Advancing Assessment in Co-design with Students: An evidence informed approach to enhancing practice

Students’ views are shifting in how they want to engage in higher education, driven by the complex socio-economic landscapes they are operating within (Hughes, 2023). This has prompted Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) to reconsider how they support students with diverse ranges of needs and wellbeing issues (Firth et al., 2023). Central to this is their experience of assessment and feedback, which remains a point of weakness in their overall university experience. Therefore, it is imperative that HEIs hear their voices around learning development and assessment journeys, especially given the other demands on their time (Neves et al., 2024) and develop in co-design to build connectiveness (McIntosh and May, 2025). The University of Southampton has developed a five-year Advancing Assessment Strategic Major Project to enhance assessment thinking and embrace new ideas and practices across the institution, underpinned by a set of principles with inclusivity and accessibility at the core. This has included the introduction of the Assessment Consultancy, established within the Centre for Higher Education Practice (CHEP), providing bespoke individual and whole-programme assessment development with a core ethos of student co-design (CHEP, 2025). This session presented recent findings from the project and relayed the initial evaluations of these approaches to inform learning development peers and enable learning from their own and others’ experiences. The session also explored how HEIs can lay the foundations for innovation that aligns with emerging trends in assessment and feedback, such as assessment optionality and cohesive programme development design (Walker, 2025).