Abstract

The European Higher Education Area conducts to a change of the educational paradigm from planning (the curriculum design is based on competencies profiles) to methodological aspects (student- based learning). The students should be prepared to make meaningful and autonomous learning which enable it to solve problems throughout life. This model can fail if it does not change an essential element: the assessment practices. The competency evaluation must be a collective challenge. There are proposals designed in order to integrate the real knowledge of different subjects and different types (conceptual, procedural, attitudinal) and allow the application of that knowledge in different contexts. In order to change the assessment practices, the research group has investigated the theoretical framework of competency assessment (McDonald et al., 2000; Scallon, 2004; Laurier, 2005; Gerard and Bief, 2008). Through 1000 questionnaire, we collected the professors’ opinion from the Catalonian universities about the competency assessment. At the same time we selected the best assessment practices in order to understand deeply the students evaluation practices. The methodological approach is based on: in-depth interviews, questionnaires for the students, and documental analysis (study program, evaluation instruments, and others).