約半世紀前，高等教育實質上係指傳統的研 究型大學; 但今日已完全不同! 此時的大學不僅撤 除學術的高牆，大學教師與學生也試圖參與社會體 制，甚至政治體制的改造。大學真的不一樣了！近 有高等教育品質說，簡言之，好產品必須符合消費 者需求，讓消費者對產品有信心。同理，高等教育 既然講求品質，則培養出來的學生應要符合社會的 需求，讓社會對其有信心。高等教育不論如何蛻變， 培養人才始終是首要之務。 改善高等教育品質之策略多元且複雜，本文檢 視大學的排名及國內一些政府支助的計劃; 排名指 標及計劃重點大抵重教師學術研究成果輕學生學習 表現，更遑論對學生的學習評量。事實上了解學生 學習表現係目前高等教育之全球趨勢。經濟合作暨 發展組織（OECD）近年來啟動高等教育學習成效 評量(AHELO) 可行性研究即為一例。近聞教育部規 劃高教總體目標將以學生為主體，應較符合全球趨 勢，也較符合高等教育以培養人才之目的。 筆者也期待政府能儘早與國際性大學生直接評 量學習活動( 如AHELO)，方可檢視我們高等教育 畢業學生進入職場時所需的知識及技能，以使改善 高等教育品質的系統更為完善。

Nearly half a century ago, higher education was defined in terms of traditional research universities but the picture is entirely different today. Several trends have contributed to reshaping the model of the university from a focus on elites to a focus on the masses, with increasing participation of faculty and students in social and even political reforms. Higher education today, with its massive expansion and wider participation, is completely different from what it was before. There has been a new definition of higher education quality. Quality is meeting the customers’ needs and gaining customers’ confidence. Similarly, higher education quality is a term coined to describe when educating better qualified graduates to be responsible citizens with skills tailored to the present and future needs of society, who have confidence in fully participating in society. No matter what trends of higher education come and go, nurturing talent will always be a top priority. Strategies for improving higher education quality are multiple and complex. The present article examines university ranking systems and some governmentsponsored projects. The results indicate that the indicators used in university rankings overemphasize research output and research impact but ignore student learning outcomes, regardless of whether an attempt was made to measure student learning outcomes. As a matter of fact the trend of understanding student learning outcomes is becoming global; the OECD-AHELO feasibility study for Assessment of Higher Education Learning Outcomes (AHELO) conducted by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) is an example. It is reported that the Ministry of Education, Taiwan (ROC) is planning to design and develop a student-centered learning environment for students in higher education that would correspond to identified global trends and best meets the goals of higher education. It is hoped that Taiwan could participate as early as possible and become involved in this kind of assessment project by providing a direct evaluation of student learning outcomes at the global level, i.e. AHELO, in order to better understand what students in higher education know and can do upon graduation and improve the quality of higher education.