Abstract

Intellectual property (IP) competence is important in higher education as learners engage with innovation, entrepreneurship, commercialization, and knowledge-intensive professional practice. This focused scoping review examined how IP learning is assessed and evaluated in higher education and used assessment-reporting sources to characterize the curricular and pedagogical contexts in which those assessments occurred. Searches identified 1,333 records; after duplicate removal, screening, and detailed eligibility assessment, 109 sources met the broader IP-education eligibility criteria. Assessment reporting was then applied as an additional analytical criterion, resulting in 27 sources for the focused synthesis. Within this deliberately selected subset, patents and patent practice were the most frequently represented content areas, followed by copyright, trademarks, and other IP rights; strategic IP management, valuation, ethics, and governance were less prominent. Intended learning outcomes commonly extended from conceptual understanding toward practical, entrepreneurial, and strategic capabilities, but the available assessment evidence varied substantially in directness. Course or program evaluation and knowledge or awareness measures were prominent; seven sources used authentic IP performance tasks, while the nine sources reporting empirical educational outcomes ranged from direct or observed performance evidence to structured survey measures and indirect self-reports. These findings characterize assessment-reporting sources rather than the prevalence or effectiveness of practices across IP education as a whole. They support clearer distinction among program evaluation, indirect learner evidence, and demonstrated performance, together with more transparent reporting of assessment design.

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