This article addresses conceptions and dimensions of the Institutional Assessment in Higher Education, the method used to develop it is documentary, descriptive and interpretative. We reviewed 14 papers with a written document, including the transcription of audio, which account for the oral interaction. The category of institutional evaluation from which the subcategories emerged was based: conceptualization, quality, research and teacher training. The material was cleaned in an Excel matrix and the content analysis technique was used, where a strong tension was found in the current institutional evaluation, characterized by the prescriptive, technical-instrumental and quantitative aspects. On the other hand, there is a humanistic critical current that promotes a qualitative, social, participative and democratic evaluation. As a methodology to work, qualitative research was used. Finally, a discussion based on trends, debates, perspectives, conclusions of the notion and the processes of institutional evaluation is presented.