In January 2018, the Swedish National Union of Students finally launched its long-awaited quality committee SQC. In the past year, Sweden has introduced a new national quality assurance system to check that there are systems that maintain good quality at universities and colleges around the country. Students and SFS have followed the implementation process in recent years, and the student movement has actively influenced both the system itself and its implementation. At the same time, SFS has seen a need to engage and work with students who want to participate in the work on issues related to quality development and quality assurance of higher education. SFS has seen that there was a need to appoint a committee to work with that purpose, and during this financial year, SQC has taken shape beyond a paper product.
SQC will work according to a work plan where its main tasks are to:
- organize a national student pool for student representatives within the national quality assurance system for higher education
- be responsible for ensuring that student representatives within the student pool receive training relevant to their role as student representatives within the national quality assurance system
- coordinate and maintain contact with student representatives within the national quality assurance system once the student pool has been launched
SQC's work is led by the presidium responsible for quality issues (this year SFS chair Charlotta Tjärdahl). The committee also includes Simon Edström from the Student Union of the University of Technology, THS, with extensive experience of similar work within his student union and as a student representative for SFS in, among other things, UKÄ's reference group for the design of the new quality assurance system. The SFS board has also elected Erik Arvidsson to the committee, who, in addition to his experience of being locally active in the Umeå Student Union, US, also participated in the pilot review of Umeå University. The working group recently became fully fledged when Johanna Laussen from Chalmers Student Union, ChS was elected. Johanna currently works with quality issues full-time at the student union and, among other things, has experience from the context of working at a non-state higher education institution. A committed group with varied and useful experiences!
Something that unites the group is the common interest in engaging the student movement in quality issues, and also in developing and deepening knowledge about quality assurance systems among the country's students. A major gain in addition to the increasingly structured involvement and student influence the group hopes to provide is that SFS will have an internal committee with special expertise. It can not only function as an advisor in the daily work but also in the formulation and development of positions.
What happens in SQC?
Not only is the committee now fully fledged, the work has also begun in earnest.
UKÄ has released its new guidance material for student unions' ability to write student submissions for reviews of the higher education institution they operate at. SQC has assisted SFS in working with the submission that was then sent to UKÄ regarding the purpose, function and need for adjustments of the student submission. To read the submission click here!
The committee focuses its work in the first year primarily on three core issues:
- Create a student pool for organizing student representatives for the assessment groups in UKÄ's reviews,
- create a training for these student representatives,
- act as an advisor with a focus on quality to the board in the work of mapping SFS's positions.
We are a group full of ideas, initiatives and hopes for the committee's first year of operation. Do you enjoy coordinating student representatives, generating commitment, raising skills and giving advice? Then you should already consider applying to SQC the next time a position is advertised. You will make an incredible contribution to the student movement and gain fantastic experiences in return!
See ya!
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Charlotte, Erik, Johanna, Simon