Assessing Higher Education Learning Outcomes Summary of a First Meeting of Experts

1. Policy makers as well as the public devote considerable attention to the outcomes of higher education. For some aspects of higher education outputs and outcomes, such as the type and number of degrees awarded, the research outputs produced or the labour-market returns to higher education studies, numerous indicators exist at both national and international levels. However, for other aspects, and most notably for the learning outcomes of higher education, available data are much more limited (a draft summary of existing assessments compiled by the OECD is available for reference). This topic attracted particular attention by OECD Education Ministers at their meeting in June 2006 and Ministers invited the OECD to explore how this information gap could be filled. With two expert meetings, the OECD seeks to explore the feasibility of further work in this area. The first expert meeting was held on 18 April 2007 at the OECD offices in Washington (see the Annex for a list of participants).