Cross-National Comparison of Higher Education Learning Outcomes in Germany and Australia

• In Event: Valid Assessment of Learning Outcomes in Higher Education: Cross-National Comparisons

Abstract

This paper will present a cross-national cooperation project, assessing and comparing learning outcomes of business and economics students in higher education in Germany and Australia. The project aims to adapt and implement an international instrument, tested and used in Germany, for national assessment in Australia and for later cross-national comparisons. In addition to test adaptation, validation, and implementation, the presentation will cover the significance of this German-Australian cooperation and highlight the multiple resulting innovations.
The expansion and diversification of higher education in recent decades demand a greater orientation towards outcomes, more accountability, and especially international comparability. This is particularly the case in the very popular field of business and economics, where strong internationalization trends affect student access, course delivery, and graduate outcomes. One consequence is an urgent need for international benchmarking of standards to provide comparable evidence of student learning outcomes.
Australia and Germany have much to learn from each other in this field of research. In recent years, Australia has implemented an outcomes-based approach to higher education quality, which could serve as a basis for large-scale innovation in Germany. In turn, Germany has taken a federally funded approach and has advanced coordinated and academically rigorous research that is building capacity and academic infrastructure.
More broadly, this collaboration reflects a further step to developing international comparative assessments. The German ‘WiwiKom’ project (http://www.wiwi-kompetenz.de/eng/index.php) has assessed competencies in business and economics (domain-specific knowledge and skills) on an academic level, for the first time, based on international test instruments and standards. The validated instruments are currently being reevaluated for validation and implementation in Australia by an international team comprising experts of business and economics, assessment practice, and higher education. Validation analyses include expert interviews with academic leaders, discussions with content experts and technical experts, and cognitive labs with students. If validation is positive, an assessment regime will be designed and implemented in Australia. Later, field data can also be used for testing comparability of results between Germany and Australia. The presentation will also highlight the importance of the comparability perspective throughout the research process.
This project is innovative in substance, methodology, and practice. In substance, the project will provide new insights into student learning outcomes in business and economics and will add an important international dimension. Moreover, new methodologies will be developed based on pioneering studies and will be evaluated for the very new field of cross-national comparative assessment in higher education. For practice, the project will explore new ways of proving and improving the quality of student learning, enabling institutions of higher education to respond directly to calls for accountability.
In the short term, the project will adapt and position the internationally validated assessment instrument in Australian higher education. In the medium term, we expect benefits from assessment results, associated dissemination, and networking events with policy makers and academic leaders. The longer-term perspective will be on scaling up the cross-national comparative assessment and continuing to change the standards and evidence that are used to plan and evaluate higher education.

Authors

• Hamish Bennett Coates, University of Melbourne

• Miriam Toepper, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz

• Corinna Lautenbach, Humboldt University - Berlin