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Report on educational quality 2018
University Centre in Svalbard
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Content
1 UNIS’s educational activities ... 3
1.1 Summary and overall assessments ... 3
1.2 Challenges... 4
1.3 Local and regional needs ... 4
1.4 Internationalisation ... 5
1.5 Learning environment ... 5
1.6 bioCEED ... 7
1.7 iEarth ... 8
1.8 Learning Forum... 8
1.9 Infrastructure for teaching and learning ... 9
1.10 Library ... 9
2 Measures implemented in 2018 ... 10
2.1 Follow-up of measures outlined in UNIS’ report on educational quality 2017 ... 10
3 Recruitment and admission quality ... 12
3.1 Recruitment and marketing ... 12
3.2 Applicant figures, admission quality and quotas... 13
4 Quality of results ... 16
4.1 Course portfolio ... 16
4.2 Production and average grade ... 17
5 Evaluations and non-conformance... 19
5.1 Midway evaluations ... 20
5.2 Course evaluations – overall assessment ... 20
6 Non-conformance reporting system ... 22
7 Academic administrative tools and services ... 22
8 Measures 2019 ... 22
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1 UNIS’ educational activities
1.1 Summary and overall assessments
The University Centre in Svalbard (UNIS) is the world’s northernmost institution for research and higher education. UNIS’ strategic plan sets clear goals for the education offered at bachelor’s, master’s and PhD level, stating that there shall be “excellence in research and education” and that the education activity shall be research and field based. UNIS shall be an attractive institution for Norwegian and international students. As well as an academic learning outcome, these students shall acquire competence in Health, Safety and the Environment (HSE) and logistical aspects of working in Arctic environments. Furthermore, there shall be focus on close follow-up of students, varied learning methods and high quality in the education provision.
UNIS has academic staff of the highest international calibre supported by a logistics unit with a high level of competence in safety and field training. Collectively, these contribute to the field and research-based education at UNIS maintaining a high quality. The student environment at UNIS is extremely international, and Norwegian degree students accounted for 51% of the students in 2018.
The UNIS Education Committee (ECom) leads the work involving quality of education. After one and a half years without any activity, ECom was revitalised in September 2018 with the Vice-Dean for Education as Chair, accompanied by representatives from all academic departments, the Academic Affairs Department, bioCEED (Centre of Excellence in Biology Education), PhD students and a student representative. The quality assurance work shall contribute to a continual focus on the quality of the courses that are offered at UNIS and an enhanced quality of education for UNIS students. ECom compiles and submits the annual report on the quality of education to UNIS’ management group and managing director.
White Paper no. 4 (2018-2019), Long-term plan for research and higher education 2019-2028, was launched in 2018. The focus includes the quality of higher education, including strengthening of the national competitive arena for quality in higher education.
UNIS’ quality assurance system for education reflects the current organisation and the current focus on educational quality, providing a clear and overall goal for educational quality at UNIS.
Work continued in 2018 on developing a new overall strategy for UNIS. This new strategy will be implemented from the spring of 2019.
UNIS mostly receives positive feedback on the learning environment from the students, while the library is highlighted as being particularly good. Feedback from the student evaluations include reading lists being provided late or not at all (fewer noted this compared with previous years), a shortage of lecture halls/classrooms and a lack of space in the computer and teaching labs, as well as a desire for a learning platform.
It has been a stated ambition to establish semester packages at master’s and PhD level and to spread the course activity throughout the entire calendar year (fixed course periods). This will reduce overlapping between courses and utilise UNIS’ infrastructure and student housing in the best manner possible. Such a course plan will also give current and future students enhanced predictability and ensure that the
necessary internal and local resources for implementation are available.
During 2018, the partnership in bioCEED has further contributed to continual focus on educational quality at UNIS. UNIS har implemented UiB’s merit system for teaching, Excellent Teaching Practitioner, and three applications from teaching staff at UNIS had been received by the deadline in October 2018. Moreover, UNIS has participated in iEarth, a national network of earth science/geoscience departments, which is in
4 the process of preparing a new application to achieve Centre for Excellence in Higher Education status in 2019.
1.2 Challenges
UNIS offered 89 courses in 2018 and an average of 83% of the places were filled (80% in 2017). This high level of activity challenges the way one utilises the available teaching venues (classrooms, auditoriums, lab facilities and computer rooms), as well as the use of teaching staff and technical/administrative resources. There was also a shortage of student housing during certain periods in 2018. There is major pressure on both academic and administrative/technical staff.
UNIS experiences that a certain proportion of qualified students do not accept the offer of a place on courses or withdraw before the start of the course. In 2018, UNIS sent offer of admission to 1.5 students to fill one place on a course. This was the same as in 2017. UNIS did not implement a systematic mapping of why students withdraw. However, it is planned to implement this in 2019.
UNIS still does not have a learning management system (LMS). In 2018, UNIS agreed to upgrade the IT infrastructure, which will facilitate the future purchase and implementation of an LMS at UNIS.
Given the high number of students at UNIS, there is a requirement to compile and update routines and early warning systems for the learning environment, safety and emergency preparedness that cover the campus (Svalbard Science Centre), field and student housing. It is planned to implement sikresiden.no as a tool for this in 2019.
A survey of the teaching load per academic staff member in 2017 (implemented in autumn 2018) shows that many academic staff spend more than 40% of their working hours teaching. This is the same result as in 2016 and 2017. A new mapping will be implemented for 2018 with the goal of
completing this work by summer 2019. BioCEED has developed a tool for student workload on courses, which was released in 2018. This tool enables one to better plan the workload on UNIS courses, which can have an impact on the teaching capacity of the academic staff at UNIS.
UNIS lacks an institutional repository, meaning the task of rendering student assignments and research results visible is not systemized. A group to work on this was appointed but the work has not yet started.
1.3 Local and regional needs
The profile and subject areas of UNIS are relevant to Svalbard and the Arctic, while UNIS is an important actor and contributor in the local community. The main objective of UNIS is to offer higher education and perform research and dissemination related to the Arctic region. UNIS has three courses available for the local population (The History of Svalbard, The Stormy Sun and the Northern Lights and Arctic Safety and Survival course). UNIS is collaborating with UiT The Arctic University of Norway on the one- year programme Arctic Nature Guide, and UNIS is also a contributor in the Svalbard Guide Training organised by Visit Svalbard.
The Arctic Safety Centre (ASC) project, which started in 2016, aims to provide new knowledge and methods for safe and sustainable field activity in the Arctic. The first course at master’s level was offered in the summer of 2018. Three new courses at master’s level to start up in the autumn of 2019 were sent out to the universities for comment in spring 2018, approved by the UNIS Deans’ meeting and then formally established by the UNIS Board of Directors in October 2018. ASC collaborates with
5 several research projects as research is one of the cornerstones of the centre. Moreover, the centre offers courses and open seminars for the local population. ASC also sponsors a joint project involving Telenor and the Longyearbyen Community Council; the DRIVA project. The project involves the
mounting of snow sensors in the terrain to map snow conditions and provide better data for avalanche warnings.
UNIS collaborates with several local companies and institutions on teaching and research activities such as the Svalbard Course, Studietur Nord, UiT Outreach and the Svalbard Seminars. The local newspaper, Svalbardposten, often covers research and education-related matters from UNIS, while student assignments and research are used and raised at relevant local, national and international fora.
1.4 Internationalisation
There were 772 students from 43 nations at UNIS in 2018. In comparison, there were 794 students from 45 nations in 2017 (43 nations in 2016). A total of 49% of the students came from higher education institutions outside Norway. UNIS is not an accredited higher institution with its own institution code and is not part of Erasmus+ 2014-2020 (the EU programme for education, training, youth and sport). Nevertheless, many students come each year through the Erasmus programme or the Nordlys/Nordplus programme via a Norwegian university. UNIS is a member of the University of the Arctic (UArctic), which has an active mobility programme, North2North. Each year UNIS has incoming students from Russia and North America who make use of this grant. Some Norwegian universities also have more specialised exchange programmes that also contribute applicants to UNIS courses, as well as international partner institutions which recommend students to apply to study at UNIS.
1.5 Learning environment 1.5.1 The students
The main finding of the student evaluation is that the learning environment at UNIS is good and most students really enjoy their time at UNIS. The unity in the student group is also described as good. Field work is emphasized as positive, while the library also receives a lot of positive feedback related to opening hours, service level and environment. The people with course responsibility are also highlighted as positive factors for contentment and learning. The following factors related to the learning environment were common among the students’ feedback in 2018:
o Mostly good lecturers and good and motivated people with course responsibility
o The low threshold for contacting the person with course responsibility to ask for help is perceived as very good.
o The use of guest lecturers receives mixed feedback.
o The IT infrastructure is unsatisfactory.
o The teaching labs lack equipment and are not always clean and tidy
o There was perceived to be a lack of space in the computer lab and some classrooms, and that exhaust fumes could be smelt in certain classrooms (spring semester).
o Field work is often considered the highlight of studying at UNIS, but in 2018 it was pointed out that UNIS’ marketing gives the expectation of more field work than is actually the case.
As previously, a joint event for students to officially open the semester is held at the start of both the autumn and spring semesters, after which the students are invited to a social gathering with food and drink at the UNIS cafeteria. There is a Student Council that is represented on councils, committees and
6 the UNIS Board. The students arrange various social events and have access to a large equipment store for use in recreational activities, which is mostly financed by welfare funding in the UNIS budget. UNIS encourages the students to be active in the local community and to contribute to existing
organisations and activities rather than having their own student organisations/associations.
1.5.2 Staff
UNIS facilitates teaching training and development for the academic staff. Including through bioCEED, one has created focus on variation and development of teaching methods and forms of assessment in the academic environments at UNIS (see chapter 1.6). UNIS also arranges the course Basic Pedagogical Requirements on campus every second year for academic staff who have not completed this course.
The course was last held in spring 2018. The annual Learning Forum for all academic staff (including those in adjunct positions) was held in October (see chapter 1.7).
UNIS, via the Department of Arctic Geology, participates in the national network planning a Centre for Excellence in Higher Education (iEarth) to develop a new earth science programme in Norway.
Starting from 2018, UNIS participated in the merit system for teaching, Excellent Teaching Practitioner, implemented by the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences (MN) at the University of Bergen (UiB). In feedback from the people with course responsibility, UNIS registers that the academic staff are mostly satisfied with the student groups and their language competencies. However, certain feedback indicates different background among the students can create some challenges in the teaching.
1.5.3 PhD candidates
A total of 27 PhD candidates were registered at UNIS in 2018, down from 31 PhD candidates in 2017.
The candidates were admitted to PhD programmes at six Norwegian universities (see table 1). Of these, 18 are funded by the Ministry of Education and Research, while the remainder have other funding sources – through the Research Council of Norway or external projects. Five public defences were held in 2018; four at UNIS and one at NTNU.
When it comes to PhD candidates, the distribution of responsibility between UNIS and the universities is stipulated in the Study administrative guidelines – PhD candidates at UNIS, which was adopted by the UNIS Board in 2013.
University UiB UiO NTNU UiT NMBU Nord
univ.
No. of candidates 11 8 3 7 1 1
Public defences 1 2 1 1
Table 1: The number of PhD candidates in 2018. These figures include PhD candidates in PhD positions, who have presented their theses, are delayed or have finished in 2017.
As well as its own PhD candidates, UNIS offers places for guest PhD candidates. These are PhD candidates who although not employed at UNIS have a co-supervisor here and complete all or part of their PhD thesis at UNIS. There were 13 guest PhD candidates affiliated with UNIS in 2018. These do not contribute to the reporting of student-labour years at UNIS over and above any courses they have taken here.
7 1.5.4 PhD forum
This is an interdisciplinary/social meeting point for the PhD candidates from all the departments
coordinated by the Academic Affairs Department. The forum functions as an information point between the PhD candidates and UNIS/ the universities, while lectures are also held on topics of common interest to the candidates. The candidates are also encouraged to present articles in progress to receive feedback on these. Representatives are elected at the PhD forum to represent the PhD candidates on ECom. During the first meeting, the Department of Information held a presentation on the use of social media for researchers. At the second meeting, an external lecturer, Janet Holmén, was hired to hold a lecture on popular science communication. UNIS was unable to hold more PhD forums in 2018 owing to the shortage of resources.
1.5.5Compulsory course in Research Ethics and Philosophy of Science
The course PHI-401 Research Ethics and Philosophy of Science I (5 ECTS) was held at UNIS in March 2018 through a collaboration with the Norwegian University of Life Sciences (NMBU). This course is approved as the compulsory training in philosophy of science and research ethics in the PhD programme at all the universities where UNIS has PhD candidates except Nord University. Two lecturers from NMBU held the course over a seven-day period, after which the students submitted an essay as the basis for final
assessment in the course. The feedback about the course was favourable from students, lecturers and the Academic Affairs Department alike. A report was presented to ECom at its meeting on 12 November 2018, and ECom recommended that the course should next be held in 2020.
1.6 bioCEED
For the fourth successive year, bioCEED has attached importance to creating meeting places at UNIS where learning and teaching are topics for staff and students alike. During 2018 BioCEED offered seminars for all staff covering themes related to student active assessment, process evaluation, use of students as teaching assistants in the field, an internship course, practical teaching in the lab and opportunities to seek support for field and research-based teaching.
Throughout 2018, student representatives from bioCEED at UNIS have further developed bioBreakfast, a project funded by NOKUT and run by the students. BioBreakfast is a meeting place for biology students at bachelor’s, master’s and PhD levels where students can exchange knowledge and experiences related to their education and future working life. Students from the other academic departments were also
included in bioBreakfast in 2018, which proved to be a great success and has contributed to the exchange of experiences between students from various departments. Furthermore, the student representatives in bioCEED have arranged numerous student seminars on topics such as statistics, research dissemination and oral presentation techniques, as well as inviting representatives from relevant workplaces to give a brief introduction about the enterprise/organisation, its duties/responsibilities and the qualifications employers look for when employing biologists.
BioCEED publishes a monthly newsletter that is distributed to all staff at UNIS. The following points from 2018 are worthy of special mention:
• The National Forum for Educational Leadership in Biology held the third meeting since its inception. The topic of the meeting hosted by UNIS was educational development work. The focus was on how the institutions can facilitate discussions, seminars and development work about education that can form the base for further development of the higher education competence within various subject areas. BioCEED’s collegial teaching and learning course
8 was discussed as a case study. Øystein Varpe from UNIS coordinates the forum for educational leadership in bioCEED.
• As of 2018, UNIS has participated in the pilot scheme of the merit system for teaching, Excellent Teaching Practitioner, at the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences at the University of Bergen (UiB). For the second time, teachers were invited in March 2018 to apply for the title of Excellent Teaching Practitioner by the deadline in October 2018. The titles will be awarded to the successful applicants in March 2019. As part of the application process, a portfolio workshop was held in August for teachers at UNIS who wished to apply.
• In the 2018/2019 academic year, bioCEED will hold the Collegial Teaching and Learning course for the third time. This time it will be offered nationally to several universities within biology education, as well as for all departments at UNIS. The course was not run for UNIS staff as the level of interest was too low.
• UNIS staff participated in two teaching conferences in 2018; the Matric conference in Oslo and ISSOTL in Bergen. BioCEED and the University of Bergen hosted this year’s ISSOTL conference Towards a learning culture in Bergen.
• Two applications for research projects about teaching were submitted in 2018, in which BioCEED was heavily involved. One was an interdisciplinary application to the Norwegian Agency for International Cooperation and Quality Enhancement in Higher Education (Diku) for the project Developing, testing and evaluation of tools and forms of assessment that promote course alignment in field teaching. An application was also submitted and granted for funding via the Thon Foundation for the project Development of a High Arctic, interdisciplinary field laboratory for reach and teaching.
• In 2018, the tool Calculating student workload was launched on UNIS’ online resource platform
“Educational Quality in Teaching and Learning”. This modelling tool enables teachers at UNIS to examine the students’ workload on UNIS courses and adjust this when the person with course responsibility revises the course or plans new courses.
• Development work on the online portal www.learningarcticbiology.info continued throughout 2018. This is a teaching and learning portal for students and teachers featuring knowledge about Arctic ecosystems and organisms. The teaching material that is developed is mostly aimed at UNIS’ courses but may also be used by upper secondary schools, nature guides and others wishing to learn more about Arctic biology. The portal will be launched in 2019.
1.7 iEarth
In 2018, UNIS has again been involved in iEarth, a national network of earth science/geoscience
departments, which is preparing a new application to achieve Centre for Excellence in Higher Education status in 2019. This includes:
• Attending several national iEarth planning meetings
• Participating in Teachers’ retreat
• Implementing a baseline survey of students, teaching staff and administrative/logistical staff across the entire geology education at UNIS
• Student evaluation of the field-based teaching in all four bachelor courses in the autumn semester
1.8 Learning Forum
On 16-18 October 2018, UNIS held the fifth Learning Forum for all academic staff (including adjunct professors). The forum lasted two days followed by a half-day of departmental sessions. A total of 45 employees registered for this year’s LF. The focus of this year’s LF was to promote a collegial culture of sharing. Consequently, the staff were encouraged to share their experiences, ideas and questions through
9 presentations of their own teaching methods through either short sharing seminars or at workshops, where the participants were divided into smaller cross-departmental groups. There were a total of 10 sharing seminars and three different workshops covering topics such as digital tools, field-based teaching and preparing for the field, blackboard-based teaching, calculation of workload for students, process evaluation, use of subject literature in the teaching, student-active repetition, interdisciplinary teaching, collegial supervision, student evaluation and writing skills among students. Each participant had the opportunity to participate in two sharing seminars and two workshops during this year’s LF. Topics within the following three categories were addressed during the joint sessions, which took place between the seminars and workshops:
1) Information and status reporting: Educational quality at UNIS, student statistics, the quality assurance system, UNIS’ education strategy and the status of bioCEED and iEarth
2) Field-based teaching: Torstein Hole, a PhD candidate at UIB and bioCEED, presented his pedagogical reach work on field-based teaching at UNIS – How do students learn through working in field excursions?
3) Dissemination and communication: Janet Holmén held a lecture on oral presentation techniques and gave examples of how a lecturer should not communicate. The aim of the lecture was to increase the participants’ knowledge about how one can communicate their message through a lecture in the best way possible.
After two days of joint presentations, sharing seminars and workshops, the departments held half-day departmental meetings focusing on matters related to teaching and education specific to that
department. The programme also included joint lunches on the two first days. The joint presentations during LF 2018 were filmed, meaning anyone at UNIS can access the videos and presentations from the event on the local server. A brief report has been compiled outlining the content of LF 2018 and an evaluation by the participants. The staff feedback was positive, and they want the sharing seminars to be continued at the next LF.
1.9 Infrastructure for teaching and learning
The offices, teaching space, laboratories and storage space at the Svalbard Science Centre are fully utilized. Measures to reduce condensation and improve energy efficiency are necessary to ensure an adequate study and working environment. Consequently, a significant growth in student numbers at UNIS will require larger facilities. UNIS, in collaboration with co-location partners and the
Longyearbyen Community Council, has drawn up a campus development plan, which outlines a possible expansion of the Svalbard Science Centre. UNIS has also applied for a grant of up to MNOK 10 for the start of the schematic design for the expansion.
In 2018 UNIS was allocated MNOK 6 to upgrade technical-scientific equipment. This funding has enabled the replacement of some material that was procured when Svalbard Science Centre was established in 2006.
1.10 Library
The library has two permanent full-time positions and in addition used student assistants to the tune of nearly 500 hours in 2018. These student assistants enable the library to open from 16.00 – 19.00 four days a week in the high season, as also act as substitutes for the full-time staff. The library covers 333 m² and includes two group rooms, a computer room and compact storage. The library has a variety of
furniture for studying and relaxing and at times is so popular that there are challenges related to capacity.
There have been around 3,000 loans and renewals annually for the past three years (see table 2). The automated lending machine accounted for approx. 83% of the loans in 2018. The downloading of full
10 text articles is increasing and in 2018 around 120 documents per day were downloaded (365 days per year). The equivalent figure for 2017 was 100 documents per day.
The use of reference databases continues to show a downward trend. Owing to the staffing level at the library and the high turnover of students, it is more common to provide ad hoc support rather than systematic training.
Economic considerations such as rising prices and tight budgets has resulted in delayed purchases, including new journal wishes, and it is taking a longer time to develop a solid book collection relevant to Svalbard. Literature related to Svalbard is unique in that it is published in several languages and often uses rarer publishing channels. There has been a modest increase in the academic production in recent years.
UNIS does not publish research results and student assignments, etc. in an open access repository.
2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018
Library visits 19277 33111 41171 49392 43000 41378*
Loans and loan renewals 2344 2623 2320 2807 3012 2895
Downloading of full text
articles 26755 27810 30736 32967 32679 43720
Searches in reference
databases 13684** 7202 5797 6581 5219 4040
Collection –
subscriptions/purchases (NOK 000)
1653 1856 2029 2272 2328 2118
CRIStin – research result 95 100 121 147 152 160***
Table 2: UNIS library statistics 2013-2018
* As the device that counts visitors was out of operation for a period in 2018, the number of visits is underreported.
** The high search activity in 2013 is attributed to work on UNIS’ bibliography
***Provision number of registered publications. The final figures will be available on 1 April 2019.
2 Measures implemented in 2018
2.1 Follow-up of measures outlined in UNIS’ report on educational quality 2017
• UNIS shall continue to focus on recruitment, especially of Norwegian degree students, and identify reasons why students withdraw and/or decline the offer of admission.
The student statistics show that the percentage of places filled on UNIS courses is increasing in comparison with previous years. No systematic mapping has been implemented in 2018 but, as in previous years, there are believed to be several reasons for withdrawing. These may include that the course is not approved by the home institution, finances, other more attractive exchange opportunities/plans and personal reasons.
• UNIS shall be proactive towards the Norwegian universities when it comes to course development and the establishment of an Arctic profile in relevant programmes of study. There is regular and constructive dialogue with the universities through networks, meetings and written communication. UNIS has well established processes for course development, unified academic administration processes and representatives in relevant national forums.
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• UNIS shall hold a new Learning Forum in 2018. This was implemented in October 2018 (see chapter 1.8 for more information).
• UNIS shall continue to map the teaching capacity and load of the academic staff. The survey for 2017 along with a summary covering all the departments was submitted in autumn 2018. It shows that on average academic staff spend more than 40% of their working hours teaching.
• UNIS will adopt the merit system for teaching, Excellent Teaching Practitioner, which has been implemented by the MN faculty at UiB. UNIS har implemented the system and several applications from teaching staff at UNIS were received in 2018. The Vice-Dean for Education at UNIS represents UNIS on the committee.
• UNIS shall set fixed course periods for 2019-2020, continue to focus on workloads and learning outcomes of the students and further development of semester packages at master’s/PhD level. Fixed course periods for 2019 were stipulated in late summer 2018, while the work on fixed course periods for 2020 started in November 2018 and will continue until April 2019. The principle that courses of 10 ECTS shall last for a minimum of five weeks is continued: One week’s teaching can be no more than 2 ECTS, which equates to a workload of 50-60 hours for students, which may include preparation before or reporting after the course.
• UNIS shall assess the overall course portfolio annually considering the financial situation, student production, teaching load on academic staff and the percentage of places filled on the courses. UNIS has reduced the course provision in recent years and in 2018 the course provision was 11 student-labour years lower than in 2017. The percentage of placed filled increased in 2018 and the combined student production was 218 student-labour years, which equates well with the expectations from Ministry of Education and Research of 220 student-labour years.
• BioCEED shall arrange various workshops, courses and lectures for employees with the aim of raising awareness about learning methods, learning outcomes and “deeper learning”. Several activities were implemented in 2018 (see chapter 1.6 for more information).
• UNIS shall participate in the national network to develop a Centre for Excellence in Higher Education iEarth for the earth science programme at the Norwegian universities. The
Department of Arctic Geology has actively participated in the national network (iEarth) to plan and develop an application for Centre for Excellence in Higher Education status (see chapter 1.7 for more information).
• UNIS shall revise the electronic course evaluation so it conforms with the intentions of the quality assurance system. UNIS participated in a process at UiB-BIO concerning electronic course evaluation in 2018 and this process will continue in 2019. Through bioCEED, UNIS will have a presence in the work at UiB and use BIO as a sparring partner for further work at UNIS.
• UNIS’ web-based resource page on Educational Quality in Teaching and Learning shall be developed further by publishing relevant tools to promote further enhancement of the educational quality at UNIS. The resource page is under continual development to make reports, work-related tools and relevant information available to staff at UNIS with teaching responsibilities. The tool to calculate student workload was published on this page in 2018
12 (see chapter 1.6 for more information).
• UNIS shall establish a basic system for students to report non-conformance. This work continued in 2018 when UNIS entered into an agreement concerning the use of sikresiden.no which will include a system to report non-conformance. This work will continue in 2019.
• UNIS shall draw up ethical guidelines for students. This work did not start in 2018, but hopefully this will be possible in 2019.
• UNIS shall invest in a learning platform, providing the IT infrastructure is strengthened and upgraded and enough resources are available. UNIS did not invest in a learning platform in 2018.
However, through an additional allocation from the Ministry of Education and Research, UNIS has started to plan the strengthening and upgrading of the IT infrastructure, which is a prerequisite for the future implementation of an LMS.
• UNIS shall decide about which institutional repository to purchase and how to implement this. This work did not start in 2018.
• UNIS shall follow the goals for education stipulated in the strategic plan (available on the website) and appurtenant action plan. All UNIS processes are rooted in the current strategy. In 2018 the organisation, including ECom, has worked on the development of a new strategy to apply from 2020. ECom has focused on the education aspects of the strategy.
3 Recruitment and admission quality
3.1 Recruitment and marketing
UNIS markets itself mostly on social media, via guest lecturers, staff in adjunct positions at UNIS and not least through our students. Some of the people with course responsibility carefully target who within their professional networks to inform about their courses or relevant course packages, and this form of marketing appears to work well.
UNIS has a solid and increasing following on Facebook, and we are active on Twitter and not least Instagram. Students are encouraged to use the hashtag #unisvalbard so we can repost the photos they publish. At year-end 2018, the number of social media followers (Facebook, Instagram and Twitter) totalled 20,129. The equivalent figure for year-end 2017 was 16,814. This means we get an average of nine new followers every day, year-round. The academic departments have their own Facebook pages on which they inform about their courses and research activities.
Since 2016, UNIS has had dedicated Facebook groups for new students, which works well. A new group is created for each semester. The Academic Affairs Department at UNIS acts as administrator of the new group and follows the activity from when the first students are invited to join, but the students then overtake responsibility for the respective groups. The Academic Affairs Department believes this as an effective way of connecting students with each other and experience that the students use these groups from an early stage to become acquainted with their new fellow students. These groups enable new students to be invited into what we believe is a unique student environment, and we have noticed that
13 the existing UNIS students are good at answering questions from new students and inviting them on excursions and to social gatherings, etc.
Focus areas for 2019 are using videos produced by students to a greater degree as credible marketing, increasing the knowledge of own students and their decision-making processes through surveys and analyses of different groups of applicants and from different phases of the application process.
The heads of department at UNIS’ academic departments participate in the national academic councils for biology and geosciences, which are part of the higher education structure in Norway and where the heads of department from the academic departments at all the Norwegian universities meet a couple of times each year. This enables them to inform about and present developments in the educational provision at UNIS directly to the heads of the academic departments at the Norwegian universities from where most of UNIS’ students shall come. The National Disciplinary Strategic Unit for Mathematics, Natural Sciences and Technology (UHR-MNT) is a unit of Universities Norway (UHR), and the Head of the Academic Affairs Department participates in MNT Education, which is an advisory and preparatory administrative
committee under UHR-MNT and consists of administrative programme coordinators at faculty level and the equivalent.
On 27-29 August 2018, UNIS hosted the annual meeting of Deans attended by Deans or their
representatives from the Norwegian universities, heads of department, the Head of the Academic Affairs Department and the Vice-Dean for Education at UNIS. The Deans were invited to present the status of and wishes for increased collaboration with UNIS, while UNIS presented proposals for new and terminated courses and gave a general update about the educational quality and strategic work. The group work involved making suggestions about the strategy process at UNIS with focus on identifying the overall goals for UNIS’ education strategy and suggestions about how increase the collaboration between UNIS and the Norwegian universities. The Deans went on a field excursion to the main field locations UNIS uses close to Longyearbyen.
3.2 Applicant figures, admission quality and quotas 3.2.1 Applicant figures – assessments
UNIS operates with three application deadlines: 15 February (for autumn courses in the period June/July), 15 April (autumn courses) and 15 October (spring courses).
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Figure 1: Total number of applications(blue line) and educational provision (student-labour years) to UNIS 2014 – 2018
Figure 2: Proportion of qualified (blue column) and unqualified applicants to UNIS by academic department. n = number of applicants.
In 2018, a total of 2,804 applications were received for courses at UNIS. This represents a decrease in comparison with previous years. Naturally, we see that the number of applicants varies in keeping with the overall educational provision at UNIS (figure 1). Figure 2 shows the total number of applicants as well as the distribution of qualified and unqualified applicants for each department based on the admission requirements for each course. Between two-thirds and three-quarters of the applicants are qualified for admission based on the admission requirements for the courses. The applicant figures should be viewed in context with the departments’ overall educational provision.
Despite a decrease from 44% in 2017 to 31% in 2018, the Department of Arctic Geology still has most applicants, followed by the Department of Arctic Biology (24%). The biologists accounts for the same proportion as in 2017. They are followed by the Department of Arctic Technology, which has increased from 19 to 22%. However, the Department of Arctic Geophysics has had the largest increase – from 12 to 18%. Arctic Safety courses (AS) cover AS-203, where the number of applicants equates to the number of admissions (27 applicants), and AS-301 which had 75 qualified applicants.
15 The trend is still that students apply for several courses (not just bachelor packages), they apply for courses at more than one department, and they wish to have several opportunities if they do not gain admission to the course(s) they have ranked highest.
It has been a stated ambition to establish semester packages at master’s and PhD level and to spread the course activity throughout the entire calendar year. This will reduce overlapping between courses and utilise UNIS’ infrastructure and student housing in the best manner possible. This will be realised through fixed course periods for all UNIS courses. Such a course plan will also give current and future students enhanced predictability and ensure that the necessary internal and local resources for implementation are available.
3.2.2 Admission quality and quotas
Since 2015, the Norwegian universities have had the opportunity to have quota places on UNIS’
courses. In 2016, the universities renegotiated their quotas for period 2017-2019. Figure 3 shows that 50% of the universities’ quota places were used in 2018. This represents a decrease from 2017 (55 %).
It appears that this figure will stabilise at around 50 %, but naturally increasing the proportion of quotas used will be a goal.
Figure 3: Use of university quota places used at UNIS 2016 – 2018.
The reason why such a low proportion of the quota places were allocated may primarily be attributed to a discrepancy between the universities’ wishes concerning quota places on the individual courses and the actual number of applicants. There may be courses for which universities have requested many quota places but received few applicants or courses with many applicants but few if any quota places. It can be difficult for the universities to predict the number of applicants from year to year, and one should make a continuous effort to harmonise these figures further. However, allocated quota places to the specific
16 universities creates better predictability with a view to specific recognition of the courses in the
universities’ programmes of study.
Questions have been raised about whether the introduction of the quota scheme, as well as the goal of having a balance between Norwegian and international students, would lead to students from
Norwegian universities gaining admission with significantly lower grades than students from
international universities since the number of applicants from international universities far outnumbers the applicants from Norwegian universities. Figure 4 shows the average grades of Norwegian and international degree students who gained admission for 2015 – 2018.
Figure 4: Average grades on admissions 2015 – 2018. Grade level: Average grades on admission (students from Norw. univ -blue column) and average grade on admission (stud. from int. univ – red column). Grading scale: A=5, B=4, C=3, D=2, E=1.
This shows that the average grade for Norwegian students is somewhat lower than for international students. However, the difference is not particularly great. In 2018, the average grade for admission was between A and B for international students and just under B for Norwegian students. Furthermore, we can see that the average grades for admission to UNIS vary somewhat from year to year, which concurs with the variation in the number of applicants.
4 Quality of results
4.1 Course portfolio – overall assessments
UNIS mostly offers courses at bachelor’s, master’s and PhD level within four subject areas: Arctic
biology, Arctic geology, Arctic geophysics and Arctic technology. As well as reflecting the Arctic profile of the region well, UNIS’ course portfolio includes a course provision within the Arctic Safety Centre (1 master’s course in 2018). The course provision in 2018 consisted of 89 courses and equated to 233 student-labour years. The figures below show the educational provision in terms of the number of courses (fig. 5) and the student-labour years per level (fig. 6).
17
Figure 5: Educational provision by the number of courses per level 2013-2018. n = number of courses.
The overall percentage of places filled on courses at UNIS in 2018 was 83% (compared to 80% in 2017).
While this is the highest percentage of places filled on courses at UNIS, naturally it must be a goal to increase this figure further. The Department of Arctic Geophysics has the highest percentage of places filled (86%), while the Department of Arctic Biology is lowest (81%).
Figure 7: Percentage of places filled on courses at the various departments at UNIS 2014-2018
Figure 7 shows the percentage of places filled on courses in the period 2014-2018. The percentage of places filled obviously correlates with the student production. It expresses the proportion of the maximum education provision that is filled, i.e. how many students attend on the starting date of the various courses divided by the maximum number of places available. In cases where more students have been admitted to the course than the maximum number of places available, the percentage is stated as higher than 100%. It’s worth noting that there were a couple of courses in 2018 that could not be filled up despite qualified students on the waiting list, since student housing is also a limiting factor in this context.
4.2 Production and average grade
The production of student-labour years at UNIS is based on the number of credits produced by the examinations that are held, in addition to the guest master’s students who have periods at UNIS throughout the year. The Ministry of Education and Research’s target for UNIS in 2018 was an educational provision that represents approximately 220 student-labour years.
Figure 6: Educational provision by student-labour years per level 2013-2018. n = number of courses
18 4.2.1 Credit production in 2018
UNIS has fulfilled the target set by the Ministry of Education and Research (KD) of developing a course provision of around 220 student-labour years, since 2014. In 2018, this provision constituted 233 student-labour years. In 2018, 218 student-labour years were produced at UNIS, which
represents a decrease from 222.5 in 2017. Of this total, 195 student-labour years were linked to credits (ECTS) from competed courses and 23 student-labour years to presence by guest master’s students. The decrease in production only related to student-labour years from completed courses.
The number of student-labour years from presence by guest master’s students has remained stable.
This shows that the decrease in production relates to the reduced course provision.
A total of 772 unique students at UNIS in 2018, of which 729 took one or more courses at UNIS (course students). The remaining 43 were guest master’s students who worked on their master’s thesis but did not take ordinary courses at UNIS in 2018. There was a total of 72 guest master’s students, 13 guest PhD students and one guest bachelor student at UNIS in 2018.
With 29% of the total production (including guest master’s students), the Department of Arctic Geology had the highest credit production of the academic departments at UNIS despite a decrease from 2017.
Next largest was the Department of Arctic Biology, which accounted for 23% of the production. The Department of Arctic Geophysics (22%) achieved the greatest increase since 2017. These were followed by the Department of Arctic Technology (18%) and Arctic Safety/The History of Svalbard (8%). When considering these statistics, it must be noted that several academic departments offer a different number of courses every second year. Consequently, one must be careful not to draw direct conclusions from one year to the next.
Figure 8: Student-labour years at UNIS 2012-2018. Blue column: student-labour years produced. Red column: The ministry’s target figure. Green: Max. course provision.
The proportion of Norwegian degree students has increased from 50% in 2017 to 51% in 2018.
Consequently, UNIS still fulfils KD’s target of achieving a balance between Norwegian and international students. The proportion of Norwegian citizens has increased from 33% in 2017 to 36% in 2018.
4.2.2 Grade statistics for UNIS courses 2018
A total of 1,140 final assessments were held at UNIS in 2018, which is slightly fewer than the previous
19 year (1,179). Viewed in the light of a somewhat lower educational provision, one could have expected an even lower number of final assessments. However, this is compensated for by a higher proportion of places filled on the courses. The grade statistics for 2018 are shown in figure 9 below.
Figure 9: Assessment results. F/Ikke bestått = fail. Bestått = pass. n = the number of final assessments
As in previous years, the grading scale is tilted towards high grades. Viewed over several years, and with such a high number of grades, one should have expected a normal distribution with a mean grade around C. UNIS had a failure rate of 1% in 2018, which is the same level as in 2017. This failure rate is extremely low when compared with the Norwegian universities.
There may be many reasons why the students at UNIS achieve relatively good grades, but the following points are worthy of mention:
• When applying for admission, the students compete for places on UNIS’ courses based on their average grade from previous higher education. Consequently, places on courses will primarily be offered to students with a high average grade.
• UNIS has a conscious strategy of involving the students in field-based, authentic research activities. Numerous surveys show that such authentic research experiences contribute to increased interest among the students combined with a better understanding of the scientific processes. This is confirmed by the students’ evaluations of UNIS’ courses.
Furthermore, UNIS is a partner in bioCEED (Centre of Excellence in Biology Education), which works actively to develop new teaching methods and establish good learning cultures.
• The students are taught in small groups and are followed up closely by the person with course responsibility and the lecturers.
4.2.3 Failure rate
A total of 7.6% of the students who start a course at UNIS finish without a valid result for the courses.
Approximately 1% of these students failed the final assessment for the course. Consequently, UNIS has a drop-out rate of 6.5%. The latter consists of 3% who failed to attend the final assessment, 0.4% who fell ill during the examination and 3.3% who deleted their registration for assessment during the course.
5 Evaluations and non-conformance
UNIS maps the quality of education through an electronic course evaluation among the students.
Furthermore, several people with course responsibility also perform oral final evaluations with the students. In line with UNIS’ quality assurance system, midway evaluations shall also be performed for
20 semester long courses. People with course responsibility are also encouraged to perform simple
evaluations during their courses to enable quick adjustments to be made during the current year.
Following the student evaluation, the person with course responsibility also evaluates the quality of education on his/her course and the level of cooperation with the service departments (Academic Affairs, logistics, lab, IT and the administration).
The head of the academic departments and the person with course responsibility are responsible for following up the student feedback and implementing any necessary measures. The Academic Affairs Department also reviews all the evaluation reports from the students and people with course responsibility and records general trends. This is then presented to ECom as part of the quality
reporting activity. The overall findings related to the quality of education and academic, administrative and technical conditions are presented in tables 4 and 5 below.
5.1 Midway evaluations
Most semester long courses at bachelor’s level performed midway evaluations with the person with course responsibility in the autumn semester in 2018. ECom initiated the process and received a report about whether the evaluation was performed or not. Written reports from the midway evaluations were not required in 2018. In spring 2018, midway evaluations were performed for a few courses on the initiative of the person with course responsibility. The midway evaluations were not followed up this semester since ECom was not operational owing to a lack of leadership.
5.2 Course evaluations – overall assessment
The table below presents the main findings from the course evaluations in 2018. The people with course responsibility who accompany the students into the computer lab to perform the student evaluations get a better response rate than those who do not. The proportion of people with course responsibility who perform an electronic evaluation of their course has dropped significantly from 2016 and 2017 to 2018. This can probably mostly be attributed to a lack of resources at the Academic Affairs Department, which means that reminders are probably not sent often enough. However, it must be emphasized that many people with course responsibility have performed their own evaluations of their respective courses and have ideas concerning revision and changes, but this has not been documented for 2018 in the formal quality assurance system. However, it will appear in the annual course audits.
Systems and processes for the registration and following up of measures on a course/departmental basis have not currently been implemented. These tasks are handled by the heads of department, ECom, the people with course responsibility and the Academic Affairs Department. The Academic Affairs Department notes that there is potential for improvement in the day-to-day operation of the quality assurance system when it comes to:
1) Organisation of the quality assurance system – sending and reminders
2) How feedback from the person with course responsibility is followed up within the organisation 3) How information and findings are transferred to new people with course responsibility/staff members Below are tables presenting the response rates from students and people with course responsibility in 2017 and 2018, as well as an overview of the most common/recurring factors from students and people with course responsibility in the course evaluations in 2018. Further details at the course level are available by contacting the Academic Affairs Department.
2017 - spring 2017 - autumn 2018 - spring 2018 - autumn Students 70% (n = 686) 76% (n = 507) 60% (n = 651) 78% (n = 494)
21 People with
course responsibility
84% (n = 31) 45% (n = 31) 27% (n =30) 33% (n = 30)
Table 3: Response rate for course evaluations in 2017-2018 from students and people with course responsibility at UNIS
Most common/recurring factors in feedback from the students in 2018
Reading lists As previously, the students provided feedback that they received reading lists late or not at all. However, there were fewer comments about this compared with previous years. There were also some comments about the type and scope of the syllabus:
too much/not enough/quality.
Workload There were few comments about this, which is a relatively clear change from previous years. Semester students point out that reports/written assignments are too close to those in corresponding courses, while some of the intensive courses received feedback concerning a high workload. It is generally perceived that there is less focus on this than in previous years.
Lectures As in 2017, a relatively large proportion of the feedback concerns unstructured lectures. It’s also mentioned that some lecturers do not appear to be prepared or enthusiastic. Some students provided feedback about a lack of balance when presenting/teaching about controversial topics (e.g. oil).
Preparation and organisation of field work and field work in general
As in previous years, field work received generally positive feedback, and is
perceived as relevant and well organised. However, in several cases the students say less field work was offered than they expected based on how UNIS markets itself.
Several students want to learn more about instruments/field equipment before travelling into the field and they point out that this would increase the learning outcome from the field activity. The latter is closely linked with previous feedback (2014-2017) from students wanting more academic information and better preparations before the field work. There were also some comments related to safety and organisation/communication with the logistics unit.
Teaching lab There were several comments in 2018 that the lab work was not organised well enough, the tidying/conditions in the lab were unsatisfactory and on occasions it was “under equipped”.
Access to facilities A shortage of classrooms and a lack of space in the teaching lab and computer labs were recurring topics. There were also comments that there are often strong smells of exhaust fumes in the Kapp rooms.
Software/IT There was clear criticism about the quality of the computer labs at UNIS, including software and storage space on the server. As in previous years, the students requested a learning management system (LMS) because the method for contacting the people with course responsibility varies greatly (e-mail, dropbox, server, other).
Learning environment The students generally provide positive feedback about the learning environment and teaching methodology. The library gains special praise.
Table 4: Most common factors pointed out in the students’ feedback on courses at UNIS in 2018
Feedback from the people with course responsibility in 2018
Learning environment Mostly motivated students and no clear feedback that language skills restrict the teaching. Several mention that the students often have different academic
backgrounds and skills, which can create challenges. Some point out that this can be better regulated through the admission requirements for the course.
Evaluations during the
course Several people with course responsibility mention that they have performed evaluations – and then implemented measures – during the course to facilitate the best possible learning during the course.
Teaching lab The feedback is like in previous years: The teaching lab is poorly equipment and the instruments are old and outdated. There is a wish to order a “lab safety tour”.
22 Access to facilities Access to classrooms, teaching lab and computer lab is challenging. Comments also
note that some field and lab equipment is in bad condition or difficult to find.
Software/IT Several people with course responsibility criticise the IT infrastructure at UNIS. This feedback has lasted for several years and applies to the IT infrastructure used for teaching and for data processing. There is also insufficient space on the student server for students to share data and, as such, work effectively during the course.
Logistics The challenges related with the communication about logistics are ongoing. There are only a few cases reported concerning dissatisfaction with the logistics
department in the field. From a safety perspective, there is strong criticism of UNIS’
vehicles with many lacking seatbelts and the vehicles generally being in poor condition. Several people with course responsibility report that they are not comfortable using UNIS vehicles as a means of transport for field work involving their students. This point has been mentioned in the evaluations for many years.
There is a wish for a field leadership course for new staff before they are sent out into the field with their students.
Table 5: Most common factors pointed out by people with course responsibility in 2018
6 Non-conformance reporting system
UNIS has not established a system for reporting non-conformance in the learning environment. However, in 2018 UNIS started work to implement sikresiden.no, which includes a tool where students can report non-conformance and discrepancies associated with the learning environment.
7 Academic administrative tools and services
Given the high number of students and high teaching activity, scheduling and room allocation pose a challenge, as do the limitations on available student housing through the Arctic Student Welfare Organisation. Fixed course periods help to improve the situation, but in 2018 UNIS has also housed students at UNIS Guest House (UGH) during the most hectic periods. The Academic Affairs Department works purposefully and efficiently to finalise the admission results as soon as possible after application deadlines. The practical implementation of examinations works fine, but UNIS does not have a
satisfactory system for submitting parts of an examination for grading. UNIS currently receives these via ordinary e-mail. Moreover, UNIS does not have a system to check for plagiarism. Examination results are transmitted to the universities on the Norwegian mainland via ordinary e-mail, but UNIS is investigating solutions to transmit examination results electronically to safeguard IT security and privacy
considerations. The goal is to perform the academic administration activities more efficiently, so the students receive their grades as soon as possible after grading.
8 Measures 2019
• UNIS shall identify reasons why students withdraw and/or decline the offer of admission.
• UNIS shall focus on achieving the correct teaching load for the academic staff.
• UNIS shall focus on achieving the correct workload in courses for students.
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• UNIS shall by spring 2019 set fixed course periods for 2020. This process shall focus on developing full semester packages at master’s/PhD level and in so doing increase the collaboration with the Norwegian universities. This process shall involve assessing the overall course portfolio in the light of relevant factors such as financial considerations, student production, the teaching capacity of academic staff and the percentages of places filled on courses.
• UNIS shall participate in the national network to develop a Centre for Excellence in Higher Education application iEarth to develop the future earth science programme at the Norwegian universities and UNIS.
• UNIS shall adopt a new electronic system for course evaluations while also revising the current standardised questionnaire that is used in course evaluations for students and people with course responsibility, so that it conforms better with the intentions of the quality assurance system.
• UNIS shall start the revitalisation of the earlier project to plan a learning management system (LMS) with a view to reporting on the investment in and implementation of an LMS at UNIS when the upgrading of the IT infrastructure is completed.
• UNIS shall address the challenges related to communication between the people with course responsibility and the logistics unit.
• UNIS shall assess getting an open course code in order to hold courses that shall be tested, or which may only be held once or twice.
• UNIS shall work to test and evaluate new teaching methods and discipline-related courses including by using external funding.
• UNIS shall work to increase the collaboration with local institutions and actors with a view to increasing the use of the local area for field-based education that can also have a direct social benefit.
