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Writing intended learning outcomes (ILOs)

Published on: 07/07/2023 · Last updated on: 07/11/2024

What are ILOs?

ILOs are statements that explicitly describe what every student needs to have learned to successfully complete the course or level of study.

Higher Education Quality Assurance practice defines students in terms of what they can do at the end of a course, not what they have been taught.

ILOs should focus on what subject knowledge and understanding, as well as skills, behaviours, values, and ethics, students must be able to demonstrate by the end of the course. Determining the overall purpose and aims of your course or unit is the basis for the development of meaningful ILOs

Intended learning outcome FAQ

There is an upper limit of 12 Course Intended Learning Outcomes (CILOs) for a course, with one CILO for each of Placement and Study Year Abroad, if applicable. The longer the course, the more CILOs you are likely to have. For units, 4-6 Unit Intended Learning Outcomes (UILOs) is common practice in the sector. Accredited courses may have more, although you may be able to distill the ILOs from your accrediting body down into the figures above.

Collectively ILOs must:  

  • Establish a shared understanding of the course’s intentions, purpose and aims amongst everyone involved in the course (students, staff, examiners).
  • Describe what every student should realistically be able to do upon completion of the whole course.
  • Guide staff to design and develop teaching and assessment methods that support the course’s intentions, purpose and aims.
  • Benefit both staff and students.
  • Be written in language that can be understood by both staff and students.

This approach has been found to improve student success rates (Hattie, 2011, 130) as well as students’ confidence, sense of belonging, and retention – with significant benefits for those from Widening Participation backgrounds (Winklemes, Bernacki, Butler, Zochowski, Golanics, and Weavil, 2016).

Each ILO must:

  • Complete the unfinished sentence: “By the end of the course/unit you will be able to…”.
  • Begin with an action verb (e.g. explain, apply, evaluate).
  • Be sufficiently high-level to allow for updates to course and unit content and delivery without necessitating further approval.
  • Be broad enough to allow for flexibility in the way in which students can demonstrate via assessment that they have met the ILO (whether course or unit), thus meeting the terms of the Equality Act 2010 and reducing the requirement for Disability Access Plans.
  • Be specific enough to allow for rigorous assessment of students against the ILO.

Course Intended Learning Outcomes (CILOs)

  • Explicitly describe what every student needs to have successfully demonstrated on completion of the whole course or level of study.
  • Be aligned to the level of qualification to be awarded on completion of the whole course or level of study.
  • Represent the threshold academic standard for the qualification.
  • Bath assigns CILOs across three categories, with it possible that one CILO may be relevant to more than one category. The categories are:
    1. Knowledge and Understanding
    2. Intellectual Skills
    3. Professional and Transferable Skills

Unit Intended Learning Outcomes (UILOs)

  • Explicitly describe what every student needs to have learned to successfully complete the unit.
  • Give context for at least one CILO.
  • They must be designed at the appropriate level.
  • Must map to at least one CILO.
  • A well-written learning UILO has three considerations:
  1. What the student will be able to do that demonstrates learning;
  2. The context in which the student will demonstrate learning;
  3. How the student will demonstrate their learning via the unit assessment

To create robust ILOs for your course or unit, you should refer to the following resources:

If your course is accredited, you will also need to refer to your accreditation requirements when developing your learning outcomes.

ILOs and the Equality Act

To provide equal access to Higher Education, all courses – not just those that are accredited – have a legal duty to ensure that students with disabilities are not at a disadvantage when demonstrating their achievements. In practice, this means that all ILOs should be written at a threshold level. They are what a student who just passes at each level should be able to do. Marking criteria are used to enable higher levels of achievement to be described. In following this practice, your ILOs can serve as Competency Standards. You will also need to consider the Equality Act (2010) when designing your assessment so that a student with disabilities are not disadvantaged in demonstrating their achievements by the type of assessment chosen. Please contact the CAD team if you would like support.

ILO tools and resources

Action Verbs

ILO Checklist

What are the benefits of well-written ILOs?

  • Enable lecturers to be more precise in planning, supporting, and assessing learning.
  • Provide a basis for writing assessment criteria.
  • Allow lecturers to make changes and updates to your course without going through formal change procedures

  • Provide a clear idea of what is expected, and a goal for learning and studying. This has been found to improve student success rates as well as students’ confidence, sense of belonging, and retention – with significant benefits for those from Widening Participation backgrounds.
  • Enable informed choices to be made about courses during recruitment or units during the course.
  • Help identify relevant prior learning and recognise what they know so they can better articulate their skills and knowledge on completion of their studies for future study and employability purposes.

Hattie, 2011, 130

Winklemes, Bernacki, Butler, Zochowski, Golanics, and Weavil, 2016

White, M.A. (1971) The View from the Student’s Desk, (p.340)

“The analogy that might make the student’s view more comprehensible…is to imagine oneself on a ship sailing across an unknown sea, to an unknown destination. A [lecturer] would be desperate to know where [they are] going. But a student only knows [they are] going on a ship. The chart is neither available nor understandable… Very quickly, the daily life on board ship becomes all important…the daily chores, the demands, the inspections, become the reality, not the voyage or the destination.”

  • Explicitly articulate the underpinning values, attitudes, and skills not reflected in the content.
  • Enable transparent and effective links to be made between learning and teaching methods, and assessment and feedback methods, and course/unit evaluation methods

ILOs and quality assurance

Alignment of course and unit intended learning outcomes with Office for Students’ ‘Sector-Recognised Standards’

Degree-awarding bodies are responsible for setting and maintaining the academic standards and quality of courses leading to the qualifications that they award. Within this context, course and unit intended learning outcomes (CILOs) play a central role in setting the minimum threshold standards for the university’s qualifications. Staff should draft and review intended learning outcomes with due regard to the Office for Students’ Condition B5: Sector-Recognised Standards, one of several conditions of registration published by the Office for Students through the Regulatory Framework for Higher Education in England.

Qualification Descriptors

In a subject-specific way, course intended learning outcomes (CILOs) should meet the generic Qualification Descriptors set out in the Sector-Recognised Standards in full. Unit intended learning outcomes (UILOs) – necessarily more limited than those for the whole course, – should meet the Qualification Descriptors in part.

Bachelor’s degrees with honours, master’s degrees, foundation degrees and certificates of higher education can only be awarded where a student has met in full the statement of outcomes in the relevant Qualification Descriptor. 

Qualification Descriptors ‘set out the generic outcomes and attributes expected for the award of a particular type of qualification (for example a bachelors’ degree with honours). They describe the minimum acceptable level of achievement that a student has to demonstrate to be eligible for an award.’ (Condition B5: Sector-Recognised Standards)

Qualification Descriptors for each level consist of two parts:

Statements of outcomes

‘The first part is a statement of outcomes, achievement of which is assessed and which a student should be able to demonstrate for the award of the qualification. This is a statement of the threshold academic standard for the qualification.’ For example, the Descriptor for a higher education qualification at Level 6: Bachelors’ degree with honours, states that such degrees are awarded to students who have demonstrated ‘a systematic understanding of key aspects of their field of study, including acquisition of coherent and detailed knowledge, at least some of which is at, or informed by, the forefront of defined aspects of a discipline’. (Condition B5: Sector-Recognised Standards)

Statements of wider abilities

‘The second part of the descriptor is a statement of the wider abilities that a typical student would be expected to have developed. It assists providers to understand the general capabilities expected of holders of the qualification.’ For example, holders of a Level 6 qualification will be able to ‘apply the methods and techniques that they have learned to review, consolidate, extend and apply their knowledge and understanding, and to initiate and carry out projects’.

When writing and reviewing intended learning outcomes, staff should consult the full Condition B5: Sector-recognised standards (officeforstudents.org.uk) to ensure compliance. Please contact the Centre for Learning and Teaching for further, tailored guidance as required.

What is the status of the Framework for Higher Education Qualifications (FHEQ)?

Course designers and reviewers will likely be familiar with QAA’s Framework for Higher Education Qualifications (FHEQ), a structure adopted in the UK to define levels of qualification. QAA clarifies the relationship between the FHEQ and the OfS’ sector-recognised standards and the attendant implications for providers in the following way: ‘In England, parts of the [FHEQ] have been adopted as sector-recognised standards. These form part of the regulatory requirements that providers registered with the Office for Students (OfS) must adhere to in England through compliance with ongoing condition of registration B5. Providers registered in England should refer to the OfS regulatory framework, including the sector-recognised standards.’ (The Frameworks for Higher Education Qualifications of UK Degree-Awarding Bodies)

Subject Benchmark Statements

The QAA Subject Benchmark Statements are a useful further resource when considering what can be expected of graduates in particular subject areas. They describe what graduates might know, understand and be able to do at the end of their studies. The Statements are written by academics and aim to support quality assurance between courses and institutions.

For more guidance, visit: https://www.qaa.ac.uk/quality-code/subject-benchmark-statements

Examples of ILOs from different disciplines

By the end of the course you will be able to…

Recognise complexities in the construction industry, and the need for safe, efficient and sustainable development.
MSc in Modern Building Design (PGT Early Adopter), Department of Architecture and Civil Engineering

Apply key engineering management concepts and principles, linking theory and practice meaningfully and identifying the most relevant data to inform decision making.
MSc in Engineering Business Management, Department of Mechanical Engineering

Appraise existing information in order to generate innovative solutions relating to the environmental design of buildings.
MSc in Architectural Engineering: Environmental Design (PGT Early Adopter), Department of Architecture and Civil Engineering

Apply the concepts and principles of chemical and biochemical engineering to the solution of engineering problems in both familiar and in unpredictable professional environments.
BEng and MEng Chemical Engineering (Vanguard), Department of Chemical Engineering

Analyse and solve complex open-ended problems relating to the conservation of historic buildings and cultural heritage, identifying possibilities for originality and creativity.
MSc in Conservation of Historic Buildings (PGT Early Adopter), Department of Architecture and Civil Engineering

Communicate complex information clearly and effectively to the target audience.
MSc in Civil Engineering: Innovative Structural Materials (PGT Early Adopter), Department of Architecture and Civil Engineering

Plan and execute a small project.
BEng in Computer Systems Engineering, Department of Electronic and Electrical Engineering

By the end of the course you will be able to…

Develop coherent arguments and challenge assumptions.
BSc and MSci Sport and Exercise Science (Vanguard), Department for Health

Demonstrate originality and creativity to systematically deal with complex issues at the forefront of sport and exercise science.
MSci Sport and Exercise Science (Vanguard), Department for Health

Construct and sustain a reasoned argument about educational issues in a clear, lucid and coherent manner.
BA Education with Psychology, Department of Education

Design and conduct experimental and observational studies and analyse the data resulting from them.
BSc Economics and Mathematics, Department of Economics

Synthesise a wide range of conceptual and empirical material in a coherent and structured way for a variety of public and policy audiences.
MSc Public Policy, Department of Social and Policy Sciences

Recognise the inherent variability and diversity of psychological functioning and its significance.
BSc Psychology, Department of Psychology

Critically evaluate research.
MA International Security, Department of Politics, Languages and International Studies

By the end of the course you will be able to…

Formulate and test hypotheses.
BSc Biochemistry, Department of Biology and Biochemistry

Propose and apply creative solutions to chemical problems.
BSc Chemistry, Department of Chemistry

Utilise self-directed problem solving and analytical skills in a wide variety of practical situations.
MSc Software Systems, Department of Computer Science

Formulate methods of solution for a variety of mathematical problems and provide a theoretical justification for the methods.
BSc Mathematics, Department of Mathematical Sciences                               

Apply principles of evidence-based practice to the safe and effective management of patients.
MPharm Pharmacy, Department of Pharmacy and Pharmacology

Analyse and solve a variety of problems in physics by means of the appropriate application of physical principles and mathematical techniques.
BSc Physics, Department of Physics

Select and utilise appropriate practical methods, models, techniques and tools for the specification, design, construction, documentation and validation of computer-based system.
BSc Computer Science, Department of Computer Science

By the end of the course you will be able to…

Use state-of-the-art business analytics software.
MSc in Business Analytics (PGT Early Adopter)

Critique current business analytics research.
MSc in Business Analytics (PGT Early Adopter)

Develop specialised business analytics models for problems arising in specific contexts.
MSc in Business Analytics (PGT Early Adopter)

Analyse quantitative data and apply statistical techniques appropriately.
BSc Management

Exercise independent judgement and construct a reasoned argument accompanied by evidence in support of conclusions.
BSc International Managemen

Analyse and discuss financial information in a business context, identifying the most relevant data to inform decision making.
MSc in Financ

Identify, reflect upon, and engage critically with appropriate and representative literature in the field of business and management.
MBA Executive

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