UT Quality Agreements 2019-2024
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QUALITY AGREEMENTS 2019 - 2024 PLAN OF UNIVERSITY OF TWENTE QUALITY AGREEMENTS 2019 - 2024 UNIVERSITY OF TWENTE 4 Colofon Phone +31 (0) 53 48 99 111 Email [email protected] Mailing address P.O. Box 217 7500 AE Enschede Website www.utwente.nl Document Quality Agreements 2019 - 2024 Copyright© University of Twente, the Netherlands. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in anautomated database, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the University of Twente. QUALITY AGREEMENTS 2019 - 2024 5 TABLE OF CONTENTS Preamble Executive Board 6 PART A PART PART A - CENTRAL PLAN 1. Development process 8 2. University’s profile 12 3. Developments in education 16 4. Programmatic approach 20 5. Quality Agreement Programmes 24 5.1 Programme Community building 25 5.2 Programme Learning facilities 27 5.3 Programme Teaching professionalisation 29 5.4 Programme Talent development of students 32 5.5 Programme Global citizens 35 6. Governance on quality agreements 38 6.1 Planning and Control cycli 39 6.2 Monitoring instruments 40 6.3 Programme support 41 7. Investment of WSV-budget 42 7.1 Income WSV-budget 43 7.2 Budget per programme 43 List of abbreviations 45 PART B PART PART B - INVESTMENT PLAN 8. Investment plan central budget from the student loan fund 48 PART C PART PART C - FACULTY PLANS 9. Faculty of Behavioural Management and Social Sciences (BMS) 62 10. Faculty of Engineering Technology (ET) 80 11. Faculty of Geo-information and Earth Sciences (ITC) 92 12. Faculty of Science and Technology (S&T) 106 13. Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Science (EEMCS) 114 UNIVERSITY OF TWENTE 6 PREAMBLE EXECUTIVE BOARD The establishment of the Quality Agreements 2019 – 2024 has been a phased and iterative process within the UT. We started almost immediately after it became known that ISO (interstedelijk studentenoverleg), LSVb (landelijke studentenvakbond), VH (Vereniging Hogescholen) and VSNU (Vereniging Samenwerkende Nederlandse Universiteiten) had formulated five core ambitions for educational quality in a joint higher education agenda. These ambitions: small-scale education, student guidance, talent development, learning facilities and teacher professionalisation, reflect the current educational vision of and practice at the UT. We have, therefore, confidently initiated a bottom-up process that is suitable for the UT. The management of the faculty boards and programme directors have been asked to liaise with students of programme committees and study associations. This will identify their needs and wishes to improve the quality of the degree programmes and their learning environment at the UT. The plan-making process was initially completed by the end of 2018, meeting the national deadline set by the ministry of Education, Culture and Science. This resulted in a Plan at UT level, approved by the University Council and Supervisory Board. This plan has been shared within the UT community. After development of this plan, it became clear that the NVAO would perform the audit on the plans on quality agreements December 2019 and that we could take more time to further refine the plan and combine this audit with the institutional audit. This offered the opportunity for further adjustments and detailing, especially with regard to the financial and monitoring parts. Nevertheless, the institution-wide plan of the December 2018 remains the policy framework for the quality agreements in the coming years. Accordingly, the current document starts with the plan from December 2018. We also chose to keep this plan recognisable to keep it transparent for the UT community. The plan from December 2018 is complemented by a actualised version focusing in more detail on monitoring and the investment budget at UT level. QUALITY AGREEMENTS 2019 - 2024 7 A further explanation about the process and the structure The overall plan therefore consists of three parts: of this overall plan can be found below. We look forward to the dialogue with the audit committee on December 18. Part A: This part concerns the institution-wide plan of the UT for The Executive Board of the University of Twente: the quality agreements (December 2018), in which the Victor van der Chijs following topics are described: Thom Palstra • The match of the quality agreements with the profile of Mirjam Bult the UT and the broader educational ambitions and how these ambitions contribute to the improvement of the quality of education. Readers’ Guide • The way the UT defined five programmes to address the The realisation of this overall plan for the quality six themes for educational quality. The programmes will agreements took place in five steps. guide the development of education during the period 1. At the beginning of 2018, ISO, LSVb, VH and VSNU of the quality agreements. formulated five core ambitions in a joint agenda for • The ambitions of the faculties and specific institution- higher education, which led to six themes for wide initiatives. educational quality laid down in the WO-2018 sector • The governance on the quality agreements. agreement. These themes were closely related to the • The way that the University of Twente allocated the educational vision and education policy of the UT. From WSW budget to the faculties (December 2018) this perspective, the faculty boards and programme (Chapter 7). management were asked to determine, in dialogue with students, which initiatives could give an extra impulse to Part B: the quality of education (bottom-up process). The second part includes the ‘Investment plan central 2. Based on an inventory of these initiatives, five institution- budget from the student loan fund’. This plan is an wide programmes were defined in July 2018. These tied addition and actualisation of the plan included in Part A. in with the educational vision of the UT and the six This investment plan was approved by the University themes for education quality from the sector agreement Council in September 2019 and explains in detail how the that is mentioned above. central WSV-budget will be used within the UT. In this 3. Each faculty subsequently drafted its quality agreements plan the investments, which are also described in Part A: in September and October 2018, taking into account the Chapter 7, are updated and refined. needs and wishes of degree programmes, and structured them according to the five institution-wide Part C: programmes. This final part comprises the separate plans on the quality 4. Next, the institution-wide plan of the University of agreements of the five faculties, which contain their Twente for quality agreements was formulated, which ambitions, corresponding measures, phasing and the was approved by the University Council and the related budget built on their previous plans drawn up in Supervisory Board in December 2018. 2018. 5. In June 2019, the University of Twente was advised by the NVAO to be as specific as possible regarding concrete measures and investments, at university level as well as at faculty level. As a result of this, the Executive Board asked to refine the UT plan as well as the faculty plans. 6. The updated UT plan and the plans of the faculties were established in September 2019 with the approval of the university council and the faculty council. UNIVERSITY OF TWENTE 8 1. DEVELOPMENT PROCESS QUALITY AGREEMENTS 2019 - 2024 9 The University Council was involved in the decision to 1. DEVELOPMENT PROCESS apply a bottom-up approach. The University Council advised positively on the project plan regarding the In response to the request of the Ministry of Education, Culture process of developing the quality agreements. The and Science (OCW) the University of Twente (UT) developed Supervisory Board was also involved in an early stage. The agreements on the quality of education. These quality leading principles for the development process were agreements will be effective for a period of 6 years, from 2019 discussed with the Commission Education of the until 2024. The extra income of the student loan system, or WSV- Supervisory Board and the Supervisory board was kept budget (Dutch abbreviation of Wet Studievoorschotmiddelen), is informed during the process. used to enforce the quality agreements, thereby giving an impulse to the quality of education. The Rector and the Chair of the University Council hosted a general meeting on quality agreements in April to inform The UT applied a bottom-up approach for the development the academic community about the broad context of of the quality agreements. To structure the development quality agreements and the approach of the university to process of the quality agreements, the UT made two develop quality agreements. Furthermore, ideas were leading principles explicit right from the start: gathered about ways to involve students and teachers in • Quality of education is assured by means of the plan-do- improving the quality of education. Members of check-act cycles that operate on course level, Programme Committees, Faculty Councils, Programme programme level, faculty level, and institutional level. Directors, and Vice-Deans of Education were invited to These layered PDCA-cycles were utilized to develop the this meeting. quality agreements. • Students are partners in achieving high-quality education. Students were enabled and stimulated to contribute to formulating the quality agreements. Figure 1: Timeline of development process UT plan on quality agreements 2018 UNIVERSITY OF TWENTE 10 The reason to start at programme level is that quality of As explained above these programmes encompass the education is primarily experienced within the context of a ideas and suggestions from students and staff to improve degree programme. The perspective of degree quality of education. The faculties structured their plans programmes, thereby, could be considered while according to the five quality agreement programmes. developing quality agreements of faculties and the UT.