Assessment in higher education the current Australian scene

Heads of academic departments in institutions of higher education in Australia were asked about the current situation and recent trends in assessment purposes and practices; what they saw as problems, what improvements they would favour and what barriers they saw to those improvements; and about rules, policies, controls and review procedures. The findings are reported and discussed. In a final section the authors comment upon significant issues concerning assessment, including the extent to which students are involved in decisions about how they are to be assessed, level of staff interest in the rationale for assessment, and the priority they give to assessment among their concerns.