In this conceptual article, we discuss the idea of students’ epistemic agency as an overlooked link between assessment, knowledge and society. We transcend the contemporary discourses around assessment that focus on its authenticity and student-centredness and instead investigate assessment from the viewpoints of knowledge and knowing. This approach sees assessment as functioning not only as a promoter of student learning but also as a means to prepare students to be responsible graduates and citizens as epistemic agents. First, we adapt the theory of epistemic agency—that is, students’ capability to agentically evaluate, produce, use and transform knowledge—by situating it within the specific context of assessment. Second, we suggest practice-oriented ideas for assessment and feedback design to nurture epistemic agency. Overall, we do not depict epistemic agency as yet another ‘soft skill’ in higher education but as a necessary focal point for assessment that aims to nurture a transformative relationship between students and knowledge. We suggest epistemic agency as a powerful concept in understanding and nurturing the three-way engagement between assessment, knowledge and society. This concept allows us to understand whether and how assessment shapes students as epistemic agents.

在这篇概念性文章中，我们讨论了学生认知机构的概念，即评估、知识和社会之间被忽视的联系。我们超越了当代围绕评估的真实性和以学生为中心的论述，而是从知识和认知的角度来研究评估。这种方法认为评估不仅是学生学习的促进者，也是培养学生成为负责任的毕业生和作为认知主体的公民的一种手段。首先，我们通过将知识置于特定的评估背景中来调整认知代理理论，即学生代理评估、生产、使用和转化知识的能力。其次，我们建议以实践为导向的评估和反馈设计理念，以培养认知能动性。总体而言，我们并不将认知机构描述为高等教育中的另一种“软技能”，而是将其视为评估的必要焦点，旨在培养学生与知识之间的变革性关系。我们建议认知机构作为理解和培育评估、知识和社会之间三向参与的强大概念。这个概念使我们能够了解评估是否以及如何塑造学生作为认知主体。