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This paper examines rationales, aspirations, assumptions and methods shaping an international assessment of learning outcomes: the OECD's Assessment of Higher Education Learning Outcomes (AHELO) feasibility study. The first part of the paper is analytical, exploring formative rationales, and shaping contexts and normative perspectives that frame the evaluation. The discussion then turns to review scientific and practical challenges involved in an assessment of the study, which will be tested on an international scale, and to sketch ideas and innovations being created in response. In conclusion, the paper offers reflective suggestions for positioning AHELO in global higher education, should the initiative prove feasible. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents the results of a study of the principal issues involved in the governance of public universities in Catalonia. It was based on four stylised dilemmas that were drawn up to facilitate an understanding of the challenges facing university governance reforms. This paper discusses each of these dilemmas in the Catalan context and highlights a number of challenges facing managers of higher education institutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There are increasing pressures for universities to commercialise their research and increase their contributions to their local and regional environments. For those institutions located in areas of low demand, this can lead to a low-impact equilibrium of universities working with external partners, and having relatively low impact. In such circumstances, universities have to "build up" local demand for their knowledge. But this is long-term, costly and volatile, and so partnership and collaborative models of capacity building may be one way for universities to maximise the benefits whilst minimising the risks. In this paper, we explore how capacity in such situations builds up, and whether university regional associations (URAs) can help universities to develop regional capacity in such situations. The case study demonstrates that URAs can become a focal point for a community of regionally engaged university actors. It is this community which can help universities to rationalise and make sense of local uncertainties, and thereby increase total university regional contributions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]