WAC Focus Centre 4 of 4

Centre for Assessment Excellence

“Maintaining the highest standards of academic integrity and assessment quality through innovative tools and methodologies.”

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About the centre

What this centre works on

The assessment landscape is fragmented: every country, institution and edtech platform has different approaches. A global organization like WAC can play a transformative role by setting quality standards that actually matter.

WAC establishes frameworks that distinguish rigorous, valid assessments from superficial ones, creating benchmarks institutions worldwide can adapt while maintaining quality.

Academic Integrity

Mechanisms for preventing plagiarism and exam malpractice with proctoring standards that balance security with accessibility.

Quality Recognition

Competency-based quality review with clear definitions, mapped assessments and evidence of student achievement.

Equity & Inclusion

Inclusive assessment principles, audit tools for bias and guidelines ensuring fair evaluation across diverse learners.

Institutional Evaluation

Frameworks for teaching effectiveness, infrastructure adequacy, governance and outcome-based assessment.

Continuous Improvement

Genuine feedback loops: course evaluations, curriculum reviews and systematic incorporation of stakeholder input.

Meta-Evaluation

Assessment of assessment: examining validity, reliability, fairness and alignment with learning objectives.

White paper from this centre

What Can a Grade Still Prove? Rebuilding Trust in Assessment After AI

How AI, grade compression and the return of testing are pushing universities to redesign assessment

60.2%of Harvard College grades were A's in 2025 (24% in 2005)

22.2%average accuracy of 7 AI detectors after evasion, 2023 test

94%of AI-written exam scripts went unflagged by Reading markers

0.43first-year GPA gap, SAT 1600 vs 1200, at Ivy-Plus colleges

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WAC Spotlight

Analysis from this centre

Research-backed articles, with every claim sourced.

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Assessment Excellence

Harvard Capped the A. History Says the Hard Part Comes Next

After six in ten grades became A's, Harvard's faculty voted 458 to 201 to ration the top mark from fall 2027. Princeton and Wellesley tried to hold grades down before, and both gave up.

October 5, 2026 · 6 min read

Assessment Excellence

AI Detectors Can Miss Machines and Accuse Humans. Assessment Has to Change

Two Singapore universities are switching off AI detectors, as others abroad have done. Studies have found such tools missing most AI writing and misjudging second-language students. What replaces them is harder to run.

October 5, 2026 · 6 min read

Assessment Excellence

The Test Is Back: Why Elite Universities Stopped Trusting Grades Alone

All eight Ivy League universities have now decided to require the SAT or ACT again. Dartmouth's data suggest test-optional admission hurt some disadvantaged applicants, yet FairTest counts nine in ten US colleges as still not requiring scores.

October 5, 2026 · 6 min read

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