At Natural Sciences, our efforts to get our students off to a good start at university are inspired by AU’s overall quality assurance policy. More specifically, this means that we focus on recruitment, commencement-of-studies activities (orientation programme) and the first year of their degree programme. Read more about this on the sub-policy subpages.
AU must contribute to ensuring a good match between student and degree programme. Prospective students must have easy access to relevant and accurate information and competent guidance on their choice of degree programme, including admission requirements, content, academic level and career prospects. In this connection, close contact to the upper secondary school system, for example, must play an important role.
Students must feel that they begin their university careers in an inspiring, safe and inclusive atmosphere that fosters both academic and social integration. The orientation programme must give students an understanding of their degree programme, motivate them to join/participate in academic and social communities, introduce them to support functions and clarify what is expected of them academically.
During the first year of their studies, students must encounter learning activities that contribute to their ability to assume the role of intellectually active students who take an independent approach to mastering their subject and contribute to academic dialogue. The first year of the programme must introduce students to the central aspects of their discipline and, through engaging and stimulating teaching, create a well-defined framework for learning and introduce them to academic thinking.
