Evaluating the level of degree programmes in higher education: The case of nursing

Abstract

The European Quality Assurance system demands that the degree programme level is represented in terms of quantitative outcomes to be valid and reliable. To meet this need the Educational Level Evaluator (ELE) was devised. This conceptually designed procedure with instrumentation aiming to evaluate the level of a degree validly and reliably still needed empirical evidence. In this study the ELE was carried out in collaboration with five professional bachelor nursing degree programmes. The degree programme level was conceptualised into disciplinary thinking and professional attitude. Disciplinary thinking refers to higher order thinking on complex disciplinary problems. Professional attitude refers to processing attitudinal characteristics of the profession that the study addresses. The level was operationalised into themes, resulting in good face validity: nursing science, care plan, diagnosing, and nurse–person relationships, and specified by learning outcomes representing the bachelor level (0.78). The learning outcomes were processed in a questionnaire for recent graduates (N = 470). Four components ≥ 1 eigenvalue measured the conceptualised themes explaining 72–80% variance and scale reliability from 0.78 in the single samples. With this study the level was evaluated validly and reliably and the conceptual design was demonstrated to be evidence-based.