UU Programme Review Model
The Vice-Chancellor has adopted revised Guidelines for the Programme Review Model.
Uppsala Universiy’s Programme Review Model includes all programmes, main fields of study and freestanding courses. The aim is to encourage teachers, programme coordinators and students to create an education of the highest national and international quality. The Model consists of internal annual systematic follow-up and external reviews every six years. Uppsala University’s Model is based on academic quality culture and builds upon the following starting points.
The Model:
- is decentralised and based on continuous quality assurance and quality enhancement;
- is based on external peer review and collegial working forms;
- promotes quality and includes student participation;
- is stringent, i.e. able to identify and remedy deficiencies;
- is as simple and cost-effective as possible.
Uppsala University’s Programme Review Model was decided upon by the Vice-Chancellor on 25 October 2016. In 2017 a pilot round including ten study programme reviews was conducted. There is a document giving support when planning and conducting a review (Råd och tips vid planering och genomförande av utbildningsutvärderingar). It will be revised and compile advice and experiences from the pilot round (Tips och lärdomar från pilotomgången – i korthet). The reviews will include a comprehensive assessment of the quality of the programmes – the strengths, weaknesses and areas for improvement – and supplement the ongoing quality enhancements that have already taken place at the university. Every review will cover eleven different aspects; see the guidelines above.
During the six-year cycle of 2017-2022, and 2023-2028, all programmes and courses at the university will be included in a review.
Disciplinary domain/faculty boards have, within the framework of Uppsala University´s Model, developed forms and routines for reviews of education and annual follow-up (Fakulteternas modeller).
In 2018, a Student Barometer will be conducted for the first time at Uppsala University. It is a survey going out to basically all students registered the semester when the survey is being sent out. The questionnaire relates to the eleven aspects in the guidelines, and the results and potential actions can be used in self evaluation work and annual follow-ups. Some questions concerning psychosocial study environment are also included in the questionnaire. To further support the work with follow-ups and reviews of programmes, some indicators concerning education at Uppsala University can be found in Glis.
In December 2017, the first annual programme review conference at Uppsala University was held. The conference aims at providing an additional opportunity for constructive criticism from other colleagues and students/doctoral students at the University, and for the dissemination of good practice and lessons learned.
Uppsala University’s Model is based on both external and internal reviews by colleagues. The Model is decentralized and is based on the disciplinary domain/faculty boards’ responsibility for ensuring and improving quality. This means that responsibility for design, implementation and follow-up is allocated to the responsible board, allowing the Model to be shaped and adapted to suit local conditions. The Model integrates ongoing quality enhancement initiatives and annual follow-ups with reviews every six years to form a whole that supports and stimulates quality enhancement. Teachers, students and doctoral students participate in the reviews. The model permits comparisons over time and between programmes, both nationally and internationally.
Contact information
If you want to know more about the educational evaluations, please contact Maria Wolters@uu.se. If you want to know more about the Student Barometer, please contact Therese.Ljunghammar@uu.se at the Unit for Quality and Evaluation, the Division for Quality Enhancement. The division provides support in relation to the educational evaluations.
Background
In 2015, the Vice-Chancellor appointed a university-wide work group led by Deputy Vice-Chancellor Torsten Svensson, tasked with providing proposals for a model for systematic educational evaluations at Uppsala University.
The background for the model was the international CrED panel’s recommendation for Uppsala University to design a model for self-initiated systematic analyses of educational quality from a comprehensive perspective (curriculum reviews) and the new national quality assurance system (see UKÄ’s evaluations).
In the fall of 2015, the chair and work group visited all disciplinary domain and faculty boards and held meetings with department heads/directors of studies/programme coordinators in each disciplinary domain, with the student unions, with the Academic Senate and at several open forums. The chair explained the group’s preliminary proposals and the work group gathered opinions and answered questions. The work group’s proposal for a model for educational evaluations was submitted for comment in spring 2016 to disciplinary domain/faculty boards, student unions, the University Library and the university administration, all of which responded positively to the intentions of the proposal and the model in general. Aspects considered especially positive included the fact that the model is based on current academic quality assurance in the form of external review (peer review); that responsibility for the educational evaluations follows the rules of procedure with the disciplinary domain/faculty boards in charge of educational quality; the model’s connection to ongoing quality enhancement initiatives related to the operation, and annual quality-promoting follow-ups as an integrated part of the model. In addition, many constructive proposals for improvements have been taken into consideration during the decision preparations.