University of Luxembourg Luxembourg - January 2009
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EXTERNAL EVALUATION REPORT OF THE UNIVERSITY OF LUXEMBOURG LUXEMBOURG - JANUARY 2009 BY THE COMMITTEE OF EXTERNAL EVALUATION Table of Contents Foreword by the President of the Evaluation Committee 3 The Committee of External Evaluation 4 Introduction 5 General background 5 The evaluation method 6 Evaluation Outcomes regarding Teaching and Learning 8 Teaching and learning at faculty level 8 Further matters pertaining to teaching and learning 10 Evaluation Outcomes regarding Research 12 Evaluation Outcomes regarding Organization and Management 15 Main achievements of the University of Luxembourg 15 The realization of the founding principles 16 General governance 17 Stakeholder relations 18 Central management 18 Central services and infrastructure 20 Central administration 20 Library and library services 20 Physical facilities 20 Student services 20 International mobility for students and teaching staff 21 IT services 21 Financial management 21 Research funding 21 1 Human resources management 22 Communication policy 23 Faculty management 23 Quality assurance 24 Recommendations 25 Introductory remarks 25 Regarding governance, organisation and management of the university 26 Regarding central services 26 Regarding research 27 Regarding teaching and learning 28 Regarding quality assurance 28 Annexes l - lX: Reports on the Faculties and the Research Priorities 29 Annexes X -Xl: Site visits and List of panel members and secretaries 135 LIST OF TABLES TABLE 1. GRADING SCALE 7 TABLE 2. GRADING OF TEACHING AND LEARNING AT FACULTY LEVEL 9 TABLE 3. GRADING OF RESEARCH AT PRIORITY LEVEL 14 2 External Evaluation Report FOREWORD This `rst external evaluation of the University of Luxembourg is the work of many contributors, and I would like to thank them all. First of all, speaking for the Committee, I would like to thank the University, its staff and its students, for their openness and diligence in communicating their views and experiences and making available the information required for this evaluation. I would especially like to thank those who wrote the self-evaluation reports that were essential for the assessment of the faculties, the priorities and the organization and management. This was a demanding task that certainly represented considerable extra work for many persons already heavily engaged in research, teaching and administration at the University. I would also like to thank those at the University who prepared and organized the site visits that took place in connection with the evaluation process. Without the cooperation of the University and its staff, this evaluation could not have been carried out. There were altogether about thirty international experts and students who took part in the nine review panels that were established in connection with this evaluation. On behalf of the Committee, I want to thank them all for their genuine interest and their important contributions to this project. I would also like to thank the academic secretaries who provided most valuable assistance to the whole process. This project has been realized in the spirit of academic cooperation, wherein peer review and critical dialogue are the most important elements. I am convinced that the many discussions that the review experts had with their colleagues at the University have brought about positive results in advance of the publication of this report. Speaking `nally for myself, as President of the Committee, I would like to thank my fellow Committee members for the hard and conscientious work that has produced this evaluation. It has been a pleasure for me to work with this knowledgeable and perceptive group, and, as the Committee is meant to continue its work in monitoring the University, I look forward to my future work with these `ne colleagues. Evaluation has in recent years become an integral part of academic activity. The external evaluation documented in this report is perhaps the `rst of its kind: it is conceived as an attempt to make a synthesi - zed evaluation of teaching, research, organization and management. It is carried out in the spirit of article 43 of the law of August, 2003, that established the University of Luxembourg; and also the framework established by the Ministry for Higher Education taking into account the fact that it is the `rst and only university of a small and special nation in the heart of Europe. The Committee feels honoured and privileged to have been entrusted with this important and delicate task. Its overall conclusion is that the people and the government of Luxembourg can be proud of their Univer - sity. It is a dynamic institution, full of life, ambition and promise. The University of Luxembourg will certainly play a key role in the future of Luxembourg contributing in important ways to its social, political and economic advancement. Páll Skúlason President of the Committee of External Evaluation 3 THE CO MMITTEE OF EXTERNAL EVALUATION The Committee of External Evaluation (further referred to as ‘the Committee’) has been appointed by the Minister of Culture, Higher Education and Research in Luxembourg (further referred to as ‘the Ministry’), but acts independently. The Committee consists of: President: Páll SKULASON Former Rector of the University of Iceland, Iceland Members: Tove BULL Former Rector of the University of Tromsoe, Norway Bruno CURVALE Head of International Affairs, Evaluation Agency for Research and Higher Education, France Jean-Marie HOMBERT Laboratoire Dynamique du langage, Institut des Sciences de l’Homme, Université Lyon 2, France Norman SHARP Director, Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education Scotland, Glasgow, Scotland Dirk VAN DAMME Head of the Centre for Educational Research and Innovation of OECD, Paris, France; former Head of Cabinet of Flemish Minister of Education, Belgium Secretary: Jo BREDA Senior staff member, Flemish Interuniversity Council, Belgium 4 External Evaluation Report INTRODUCTION General background The University of Luxembourg was founded by the law of August 12, 2003, which also provided for the absorption of four pre-existing institutions – Centre Universitaire du Luxembourg, Institut Supérieur de Technologie, Institut Supérieur d’Etudes et de Recherche Pédagogiques and Institut d’Etudes Educatives et Sociales – into the new University. The idea was to create a national university with a clear pro`le and mission: a specialized university of modest size, based upon on a symbiosis between teaching and research, striving for international status but at the same time adapted to the social and economic needs of Luxembourg. The University of Luxembourg was charged with the tasks of emphasizing interdisciplinarity, mobility and multilingualism. Three faculties were established – the Faculty of Sciences, Technology and Communica - tion, the Faculty of Law, Economy and Finance and the Faculty of Language and Literature, Humanities, Arts and Education. Moreover, the University was given a mandate to create three Interdisciplinary Centres of teaching and research. Besides these important characteristics, the University of Luxembourg is by law a public institution that is managed under private law, enjoying `nancial, administrative and educational independence. It is therefore more autonomous than most universities in continental Europe. It is free to set its own policies for student selection; it receives its funding in a lump sum, which it may distribute according to its own decisions; it is free to hire and compensate its staff according to its own rules; and it de`nes its own academic programmes. There are four primary governing elements of the University. First, there is a Governing Board that authorizes the general policies and strategic decisions of the University and supervises its activities. Se - condly, there is the Rectorate, which is the executive power of the University and is composed of the Rec - tor, three Vice-rectors and an Administrative Director. These persons are appointed by the Grand Duke, who receives nominations from the Governing Board. The third important element of the University’s governing structure is the University Council, which participates in planning the development of the University and deals with educational and scienti`c matters. The fourth and last element consists in the Decanate of each Faculty, composed of the Dean of the Faculty and the Faculty Council. The latter body proposes the programs of teaching and research within the Faculty that it serves. To date, the University of Luxembourg relies for its organisation, its strategy and planning upon `ve main documents: the founding Law of the University of Luxembourg (2003), a mission statement agreed by the Governing Board (2005), a strategic framework paper written by the Rector (2005), a four-year plan (2005 to 2009), and a contract between the State and the University of Luxembourg valid until the end of the year 2009. 5 The functions and objectives described in these documents are ambitious, and the University has been striving in its initial stages of development to create the institutional means necessary for their realization. The present external evaluation has therefore concentrated upon providing recommendations that could help the University to improve itself as an organisational unity. Thus this external evaluation is conceived as an attempt to make a synthesized evaluation of teaching, research and organization and management. The emphasis is thus upon the institution as a whole, respecting its different aspects and its various objectives. The evaluation method