions that reflect what I have seen work (Chapter 5, "Developing an Assessment Plan to Learn about Student Learning"); (3) some models of specific approaches that share with us some of the barriers that were encountered and overcome along the way to effective change (Chapter 9, "Evolving an Assessment of Impact on Pedagogy, Learning, and Library Support of Teaching with Digital Images" and Chapter 10, "Outcomes Assessment in a College Library: An Instructional Case Study"); and (4) a summary of the progress that has been made in colleges and universities across the country so that we have a context in which to evaluate our progress (Chapter 3, "A Decade of Assessing Student Learning: What We Have Learned, and What is Next"). One of the...

The progress of sustainability within higher education has steadily increased in focus over the last decade and has increasingly become a topic of academic research. As institutions investigate, implement and market sustainability efforts, there is a myriad of sustainability assessment methodologies currently available. This assortment of standards being used by institutions do not help students and faculty assess the level of sustainability uniformly between institutions. A universal framework was proposed for facilitate stakeholder’s review of comparing sustainability assessments in higher education. This research reviews the creation of the framework and results from testing in an online environment. The lack of data collected during the testing phase provides some anecdotal evidence regarding what stakeholder consider important in terms of sustainability within higher education and may also indicate that there is no need for a universal sustainability assessment in higher education to be used directly by stakeholder.

The need for quality assessment in higher education, particularly in the European Union countries is explained. Four main systems of evaluation having many elements in common but also many differences have emerged in four of the European Union countries. The purpose of the pilot projects described is to reinforce cooperation among existing national evaluation agencies and to disperse and disseminate these methods to the other European Union countries so as to enhance awareness of the need for quality assessment and evaluation in higher education, impart a European dimension to quality assessment and evaluation, enrich national quality assessment procedures, and contribute to the improvement of the basis and the procedures for academic mobility and recognition. The procedures for setting up and conducting pilot evaluation projects in selected higher education institutions in the European Union countries over a period running from November 1994 to December 1995 are detailed. * This article originally appear...

The purpose of this article is to describe the use of evaluability assessment, an approach to program evaluation, to inform continuous improvement efforts, support accountability requirements, and facilitate a culture of assessment in higher education. Examples of two evaluability assessments conducted in a college of education are discussed, including the key activities carried out for each component of the evaluability assessments, findings and recommendations from each evaluability assessment, and how results of the evaluation work have been used. The examples demonstrate the utility of evaluability assessment as part of a higher education assessment system. They further highlight the value of stakeholder involvement, initiation of assessment by leadership based on need, and use of results in supporting a culture of assessment in higher education. Future research is needed to better understand the utility of evaluability assessment in other program evaluation approaches in diverse higher education contexts.

The progress of sustainability within higher education has steadily increased in focus over the last decade and has increasingly become a topic of academic research. As institutions investigate, implement and market sustainability efforts, there is a myriadof sustainability assessment methodologies currently available. This assortment of standards being used by institutions do not help students and faculty assess the level of sustainability uniformly between institutions. A universal framework was proposed for facilitate stakeholder’s review of comparing sustainability assessments in higher education. This research reviews the creation of the framework and results from testing in an online environment. The lack of data collected during the testing phase provides some anecdotal evidence regarding what stakeholder consider important in terms of sustainability within higher education and may also indicate that there is no need for a universal sustainability assessment in higher education to be used directly by stakeholder.

A Review of the Literature on Assessment in Academic and Research Libraries, 2005 to August 2011 Jon R. Hufford (bio) Introduction Assessment in United States higher education has become very important in recent years. Virtually all colleges and universities are now striving to prove through empirical evidence that they are committed to improving student learning. Created in late 2005, the US Department of Education's Commission on the Future of Higher Education was charged with the task of "developing a strategy for higher education to meet the needs of America's population and address the economic and workforce needs of the future."1 The Commission's final report, A Test of Leadership: Charting the Future of United States Higher Education, makes several recommendations for reform and states in a summary that "improved accountability is vital to ensuring the success of all the other reforms we propose. Colleges and universities must become more transparent about cost, price, and student success outcomes, and must willingly share this information with students and families." Though the report was not an early wake-up call for assessment, since articles on the need and importance of assessment in higher education had been published in the literature before 2006,2 it was an important document on the topic from a political and administrative perspective and has had a significant impact on campuses across the nation. This is because, in response to the Commission's report, the regional accreditation organizations made changes in their standards, and these changes have been directly responsible for the trend toward assessment. As might be expected, some of the standards of several of these regional organizations relate to academic libraries and have changed the way they are assessed. This article reviews the literature on assessment in academic and research libraries that has been published since the Commission on the Future of Higher Education was created in 2005 and up until August 2011. Much has been written about assessment [End Page 5] over the years. The author felt that coverage of the literature of the most recent six years would include sources that would still be reasonably relevant for academic professionals in 2011. The author was also interested in providing an examination of the coverage since the Commission's report to disclose new developments, ideas, and directions in the assessment of academic and research libraries. Also, to offer a competent and manageable review of the literature, the article focuses on assessments concerned with the management or administration of libraries and their collections, public services, and issues or projects affecting more than one department within a library. Assessments in the acquisitions and technical services areas have been excluded. The author's goal was to treat the topic comprehensively. However, some sources were not considered significant enough to be included, and it is possible that other sources that perhaps should have been included were inadvertently left out. A representative selection of noteworthy older monographs and textbooks generally recognized for their contribution to academic and research library assessment has been included, along with a selection of publications on assessment in higher education that provides a more comprehensive perspective of the topic. Though the majority of the sources reviewed in this article were published in the United States and cover developments in the United States, some sources published in international or foreign publications that cover developments in the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, or South Africa were included because they discuss developments similar to those taking place in American academic and research libraries and provide important insights into the topic. Assessment is often equated with evaluation. To education professionals, assessment occurs when a researcher wants to discover what a student knows or can do, while evaluation is used to determine the value of a course or program. Authors of books focused on academic and research libraries normally use evaluation when they discuss the measurement (or evaluation) of a library's operations and services. In The Measurement and Evaluation of Library Services, F.W. Lancaster explains in his definition of evaluation that it "consists of the comparison of performance with the objectives of the agency, in order to determine (a) whether there has been any change in performance for a...

This paper draws upon on a wider study on importance of assessment in higher education.The study reviewed literature of assessment in higher education to understand to develop an understanding of essence of assessment of education at university level or beyond.Furthermore, the new assessment methods are reviewed by author in detail.Assessment is an integral part of any successful learning period.Assessment is able to alter the students' perception and approaches towards the learning process.Effectiveness of any assessment highly depends on usage of right assessment methods and tools.In this paper, an attempt has been made to analyze assessment types, steps, possible challenges and feedback in higher education.

Assessment in higher education has been dominated by traditional practices that mainly focus on grades for student progression. However, there has been some transformation in assessment due to the advancement in education. Generally, assessment is viewed as central to student learning and experience. Assessment as learning, is not just an addition to learning and teaching, but it presents an opportunity through which students’ involvement in assessment could manifest as part of learning: assessment is learning-oriented. Assessment as Learning in Higher Education is about student empowerment; hence, students take ownership of their own learning process. Furthermore, assessment as learning promotes constructivism through student engagement and knowledge construction. This bibliometric analysis analysed the trends evident from research on assessment as learning and implementation in Higher Education. Data were retrieved from the Scopus database and analysed using VOSviewer. The thematic analysis approach was also employed. The study reveals that self-assessment is important in promoting student empowerment, which is one of the benefits of assessment as learning. It is important that higher education institutions rethink assessment as learning because this might assist in achieving the 21st-century educational goal of independent learning. The study’s findings confirm that there is a need for constructive alignment of teaching, learning and assessment; hence, assessment as learning becomes more significant. The findings provided an overview of key themes, research gaps and potential areas for future research. The insight that was gained from this bibliometric analysis will be valuable for lecturers, course designers, universities, assessors and researchers seeking to improve assessment in higher education.

Strategic Environmental Assessment in higher education: Portuguese and Brazilian cases

There has been growing interest in alternative assessment strategies that focus on student participation within higher education over the past 20 years. At the same time, it is important to note that there is very little published research dealing with alternative forms of assessment in the field of physical education teacher education (PETE). In this paper we seek to make a case for democratic assessment practices within a critical pedagogy of PETE. We begin by outlining developments in assessment in higher education in general, before considering student participation in assessment processes. We then consider some strategies of participative assessment, and discuss their benefits, risks and difficulties. An account of the experience of the National Network of Formative and Shared Assessment in Higher Education in Spain provides us with a working example of the implementation of democratic practices in assessment in PETE. We conclude that the lack of research in physical education on democratic assessment practices raises serious questions about the extent to which our field is committed to producing teachers capable of meeting the complex social and cultural challenges they will surely meet in the schools of tomorrow.

Student assessment in higher education is the systematic process of evaluating learners’ academic performance, skills and competencies to ensure quality learning outcomes and guide instructional improvement. This study investigates how teachers at Tribhuvan University perceive student assessments, exploring their experiences with various evaluation methods in higher education. It highlights the effectiveness and challenges teachers face during these processes. Utilizing a practitioner enquiry and phenomenological design of qualitative research approach, this study gathers data through in-depth interviews with four university teachers and focus group discussion with five students of higher education based on purposive sampling. It delves into teachers’ and students’ lived experiences regarding assessment practices. The findings not only shed light on the multifaceted perceptions of grading systems and assessment strategies but also offer valuable insights into enhancing the fairness and quality of student evaluation. The implications of this study are significant, offering recommendations informed by practitioner enquiry to guide policymakers, academic leaders and educators in refining student assessment practices, ultimately enhancing learning outcomes and enriching educational experiences.

This chapter contributes an Open Distance Learning (ODeL) perspective on the importance of quality assessment in higher education. Two issues motivate the articulation of this chapter. First, COVID-19 has violently pushed all higher education institutions into some kind of distance teaching and learning and assessment. Therefore, any academic discussion on ODeL is topical and relevant for the sharing of experiences across contexts. Second, ODeL has an important role in socio-economic development, especially in Africa where a large percentage of the population lives below the poverty line. In such cases, ODeL advances access to higher education by people whose prospects are to improve their situations and the situation of their communities. As such, quality assessment in such contexts has implications on whether those individuals and communities will be completely emancipated through education or if the education they attain will still exacerbate their marginalization. The chapter uses spatial theory as a lens to present various spatial practices as ways in which quality assessment can be ensured in the ODeL institutions or for online assessments. It indicates that the social space for assessment does not have to be physical but requires quality and enabling spatial practices which are enhanced by technological resources. The chapter suggests that all stakeholders should play their part in the provision of such quality. The chapter concludes by challenging researchers to empirically examine the output of ODeL assessments so that the quality of this mode of education can be improved to enhance its contribution to society.