All universities and colleges are compelled to have a quality assurance system for their activities of education, according to article § 2 nr. 8 in the Norwegian “Law on Universities and Colleges” (Lov om universiteter- og høyskoler). The Ministry of Education and Research (Utdannings-og forskningsdepartementet - UFD) has given the National Agency for Quality in Education (Nasjonalt organ for kvalitet i utdanningen - NOKUT) the task of evaluating the quality assurance system in the Norwegian institutions of higher learning.

The quality of the education in the University of Tromsø should be evaluated in relation to the mission statement of the institution, which establishes that:

”The university of Tromsø will be an overreaching university that offers research-based education with a social relevance, at a high scientific level. A holistic learning environment will provide the students with good learning possibilities and it will create the conditions for fulfilling studies within the planned timeframes”.

The quality assurance system should be seen as an instrument in the work for achieving this ultimate goal. The system will guarantee that the activities of education in the University of Tromsø maintain a high quality and that they have constant further improvements as a purpose. The system should be able to identify cases of weak quality and give indications on how to deal with cases of higher and lower quality in education. The resulting documentation will provide a basis for individual evaluations, decision-making and identification of priorities.

It is a goal in itself for the University of Tromsø to be characterised by a strong quality-culture among students and staff. This quality-culture will be a result of:

a) A genuine interest of the staff for their own work; and

b) A genuine interest of the students for their study place, learning and education.

The quality assurance system in the University of Tromsø seeks to document and develop the quality of the studies in the university and it consists of three parts.

1. Description of the System: Part 1 is a general description of the quality assurance system. All of the employees and the students should be familiar with its main elements.

2. PhD-Study: Part 2 refers to the quality assurance of the PhD studies in the University of Tromsø.

3. Operative Part: Part 3 is a closer description of specific areas of the quality assurance system. It consists of procedures, forms, routine descriptions, guidelines and eventually the Education Reports from the quality assurance and quality development work that is done.

Part 3 will be an important tool for the administrative staff in the university. The content of Part 3 will be in constant development. Some of it is already established, but other parts require to be worked out and they will be developed as time goes by (for example, the routines for quality assurance for the use of the new grading system, introduction and use of new examination methods, use of external sensors, and so on).

For the time being, Part 3 consists mainly in routines for quality assurance of study administration services, which are to a large degree based in an administration handbook for the study administrations, which was developed by “Studieavdelinga” and which has been used by the university in the past years.

Quality assurance of the MPCT

The Centre for Peace Studies (CPS) is committed to the implementation of the quality assurance system of education in the Master’s Degree Programme in Peace and Conflict Transformation (MPCT). For this, both the students and staff of the MPCT should at least be familiar with the main elements of Part 1 of the quality assurance system. A summarised version of this part of the system is presented below.

Key Terms

The system operates with a series of key terms that pinpoint the most important areas subject to quality assurance:

- Admissions: Quality of the students admitted to the programs.

- Investment: Amount of resources dedicated to specific areas in the university.

- Results: Academic results obtained by students and the time they use to fulfil their studies.

- Teaching: Academic and pedagogic quality.

- Study Programme: Study plan and organisation of the teaching.

- Relevance: Relation of the studies to the needs of society.

- Framework: Relationship between the quality of the learning environment and the resources available.

- Direction: The administration's ability to control/develop the quality of the programmes, as well as to administrate them.

Actors and responsibilities (Sum up)

- Institutes (Centers): They try to guarnatee the academic quality of the studies they are responsible for. For this, they perform continuous evaluations with students and lecturers. They draft Evaluation Reports.

- Study Programme Boards: They Look after specific study programmes in cooperation with the institutes or centres. They take the Evaluation Reports generated by the institutes and elaborate a Study Programme Report which is delivered to the pertinent Faculty.

- Students: They participate in and evaluate their study programmes.

- Faculties/NFH/departments: They receive the Study Programme Reports from the Study Programme Boards. With this information they generate a Faculty Report that is sent to the Rector.

- Rector: The rector/secretary sorts out the information received from the faculties and prepares the Education Report (Utdanningsmelding).

- University Board: Evaluates the Education Report. It implements recommendations from the Education Report.

- Forum for the Development of the Quality of Education in UiTø (Forum for Utvikling av Kvalitet i Utdanningen - FUK): It is a body with advisory functions for the Institutes, Study Programme Boards, Faculties, Rector and University Board.

- Learning Environment Commitee in the University of Tromsø (Læringsmiljøutvalget - LMU): This is a body that looks out for the quality of the learning environment in the university. This agency generates the Learning Environment Report, which is delivered to the Rector.

- University’s Distance Learning and Further Training Department: This department arranges seminars to improve the quality of staff in the university.

- Institute for Pedagogy and Teacher Training (Institutt for Pedagogikk og lærerutdanning IPLU): The IPLU arranges seminars, makes research on pedagogical issues and prepares courses for lecturers.

- University Library (UB): The library is a part of the learning environment. The services it offers must be of good quality.

- Study DepartmentStudieavdelinga): Generates key-data that is sent to the Study Programme Boards four times each year.

Evaluation and Reporting in the MPCT

The evaluation of the MPCT is divided in:

I. Student Evaluations
Made through:

a) The Student Staff Liaison (SSL): Which meets once every month for oral discussion of relevant issues. The group consists of four representatives elected by the students and three staff members.

b) Electronic Questionnaries in Quest Back: Which attempt to measure the students' evaluation of the quality of the lecturers. Students are asked to fill out electronical forms two or three times each semester.

c) Group evaluations of the subjects: The students meet at the end of the semester. They are divided in groups of four and they fill out a form for each subject they have coursed that semester. The purpose of this meeting is that the students get to evaluate how the different parts of the subjects relate to each other in terms of their social relevance, overall structre of the study, the content and the build up of knowledge that is being generated.

At the end of each semester, the Executive Officer of the CPS generates reports on the student evaluations of each subject. These reports are handed to the CPS Board.

II. Lecturer Evaluations
Made Through:

a) Electronic Questionnaries in Quest Back: Lecturers are asked to fill out electronical forms as soon as possible, after each of them is done with the lectures they are responsible for in the programme.

b) Evaluation by the Academic Coordinator: The academic coordinator writes a short general evaluation of the different subjects.

At the end of each semester the Executive Officer of the CPS writes reports on the lecturers' evaluation of each subject. These reports are given to the CPS Board.

III. Study Programme Evaluations: At the end of a year, performed by the Student Staff Liasion and the CPS Board, considering the reports that resulted from all of the other preceeding evaluations. This study programme evaluation can take the form of a two day seminar ("CPS Fagdagene").

Evaluation of the MPCT
Schedule for Reporting

MPCT Study Programme Report 2005