Universities are increasingly employing part-time teachers who are experts in their field but may lack the pedagogical training crucial for teaching and assessment. Assessment, in turn, is a key factor in promoting students' learning. Research on part-time university teachers is limited, and the assessment conceptions informing their teaching have received little attention. Fifty hourly paid teachers (36.76%) responded to a questionnaire sent to all hourly paid teachers at a Finnish open university to measure their assessment conceptions, teaching experience and pedagogical training. We investigated whether the hourly paid teachers' assessment conceptions differed by teacher's levels of education and teaching experience using Mann-Whitney U test. The assessment conceptions of teachers, who had completed pedagogical training (60 credits), were based more on assessment for teaching and learning than the conceptions of those who had not completed pedagogical training. The study results revealed that pedagogical training shifts teachers' assessment conceptions towards assessment for teaching and learning, emphasizing formative assessment. We recommend providing higher education teachers with more pedagogical training and better integrating hourly paid teachers into the university community to enhance inclusivity and academic excellence.