The government decided during today's government meeting to give the University Chancellor's Office, UKÄ, a new government assignment to follow up on the educational development work of higher education institutions.UKÄ will also provide an overview of the universities' work on pedagogical development and in-depth studies that are being conducted and what results have been achieved.
SFS has long pointed out and pushed the issue that higher education teaching must be valued more highly and given more priority. In order for all students to be guaranteed the highest quality education, all teachers should have the best possible competence to teach. This requires that pedagogical skills are valued when appointing staff and that there are conditions for teachers to create and develop their pedagogical competences. The opportunities to develop the pedagogical methods that teachers use in teaching and time for reflection are a prerequisite for more people to be able to absorb the knowledge that is conveyed. This will become even more important as the student group becomes less homogeneous, both through work on internationalization and broadened recruitment.
We now hope that UKÄ's follow-up will provide data that the upcoming Riksdag and government can use to improve the situation. Much can be done today, which SFS has previously raised with SULF, but the data from UKÄ will provide a clear picture of what needs to be improved and can be the basis for future reforms (and possible higher education bills).