‘Education must become the agent rather than the object of change’, (Ball & Tyson, 2011, p.1). This study seeks to explore the impact of aspects of the European Bologna Process and its action lines relating to learning outcomes and student centred learning. Chris Rust (2002) suggests that there has been a paradigm shift in the espoused rhetoric of higher education, from a focus on teaching to a focus on learning. However he also warns, that in relation to Europe, ‘there does appear to be a significant lag in the connection between changes in teaching methods and changes in assessment’ (p.2). The study uses a mixed model approach to examining the research question. The research uses within-­‐stage embedded case studies, extant data and interviews to examine the impact of a move towards a learning outcomes approach with a focus on the teacher-student relationship towards assessment in Dublin City University. The findings suggest that at the macro level the Bologna Process has impacted on universities by creating national and institutional structures allowing for the development of quality assurance and curriculum reform processes to drive teaching and learning. The study also questions the philosophical foundations of the Bologna Process as a change agent in European higher education and suggests that it may be pushing universities towards a vocational model of a university. At a micro level a dominant focus on the assessment of learning outcomes can detach assessment from the learning process resulting in students only achieving the minimum requirements placed within the learning outcomes. The study’s findings state that a revised approach to assessment (based upon the principles of reflection and constructivism) and by involving the learners as co-equal partners in the learning and assessment process, through an alignment of teaching, curriculum and assessment, can result in students moving beyond the assessment from surface to deep learning.