---

The inherited higher education (HE) system of the apartheid era was fragmented and separated along racial and ethnic lines. The National Plan for HE or NPHE provided the framework and mechanisms to restructure the HE system to achieve the vision and goals for the transformation of HE as outlined in the White Paper. The overall goal is a single, national, integrated, co-ordinated and diverse system for HE that is characterised by equity, quality, responsiveness to the socio-economic needs of the country and excellence. An overview of perspectives on assessment in an outcome based context which will serve as a theoretical foundation for the assessment framework. Implications emanating from the theoretical discussion will be outlined. Since this study focuses on the process of assessment, aspects like moderation and the assessment as part of Recognition of Prior Learning, which falls outside of the scope of this study, will not be included in the framework.

---