Eine zentrale Herausforderung im Kontext von Lehrevaluationen an Universitäten ist es, ausreichend hohe Rücklaufquoten, also Teilnahmen von Studierenden an den Befragungen, zu erreichen. Die Problematik einer geringen Nutzbarkeit der erhaltenen Daten aufgrund zu niedriger Teilnahmequoten wird an vielen Stellen diskutiert und besteht an nahezu allen Hochschulen. Im vorliegenden Beitrag werden konkrete Strategien vorgestellt, die an einer Organisationseinheit der Universität Witten/Herdecke zu einer deutlichen Steigerung des Rücklaufs geführt haben. Abschließend werden weitere Umsetzungsperspektiven aufgezeigt.
This article examines the professionalization of evaluation in the context of growing global complexity and declining institutional support. While evaluation is expected to inform policy and drive learning, its professional foundations remain fragmented, with gaps in training, weak public recognition, and limited influence of professional organizations. Drawing on current developments in the field, the article highlights a shift in required evaluation competencies from technical expertise toward facilitation, systems thinking, ethical awareness, and cultural responsiveness. It argues that traditional models of professionalization are insufficient to meet contemporary challenges. Instead, professionalization of evaluation must be reimagined as science-based, value-driven, and oriented toward the public good. The article calls for stronger alignment between training and competencies, improved communication of evaluation’s value, and greater engagement of evaluators in shaping their profession.
This article examines evaluation use within the International Organization for Migration in the East and Horn of Africa, identifying factors that could enhance utilization. A descriptive and explorative case study investigated stakeholder collaboration, evaluation processes and methodologies, and organizational and local contexts as influences on evaluation use. Findings reveal evaluation use is predominantly legitimising and symbolic, conducted for donor accountability with limited local stakeholder engagement. However, an emerging learning culture shows growing instrumental and conceptual use of findings in programmatic design and internal learning. Strengthening evaluation use requires institutionalization through policy reforms addressing: technical and financial resources for quality enhancement, knowledge management systems, stakeholder engagement, and accountability to affected populations. These improvements would establish an evaluation culture balancing accountability with organizational learning.
Measuring effects in health promotion and prevention is inherently complex. Using the well-established micro-meso-macro structure, this article examines key challenges: even at the micro level, the long-term nature of desired effects and limited resources present significant difficulties for effect measurement. At the meso level, the complex causal pathways and high context-dependency complicate evaluation. At the macro level, measuring societal impacts poses fundamental methodological challenges due to numerous external factors. Divergent expectations and unclear definitions of societal benefit add further challenges. Approaches to address these issues include focusing on outcomes, using theory-based models, applying mixed-methods designs and developing simulation-based estimations. The case of Health Promotion Switzerland, a leading national institution in this field, illustrates how these challenges can be addressed in practice.
