LiU’s university-wide model for the quality assurance of education

Linköping University works continuously to ensure and develop the quality, not only of the educational operations but also of the support structure that surrounds them. All programmes and courses offered by LiU are to undergo quality assurance within a six-year period (2017-2022), as specified by the LiU model for quality assurance. It is the responsibility of the deans that this quality assurance is carried out and that the faculties each year report to the vice-chancellor the quality assurance that has been completed during the year.

 

The quality assurance of the education at Linköping University is founded on the strategy map that has been established for LiU’s operations. The overall vision for the education is that LiU is to be a university of international standing – where people and ideas converge and develop. This takes place by attracting promising students at all levels and producing sought-after graduates for a sustainable society in a changing world. The realisation of this vision occurs through further development of the profile of the university as a programme-based and campus-based university.

The education at LiU is characterised in that it activates students to learn, and aims to increase the students’ ability to take responsibility for their own learning and the development of knowledge, skills and approach. Students are in this way prepared for a career characterised by change and lifelong learning. Meetings between teachers and students, between students and students, and between teachers and teachers are decisive in forming creative learning activities and in stimulating, challenging and supporting students in their learning. In order to ensure the long-term quality, relevance and attractiveness of the education, continuous and focussed improvement of teaching strategy is required. One important starting point for the work at LiU within the development of teaching deals with the establishment of innovative and functional educational environments, where physical and virtual, formal and informal learning forms interact.

One important component of the work with quality assurance at Linköping University are the quality-assurance processes, the purpose of which is to ensure, in a systematic manner, that education at all levels maintains a high quality. These processes also form the starting point for LiU’s model for the quality assurance of the education. The model for quality assurance is consistent throughout the university, and its task is to contribute to ensuring that all education maintains a high quality.

The vice-chancellor has the final responsibility at LiU that the programmes and courses maintain a high quality, and this responsibility is passed by delegation to the faculty boards and area board for educational sciences. (The area of educational sciences is below included in the concept of “faculty”). The organisational model that LiU uses means that the faculties and departments have considerable freedom to decide how quality promotion is to be organised. Students and personnel at LiU (teachers, programme coordinators, the chairs of boards of studies, directors of studies, heads of department, deans and the vice-chancellor) have a common responsibility for working with quality in order to ensure that all programmes and courses maintain a high quality.  The quality-assurance system, in contrast, is common and is covered by the current model for quality assurance. A uniform model throughout LiU creates the conditions required for an active dialogue and exchange of experiences between faculties.

LiU’s university-wide model for the quality assurance of education

The university-wide model for the quality assurance of education at Linköping University has been designed based on the requirements of the Higher Education Act, the Higher Education Ordinance and the national system for the quality assurance of higher education drawn up by the Swedish Higher Education Authority (UKÄ). The UKÄ examination of the quality assurance at institutions of higher education is based on international principles for the quality assurance of higher education, Standards and Guidelines for Quality Assurance in the European Higher Education Area (ESG).

The university-wide model for quality assurance is to be used by all faculties.

The framework decision is accompanied by two appendices – Processbeskrivning för kvalitetssäkring av utbildning på grundnivå och avancerad nivå and Processbeskrivning för kvalitetssäkring av utbildning på forskarnivå. These appendices, only available in Swedish, provide a more detailed description of how quality assurance of the teaching is carried out, and the distribution of responsibility between the various organisational levels.

The quality assurance of each individual programme or course at first-cycle and second-cycle levels is based on the following criteria:

a) The design, execution and examination of the education ensure that the students have achieved all learning outcomes for the degree in question, when the degree is awarded.

b) The design and execution of the education promote the students’ learning and encourage students to play an active role in the learning processes.

c) There is a clear coupling between teaching and research in the educational environment.

d) The number of teachers and their collective expertise are sufficient and are proportional to the contents and execution of the education.

e) The education is applicable, and prepares students for a career characterised by change.

f) The education strives to ensure that the students participate actively in improving the education.

g) A perspective of gender equality is integrated in the design and execution of the education.

h) A perspective of sustainability is integrated into the contents, design, and execution of the education.

 

The quality assurance of each individual third-cycle education is based on the following criteria:

a) The definition of the field of research and its coupling to the scientific basis are justified and acceptable.

b) The numbers of supervisors and teachers and their collective expertise are sufficient and are proportional to the contents and execution of the education.

c) Research at the university has sufficient quality and extent that the third-cycle education can be carried out at a high scientific level and in otherwise good educational conditions. Relevant collaboration takes place with the surrounding society both in Sweden and abroad.

d) The design, execution and examination of the education ensure that the doctoral student have achieved all learning outcomes for the degree in question, when the degree is awarded.

e) The education is applicable, and prepares the doctoral students for a career characterised by change.

f) The education strives to ensure that the doctoral students participate actively in improving the education and learning processes.

g) A perspective of gender equality is integrated in the design and execution of the education.

h) A perspective of sustainability is integrated into the contents, design, and execution of the education.

 

The LiU model for quality assurance will be evaluated by the Higher Education Authority (UKÄ) during the academic year 2020-2021. The purpose of the examination by the UKÄ is to evaluate whether the LiU model satisfies the objectives and aims stipulated by the Swedish quality assurance system.

In addition, the UKÄ will evaluate a selection of the programmes and courses at all levels within the evaluation of educational components of the Swedish quality-assurance system. The UKÄ also carries out thematic evaluations, within which various specific topics are examined.