To design study programs, courses and examinations with competencies in mind and based on consistent measurement of students’ learning progress, practitioners require objective, reliable, and valid assessments of the competencies acquired in higher education. To this end, the national research initiative KoKoHs “Modeling and Measuring Competencies in Higher Education” was established by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF). In two funding phases from 2011 to 2019, theoretical-conceptual competence models and corresponding test instruments and assessment procedures were developed and comprehensively validated. The result is the KoKoHS Assessment Portfolio, which presents developed test instruments in detail and makes them available for further use in research.
New funding announcement in the area of "quality developments in science"
The science system is traditionally seen as having a strong orientation to performance and quality. Over the past few years, most of the discussion on science-sector reform has been focusing on one topic in particular: a systemic view of "quality." In the coming years, critical reflection on this development, and generation of empirically backed findings for designing quality-assurance frameworks, are to make up a priority topic area within the BMBF funding priority "research on higher education and science." A first pertinent funding announcement, focusing on research questions in the area of "quality developments in science," was published on 21 March 2018. The deadline for submission of project summaries is 1 June 2018.
The Institute for Technology Assessment and Systems Analysis (ITAS) pursues problem-oriented research with a view to advising policy-makers and society. To this end, it analyses and assesses technologies and innovation processes with regard to the opportunities and risks they present and, in its primary focus, studies the societal conditions under which technology development and innovation thrive.
mehr: ITAS.