What exams should accomplish: Exams for academic competencies

Examination cultures at universities are sometimes described as problematic not very well thought out. Today, there is much discussion about competence-oriented examinations. The various documents that accompanied the Bologna Process focus on the educational function of examinations for competence-oriented testing. The function of selection seems to be traditionally more in the foreground and seen as a contradiction to competence-based teaching. Examinations are seen as a traditional element of higher education teaching, which is oriented around societal expectations. This paper explains how societal expectations affect today‘s examination system by means of an historical review of the examination system and the functions of examinations. It can be shown that the examination function(s) have not changed significantly, but expectations for examination performance have changed. This leads to misunderstandings about exams and their function, which in turn can contribute to ‚problematic exam cultures‘.