UPEC Hosts Aurora Workshop on LOUIS Educational Tool
Université Paris-Est Créteil (UPEC) brought together 24 participants for a workshop dedicated to LOUIS (Learning Outcomes in University for Impact on Society), an educational tool developed within the framework of the Aurora European university alliance.
UPEC educators gather during in-person Aurora workshop to discover the LOUIS educational tool
LOUIS As An Assessment Tool For Transversal Skills
LOUIS (Learning Outcomes in University for Impact on Society) is one of the three components of the Aurora Competence Framework, alongside seizmic and BEVI. The framework supports Aurora’s educational vision of equipping graduates not only with subject expertise, but also with the skills and mindset needed to contribute positively to society. LOUIS helps teachers articulate and assess general academic and personal competences within subject-based courses, bridging the gap between broad competence frameworks and students’ actual learning progress in the classroom.
Organised by Christelle Garrouste, Associate Professor in Economics at UPEC, with the support of Martin Schwell, Vice-President for European Affairs and Aurora Institutional Coordinator at UPEC, the event provided teachers with the opportunity to discover this tool as a way to assess and develop students’ transversal skills in higher education.
This workshop served as an introduction to the tool, ahead of a Blended Intensive Programme (BIP) on LOUIS that will take place in Amsterdam from 1 to 5 June 2026. On this occasion, academic staff from the nine Aurora universities will have five days to test the application of the tool in their courses and be ready to implement it in the next academic year.
Left to right: Christelle Garrouste, Florian Freitag and Kees Kouwenaar present the LOUIS educational tool to educators at UPEC
Adapting LOUIS To Teaching Practices
The workshop was led by Florian Freitag, professor at the University of Duisburg-Essen, and Kees Kouwenaar, Senior Advisor at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam and developer of LOUIS. The session presented the principles and objectives of this educational tool, which enables a structured evaluation of the acquisition of essential transversal skills such as critical thinking, communication, teamwork and problem-solving.
Developed within Aurora, LOUIS is based on VALUE, a higher education learning assessment approach developed by the American Association of Colleges & Universities.
“In Aurora’s vision, LOUIS aims to help students develop the skills they will need in their future lives in order to contribute positively to society and to Europe,” explains Florian Freitag.
The workshop also provided an opportunity to discuss the practical use of the tool in different teaching contexts. Participants exchanged with the speakers about how LOUIS could be adapted to the specific needs of their courses and programmes.
Delphine Adam, a participant in the workshop and a lecturer at UPEC, highlighted: “It is a good basis for reflection that can be adapted to students and to different teaching contexts.”
The session concluded with group discussions and a final exchange with participants, allowing them to explore potential ways of integrating LOUIS into teaching practices at UPEC.