Quality Development and Management Studies & Teaching
Building blocks of quality development and quality management
Quality development and quality management at Osnabrück University consist of various building blocks that take into account all relevant levels and are explained in detail below.
Qualitative monitoring
In qualitative monitoring, evaluations and surveys are carried out in various phases of the student life cycle on the four dimensions of teaching quality - quality of subject content, didactic quality, quality of supervision and quality of career preparation.
In order to enable comparative statements on the quality of the courses from a student perspective, regular evaluations have been carried out since the summer semester 2006. evaluations of the coursesin which the courses of each school are evaluated every third semester. For this purpose, the Teaching Evaluation Service Centerwhich is responsible for the development, implementation, evaluation and communication of internal evaluation measures to ensure the quality of studies and teaching.
The graduate surveyis also carried out by the Teaching Evaluation Service Center. It provides information on how employable the degree obtained actually is and how the study and examination organization and conditions are perceived in retrospect. The results, which are presented annually, provide the subjects and schools with important feedback from the job market, which can be used to optimize course design and ongoing course planning.
Osnabrück University commissions evaluations and structural consultations on a case-by-case basis from the Scientific Commission of Lower Saxony, among others. Individual subjects are assessed on the basis of a self-evaluation report and an on-site visit. The expert recommendations are carefully weighed up and incorporated into the university's structural and development planning considerations.
Junior professors working at Osnabrück University are reviewed and evaluated with regard to their teaching and research performance at the end of an initial employment phase of three years. A positive evaluation is a prerequisite for extension for a further three years. The detailed procedure for this quality assurance measure is regulated in the procedural regulations for the appointment of professors and junior professors in the schools (appointment regulations). Furthermore, the University ensures its innovative capacity in research and course-related development planning in the long term through the internal program "Karriere konkret", which provides for all W2 professorships that become vacant as planned to be advertised as junior professorships with a tenure-track option, thus enabling reliable career paths.
According to the Lower Saxony Higher Education Act, all degree programs must undergo an accreditation procedure in accordance with the Model Law Ordinance and the State Accreditation Treaty. The aim of this is to assess the formal and subject-related quality of study programs and thus, among other things, to ensure that the study programs can be studied and are up-to-date. If the Accreditation Council issues a positive decision, a degree program is accredited for a period of eight years.
Quantitative monitoring
In addition to these qualitative measurements, the quantitative key figures are determined, for example, by the Lower Saxony University Key Performance Indicator System (HKS) or the university's own surveys by the Strategic Controlling Department are used intensively.
In addition, a Monitoring System "Studies and Teaching" (in German) which provides systematic and targeted data so that all stakeholders have access to a reliable database in order to evaluate and promote the development of their respective areas.
An integral part of the appointment process at Osnabrück University is the demonstration of university didactic skills. The aim is to ensure and improve the quality of teaching at the university by appointing professors with experience in higher education didactics. The modalities of the appointment are set out in the Procedural Regulations for the Appointment of Professors and Junior Professors in the Schools (Appointment Regulations) are regulated.
In the continuing education in higher education didactics Osnabrück University has been cooperating for years with the higher education didactics centers of the Technical University of Braunschweig, the University of Bremen and the Carl von Ossietzky University of Oldenburg, so that qualified programs for expanding skills can be further developed and offered regularly. Attendance of this modularized further training is completed with the "University Didactic Qualification" certificate. In addition, the University's Human Resources Department regularly offers further training events for (junior) academics as part of its further education and training program.
The Center for Digital Teaching, Information Management and Higher Education Didactics (virtUOS) researches and develops innovative technologies in the field of teaching and university organization in cooperation with other university institutes and media-didactic institutions in Lower Saxony. Media-based tools for improving and ensuring the quality of university teaching are designed, developed and tested. One focus is also the transfer of skills and didactic advice for teaching staff at Osnabrück University and other universities in Lower Saxony.
At Osnabrück University, various prizes are awarded to recognize high-quality teaching. These include the following, awarded in cooperation with the Hans Mühlenhoff Foundation Hans Mühlenhoff Prize for Good Teaching and the university's own competition TeachingTimewhich offers projects by both students and lecturers the opportunity to further develop their own courses through innovative and demand-oriented formats. For the award-winning projects from the university's own and state-wide calls and competitions, the LehrKolleg was established. This serves as an exchange forum for the further development of didactically high-quality and exciting teaching.
Study and teaching management system
The implementation of the central framework requirements in the degree programmes and the qualification objectives as a university-specific guiding principle for teaching, as well as ensuring studyability (e.g. with regard to appropriate modularization, adequate examination organization, advisory and support services) is carried out in the management system for teaching and learning. On the central administration side, responsibility for this lies with the Administrative Service for Academic Planning and Development, the Staff Unit for the Coordination of Examination Administration and the Staff Unit for Teacher Education (ZLB).
The instruments and procedures of quality development are combined with the elements of strategic management to form a control loop in the sense of "plan, do, check, act", the most important instrument of which are the development and financial discussions between the university management and schools. The university management monitors the pursuit and achievement of objectives in the schools on the basis of data by regularly discussing the status of development. The quality management system (QMS) enables early recognition of and systematic reaction to (mis)developments, which is supported by the immediate availability of relevant data and the systematic target-oriented collection of key figures. The documentation and optimization of process flows and responsibilities should create transparency and more efficient processes and reduce training times and workload. Accordingly, the guidelines of usefulness, transparency and participation are at the forefront of Osnabrück University's QMS approach.
Study & Teaching committee structure
Osnabrück University has a well-developed committee infrastructure in the area of studies and teaching. The committees provided for by the Lower Saxony Higher Education Act (NHG) are: Senate, University Council, Presidential Board and Central Commission for Studies and Teaching and Study Quality Resources, are supplemented by additional committees chaired by the Vice President for Studies and Teaching. These are the "Conference of Deans of Studies", the "Jour fixe Students" and the " Standing Working Group on Teaching".
Networks
The further development of the quality management system (QM system) for teaching and studies receives important impulses through the participation of Osnabrück University in the joint project "Network Quality Audit". The aim of the network is to identify requirements and criteria for good QM systems, to determine best practice examples and to promote quality development in teaching and learning through collegial advice, audits and the exchange of experience between the eleven participating universities.
On this basis, a quality audit procedure was developed and tested, which can also be used as preparation for system accreditation. The activities include several workshops and transfer events each year, which promote the exchange of ideas and solutions. Osnabrück University has been participating in this network since 2011 together with universities such as Saarbrücken, Potsdam and Siegen.