Dear Reader In 2019, the Norwegian Agency for the first time, we also inspected the our work has been acknowledge in this Quality Assurance in Education quality assurance work at some tertiary way. In recent years, NOKUT has been (NOKUT) adopted a new strategy vocational colleges. an international leader in assessing for the next five years. In the process the qualifications of refugees. At the of developing our new strategy, we What should be considered quality UNESCO General Conference in Paris, involved educational institutions, education and how to measure it is, the first eleven globally recognised students, businesses and NGOs, as well not surprisingly, a hot topic for us at qualifications passports were issued. as sister agencies such as the Norwegian NOKUT. At the end of last year, we The method was developed by NOKUT Agency for International Cooperation commissioned Kantar, a market and is also used for the European and Quality Enhancement in Higher research company, to conduct a Qualifications Passport under the Education (Diku) and the Norwegian representative survey of the auspices of the Council of Europe. Directorate for ICT and Joint Services population. The results show that over in Higher Education & Research (Unit). 80 per cent of the general public have On the following pages, you can read We believe that our work has resulted a positive impression of the quality more about our work in 2019 and what in a clear development strategy for of Norwegian higher education. An we do to secure society’s confidence NOKUT’s work towards 2025. almost equal proportion believe that in the quality of Norwegian education Norwegian universities and university and recognised foreign qualifications. Our new strategy builds on develop- colleges offer education that is Please also follow the links for more ments from the previous strategy relevant to working life. We think it information on our website. period. In addition to our accreditation is very positive that the Norwegian and supervisory activities, NOKUT population has such strong confidence Enjoy the magazine! will continue to be an ambassador in the quality of education provided by for educational quality, while also Norwegian institutions. providing society with information about the quality of education. In The demand for NOKUT’s services 2019, we hosted a series of events related to foreign education and Terje Mørland where quality challenges and good qualifications has increased Chief Executive supervised professional training were significantly. We now have a wide on the agenda. And the NOKUT range of periodic supervision schemes podcast has become established as – from professional and vocational an important channel for ideas and qualifications at the secondary school inspiration for good teaching methods. level to education at tertiary vocational colleges, all the way up to PhD In 2019, we continued to step up our programmes at university colleges and efforts related to experience-sharing universities. In recent years, we have and guidance as tools for quality had a strong focus on digitalising and development. We see these as effective streamlining our application and case ways to contribute to better and more management processes. This has resul- effective quality assurance work at all ted in reducing case processing time educational institutions. During the and simpler accreditation processes. year, some universities and university We are now in a position that allows us colleges also went through the periodic to automate some of our processes. supervision of their quality assurance work. A number of them passed with For the second time, we have received flying colours, while others had to put an international award for our work on in a little additional work to have their assessing and recognising the qualifi- quality assurance work approved. For cations of refugees. We are proud that Contents THE YEAR AT A GLANCE 4 NOKUT 7 New strategy for 2020–2025 8 A prominent education ambassador 9 Increased digitalisation yields results 10 NORWEGIAN EDUCATION 11 Successful pilot of a new accreditation model 15 Gathering knowledge about quality in tertiary vocational education 16 Vocational students study hard and rarely complain 17 More tertiary vocational colleges receive accreditation of subject areas 18 Strengthened experience-sharing and guidance 20 Our important administrative tasks 22 Myth-busting academic environment report 24 NOKUT podcast spreads ideas and inspiration 26 NOKUT raises the level of knowledge about supervised professional training in higher education 28 FOREIGN EDUCATION 29 Many roads lead to recognition 33 “Working to reduce case processing time” 35 New recognition scheme for foreign qualifications at the tertiary vocational college level 36 Global qualifications passport for refugees under establishment 38 Award for NOKUT’s work on the qualifications recognition scheme for refugees 40 Bachelor’s and doctoral degrees from Poland and Lithuania now automatically recognised 41 This is NOKUT 43 THE YEAR At a glance February January • Results from the sixth national student survey were presented at a NOKUT breakfast meeting. • We started a webinar series on the Refugees and Recognition project, abbreviated as the REACT • Berit Kjeldstad received NOKUT’s Honorary Award at project. NOKUT is coordinating the project. Utdanningsfesten (Celebration of Education) for her continued efforts to ensure and develop the quality of education over the past 15 years. • We launched a new recognition scheme for foreign qualifications at the tertiary vocational level. • Anthology on excellence in higher education April published by the Norwegian Centres for Excellence in Education (SFU). March • The vocational school student survey (Studiebaro- meteret) was sent to over 15,000 students, distributed among 74 tertiary vocational colleges. This was the second survey for vocational college students. • We organized a seminar on the South Korean education system and higher education qualifications. South Korean experts were invited. 4 | NOKUT | THE YEAR 2019 May June • NOKUT and the international expert group for primary • The proposal for a new Tertiary Vocational College and lower secondary teacher education held a Supervision Regulations has been sent for consultation. National Conference on Primary and Lower Secondary Teacher Education and Practice Schools. • A draft of NOKUT’s new strategy was posted to our website so that the strategy was open for input con- • NOKUT established two new departments: The cerning the strategic development through the next Department for Quality Assurance and Legal Affairs five years. and the Department for Evaluation and Analysis. • University colleges and universities that educate nurses were invited to a seminar on the results of the national student survey. • The academic environment report was presented at a NOKUT breakfast meeting. July August • The NOKUT project Toolkit for Recognition of Refugees’ Qualifications received the international Sepmeyer Award for Excellence in Credential Evaluation Research. September • NOKUT conducted a pilot for external quality assurance of the systematic quality assurance work at five tertiary vocational colleges. • The national examination in annual financial state- ments was phased out. • We asked for input on the types of education and quality challenges that NOKUT should prioritise. • The project on supervised professional training presented a summary report at a NOKUT breakfast meeting. • Results from the second vocational school student survey were presented at a NOKUT breakfast meeting. • NOKUT presented the qualifications passport at the UN General Assembly. NOKUT | THE YEAR 2019 | 5 THE YEAR At a glance October November • At the breakfast meeting at the Western Norway Uni- versity of Applied Sciences, we asked: “What characterises good supervised professional training and how do we achieve it?” • The first global qualifications passports were issued • NOKUT, students and staff at tertiary vocational by UNESCO. The method behind the qualifications colleges shared experiences on systematic quality passports was developed by NOKUT. assurance work at seminars in Bergen and Oslo. • NOKUT’s system for automatic recognition of degrees • We completed our first project with external quality was extended to include bachelor’s and doctoral assurance of universities’ and colleges’ systematic programmes from Poland and Lithuania. quality assurance work using our new method. • NOKUT’s new strategy for the period 2020–2025 was adopted by NOKUT’s Board. December • A survey of programmes for secondary education teachers with a master’s degree was presented at NOKUT breakfast. 6 | NOKUT | THE YEAR 2019 NOKUT NOKUT shall be a competent and efficient government agency that ensures collaboration and a good division of labour with other government agencies. New strategy for 2020–2025 Following a broad engage- In recent years, NOKUT has been given “Over all the feedback was that they very many new tasks by the Ministry of Education much appreciated having this dialogue ment process, NOKUT has and Research. Within foreign qualifications, with us about how NOKUT should adopted a new development we have expanded our offering with develop. The input and dialogue meetings strategy towards 2025. We several new recognition and information were very helpful to our strategic work,” are continuing to focus on services. At the same time, we are doing he says. more to help secure and develop the ambitions we set in