Quality culture in the doctoral education-

a look inside the ”black box”

EAIR Forum in Vilnius, Lithuania August 2009

Uppsala UniversityQuality and Evaluation Unit

Maria Björnermark & Maria Wolters

Quality Work Program at Uppsala University

The university’s quality work is based on a quality culture to which established academic values and academically founded means of ensuring quality are central.

Concrete manifestations of this culture are regular seminars and critical review of publications.

The program also stresses that systematic evalu-ations should be carried out to form a basis for further development and constant change.

Questionnaire for doctoral students at Uppsala University

Aim: To identify doctoral student’s views of their education.

A secondary aim was to determine the relative importance to different factors with regard to the doctoral students overall satisfaction with their education.

About the questionnaire

• Web-based questionnaire -08• Selection: All PhD students at Uppsala

university (with a degree of activity of at least 20%)

• 943 of 1674 answered, 56% response rate

• Results reported on university-, faculty- and department level

• Summarizing report (being prepared)

What happens with the results?

The documentation of the quality work is to be integrated in the university’s existing annual routines for operational planning and follow-up (Quality Work Program at Uppsala University)

In their plan for 2010 the faculty boards are to take into account the results of the doctoral study

Areas of questions

• Research and work environment• Supervision and dissertation work• Seminars• Coursework in the doctoral program• Teaching and documenting teaching

qualifications• After the dissertation• Suggestions for improvements of the

doctoral education

Seminar culture

6%

15%

26%

29%

25%

37%

41%

39%

44%

36%

23%

23%

22%

11%

9%

8%

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

Do you usuallyfeel inspired af ter

the seminars?

Do the seminarsusually stimulate

scientif icreasoning/critical

thinking?

Are the seminarscharacterized byopenness and a

f ree exchange ofideas?

Do seniorresearchers

(apart f rom theseminar leader)

take part in theseseminars?

Yes, always

Yes, usually

Yes, sometimes

No, seldom

No, never

Assess how satisfied you are with the following:

44%

52%

26%

32%

17%

8%

14%

8%

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

The possibility of myreceiving criticism of

my reserach atseminars

The possibility of mygiving constructive

criticism of otherpeople's research at

seminars

Satisfied (value4+5)

Neither satisfiednor dissatisfied(value 3)

Dissatisfied (value1+2)

Don't know/ notapplicable

The results often varies largely between different faculties and departments…

" I feel that I have good opportunities for informal conversations about research with senior researchers (apart from seminars and supervision)"

39

28

32

56

31

27

33

41

39

38

38

25

43

30

38

40

15

23

25

16

43

28

20

4

15

7

13

44 19

6

10

6

5

6

8

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

Science Technology

Pharmacy

Medicine

Law

Theology

Social Science

Languages

History Philosophy

UU Total

Agree to a highdegree

Agree to arather highdegree

Agree to somedegree

Don't agree atall

Don't know

Department level

"Assess how satisfied you are with the following: The ability of my supervisor(s) to inspire scientific reasoning/critical thinking"

65

66

48

76

41

69

75

60

25

87

60

52

63

64

20

16

22

23

17

19

20

44

9

20

28

7

17

5

16

30

14

6

20

31

5

20

20

30

17

37

12

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

Matematiska inst

Inst för informationsteknologi

Inst för fysik och astronomi

Inst för fysik och materialvetenskap

Inst för teknikvetenskaper

Inst för biokemi och organisk kemi

Inst för fysikalisk och analytisk kemi

Inst för materialkemi

Inst för ekologi och evolution

Inst för evolution, genomik och systematik

Inst för fysiologi och utvecklingsbiologi

Inst för cell- och molekylärbiologi

Inst för geovetenskaper

UU TotalSatisfied(value 4+5)

"Varken eller"(value 3)

Dissatisfied(value 1+2)

Don't know

Determine to what extent you agree with the following statements:

13%

28%

32%

30%

29%

33%

31%

23%

20%

21%

12%

7%

6%

7%

8%

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

I have a positive viewof my future

opportunities to w orkin research and/or

teaching at UppsalaUniversity

I w ould like to w ork inresearch and/or

teaching at UppsalaUniversity in the future

I w ould like to w ork inresearch and/or

teaching at anotherSw edish or foregin

institution in the future

Agree to a highdegree

Agree to a ratherhigh degree

Agree to someagree

Don't agree at all

Don't know

"I am highly satisfied with my doctoral studies thus far"

23

35

23

56

33

3

37

26

46

42

50

31

69

48

62

41

48

23

19

22

18

28

15

21

6

5

7

19

13

6 6

3

4

3

3

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

Science Technology

Pharmacy

Medicine

Law

Theology

Social Science

Languages

History Philosophy

UU Total Agree to a highdegree

Agree to arather highdegree

Agree to somedegree

Don't agree atall

Don't know

Factors influencing the overall satisfaction with the doctoral

education• Thorough follow-up of the study plan in

discussions between the supervisor and the PhD student

• The supervisors ability to inspire scientific reasoning and critical thinking

• Supervisory contact of a minimum of 3 times per semester

• Receiving the main part of the supervision from the main supervisor

• Having access to regular seminars• Junior- and newly graduated PhD students were

most satisfied with their education

Suggestions from the PhD-students for improvements of the doctoral

education

Structural issues– Explicit guidelines for supervision and better

follow-up– Increased clarity on the rights and

responsibilities of doctoral students– Bigger selection of research courses– Improved terms of employment

Cultural issues – Improve the psychosocial work environment;

“See” and encourage the doctoral students!

One quotation…

“Create an environment in which people feel they belong. […] Practice what you preach and solve conflicts at the senior level. These weigh heavily on the younger staff. Embrace diversity. It just doesn’t work to have as your goal a homogenous department, and for those students like me who did not grow up in the department form the beginning, it’s actually impossible.”

It is possible to change the quality culture!

The courses have helped me think and discuss critically

13 13

44

63

38 19

13

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

Law 2008

Law 2002

Agree to a highdegree

Agree to arather highdegree

Agree to somedegree

Don't agree atall

Don't know/not applicable

Thank you for your attention!

Maria.Bjornermark@uadm.uu.se

Maria.Wolters@uadm.uu.se