FACING UP THE CHALLENGE: WHY IS IT SO HARD TO ASSESS GRADUATE ATTRIBUTES WITHIN THE EGYPTIAN UNIVERSITY SECTOR?

Graduate attributes implementation has received considerable attention in recent years as universities worldwide seek to embed and assess them in taught courses. While university quality assurance models support graduate attributes assessment, the effectiveness of this undertaking is often limited by the influence of a range of contextual factors. This paper discusses these factors and suggests that the assessment of graduate attributes is affected by a number of complexities that is unlikely to be resolved unless these contextual factors are addressed on the university level. Empirical data was collected, using semi-structured interviews, from a purposive sample of academics teaching in different undergraduate programmes of study within the Egyptian university sector. To ensure the validity of the data, more information was collected from the documents that represent the different educational policies and practices implemented in these programmes of study. Through thematic data analysis and by applying complexity theory as a conceptual framework, the study identified the different contextual factors that affected the assessment of graduate attributes in Egyptian undergraduate degree courses.