The annual status review is carried out on all degree programmes at Arts. Work on the annual status review is anchored in the degree programme boards, where the board members discuss the individual degree programmes based on their in-depth knowledge of the degree programmes and existing management data.
The annual status review is structured around the four sub-policies contained in Aarhus University's policy for quality assurance:
The annual status review of the faculty's degree programmes is based on both qualitative and quantitative data. A data package is developed in Power BI for the degree programmes with a status review of the joint indicators, covering the following:
For each indicator, fixed threshold values determine when the indicator is green (satisfactory), yellow (requires attention) or red (critical value indicating that concrete measures must be taken).
The indicators are supplemented by staffing plans which specify the connection between teaching and the researcher's field of study. These indicators can be supplemented by additional relevant key figures and other relevant data, such as academic regulations and supplementary studies. The degree programme’s action plan from the last status review is also included.
The degree programme board is the primary forum for subject-specific dialogue about the development potential of degree programmes. The subject-specific dialogue at the status review meetings provides an opportunity to focus on specific elements of the individual degree programme as well as on the entire course of study and across courses and courses of study.
The subject-specific dialogue is based partly on the board's knowledge and experience of the degree programmes and partly on the year’s data material concerning degree programmes.
The head of department presents the data material to the members of the degree programme board. The presentation focuses in particular on addressing the four sub-policy areas of the quality assurance policy as well as relevant degree programme data.
The students contribute to the subject-specific dialogue with their own experiences and experiences from their degree programme, which can qualify and supplement the data material.
The lecturers also contribute knowledge and experiences from the past year within the relevant sub-policy areas such as teaching and exams.
The degree programme quality assurance processes result in an action plan for each individual degree programme, and these form the basis of the development of and follow-up on the individual degree programmes the following year.
The degree programme board discusses which actions should be included in the annual plans of action for the degree programmes seen from their perspective. The head of department prepares a draft of the action plans. To support the ongoing follow-up on actions, the relevant function is made responsible for implementing the actions. The relevant function will most often be the head of department and/or subject coordinator.
A degree programme board recommends the action plans to the board of studies. The board of studies discusses all action plans for the year based on an interdisciplinary approach. The board of studies’ discussions support the exchange of knowledge and mutual inspiration between the degree programme boards. The board of studies can choose to put particularly interesting topics on the agenda to be discussed later. After discussions by the board of studies, the action plans are submitted to the director of studies for final approval.
Together with the degree programme board, the head of department is responsible for ensuring ongoing follow-up on the challenges identified in the subject-specific dialogue and laid down in the action plans. The person responsible for an element in the action plan is also responsible for including relevant parties and bodies in order to reach a joint understanding and implementation of the agreed action and development initiatives.
Action plans for the departments’ programmes are the output of the annual status process. At Arts, we use a template in which academic environments report on initiated and completed actions in the top section, as well as outline new actions for the current quality process year. The template can be found here.
There are a number of degree programmes at Arts for which no quantitative data is available to form the basis for a dialogue in the degree programme board and the board of studies about the quality of the degree programme.
This dialogue guide has been developed to ensure that even degree programmes with few students address the central aspects of AU's quality assurance practice, and that the academic environments discuss the strengths, challenges and development potentials of the degree programme.
Sub-policy 1 Getting students off to a good start (indicators 1, 2, 5a and 5b):
Sub-policy 2 High-quality, coherent degree programmes (indicators 2, 3, 4, 6c, 7 and staffing plans):
Sub-policy 3 Motivational teaching and learning environments (indicators 3, 4, 5a, 5b and 7):
Sub-policy 4 Highly qualified graduates with relevant competences (indicator 8):
