Students' Role in the Quality Assurance of Education
The University shall be characterised by a high quality of education and shall work continuously on quality improvements in teaching and supervision. To develop our educations and the learning environment, NMBU depends on active and involved students who offer constructive feedback on teaching, supervision, courses, programmes and learning environment.
All courses shall be evaluated each time they are offered. Both an evaluation during the course and a summative evaluation at the end of the course shall be conducted. For courses in the blocks, there is usually only an evaluation at the end of the course. In the evaluation, students can provide input and assessments of the courses they are registered for. The course coordinator prepares a course report based on these evaluations and their own assessments. NMBU is working on a system to make these reports available, and until further notice, students may request access to course reports.
The students can offer feedback on courses by:
- Replying on the course evaluations, both during and at the end of the course.
- Direct dialogue with the teacher/course coordinator.
- Contacting the student representatives and using the student democracy when needed.
- Contacting the Faculty (study advisors, programme coordinator, head of teaching)
All programmes must report annually on the status of the quality of the programme (September - October). Results from course evaluations, Studiebarometeret (a national student survey), the study start survey etc. are used when reporting. The report shall be prepared by the programme coordinator and shall be discussed by the Programme Council, the Faculty Academic Affairs Committee (FAK-SU) and Faculty Board before being approved. There are student representatives on the Programme Council, Faculty Academic Affairs Committee (FAK-SU) and the Faculty Board.
All programmes must go through a more extensive evaluation by external peers every 7-10 years. Students shall be represented in the Faculty project group that works on the documentation for the evaluation (self-evaluation report, goals for the evaluation, proposed evaluation committee and work on the follow-up of the evaluation). A student shall also sit on the evaluation committee. Student participation is also ensured through the permanent presence of student representatives in the Faculty Board and Faculty Academic Affairs Committee, which are also involved in this process.
The students can offer feedback on their programme of study by:
- Register items to the Programme Council, for instance through student representatives at the Faculty
- Participate in the annual national student survey on quality in education – Studiebarometeret (Nokut)
- Participate in NMBU's Student Start Survey
- Provide feedback to student representatives before processing and approval of programme reports at the Faculty
- Participate as student representative in the periodic evaluation of the programme
- Participate in NMBU's candidate survey after having sucessfully terminated your studies - here you may also provide feedback on the relevance in your programme of study
All students shall provide feedback about teaching, courses or programmes directly to the lecturer, course coordinator or programme coordinator. All issues shall be sought resolved at the lowest organisational level possible: to the extent possible, the lecturer, course coordinator, programme coordinator or Faculty shall resolve the learning environment issues that fall under their area of responsibility. If this does not succeed, you can bring the issue to the next level of the hierarchy or get help from student representatives to bring the case to the appropriate forums at the Faculty (Programme Committee or Faculty Academic Affairs Committee). If this does not succeed or if the issue is of such a character that it is difficult to bring it to these forums, you can choose to report it in the non-compliance system for quality of education. Read more about speaking up about teaching, the learning environment and the quality of education (Report deviation - Speak up!) and the channels available to you as a student.
Cahllenges regarding the psychosocial learning environment shall first be raised where the challenge is. The students can contact the study advisor, teacher, course coordinator, programme coordinator or head of teaching. Students can also seek advice from student representatives, the student information centre (SIT) or the student life centre (SiÅs).
If requests are not followed-up, or the issue is of such a character that this is difficult, it is possible to report issues in the deviation system for quality of education. Speak up - report deviation. Here you can also report deviations relating to:
- The physical learning environment
- Examination
- Health, environment and safety
- Information security and privacy protection
- Serious and critical issues
Universities and university colleges in Norway have together set up sikresiden.no/en, where students can get preventive training and advice on what to do in an emergency as violence, threaths, fire, sexuall harassement, first aid etc.
In addition to conducting our own surveys and evaluations, NMBU participate in national surveys. The Faculties also conduct some surveys on their own in addiont to there more sporadicly is conducted some subject specific surveys. Good participation is decisive for the validity of the results from the surveys, and the results are used in the development of the programmes.
These student surveys are conducted on a regular basis across Faculties and programmes of study:
- Course evaluation every time a course is held
- NMBU's study start survey (annual survey among all first year students, conducted in January/February)
- Studiebarometeret (a national student survey), under the auspices of NOKUT. Conducted annually in November/December, and is sent to all second and fifth year students.
- The SHoT survey, under the auspices of the Norweian Institute of Public Health. Conducted every four years, and is sent to all Norwegian students.
- NMBU's candidate survey. Conducted every five years, and is sent to all candidates who graduated from NMBU during the five previous years. NMBU is now developing a shorter survey to be sent more frequently.
The students can use the student democracy at NMBU to promote their point of view. The Student Praliament is the highest decision-making student body at NMBU. The Student Board (AU) is the working group of the Student Parliament and shall promote their policy.
Through the student democracy, all students can raise issues regarding all students at NMBU. Examples of issues can regard the learning environment, campus policy, student welfare and student housing.
NMBU has a learning philosophy that reflects how NMBU shall acdommodate for learning. However, it also treats how NMBU expects that our students participate actively in their own learning. har en læringsfilosofi