Systematic Higher Education Assessment and Departmental Impacts: translating the effort to meet the need

Abstract

Abstract Assessments are expected to have impacts. We intuitively assume that assessment is done in order to get information necessary for decision making or self‐development purposes. But assessments may also be utilised in an unexpected way, and they may even have unintended impacts that have nothing to do with the utilisation of the results. The essential purpose of evaluation does not seem to be only to acquire new information, but rather the process of evaluation itself. Assessments may be helpful in closing the information gap between the university central administration and the departments. On the departmental level, assessments give some structure to processes of improvement. Teaching and research seem to be major concerns of the departments, regardless of the official goals and purposes, as departments ‘translate’ the assessments to suit their own needs.