It is with great pride I summarise 2023 and am able to point out that six teachers at Umeå University were appointed distinguished university teacher and 33 were appointed recognised university teacher in the past year. This puts us in the top when it comes to Swedish universities with the highest number of educationally qualified teachers, and this year's summary shows that we take that first place again.
Just like teachers' scientific and artistic expertise is important, teaching expertise is a matter of quality when it comes to a university's ability to offer successful and attractive courses and study programmes. That's probably obvious to most of us, and is also an assessment criterion when recruiting teachers mentioned in the Higher Education Ordinance. Despite all that, educational qualifications still have a generally lower status than the scientific ones within academia. There is also often a lack of a clear structure and understanding of educational qualifications.
Cathrine Norberg, Deputy Vice-Chancellor of Umeå University.
Photo: Mattias Pettersson
Nevertheless, a change in attitude has emerged in recent years. I'm glad to note that Umeå University is a role model and an inspiration to several other universities in its approach to the importance of teaching expertise. Umeå University has had a model for educational qualification that incorporates external peer review since 2014. Since then, the model has been refined, and we are not only in the Swedish lead when it comes to the number of qualified teachers, but also at the cutting edge regarding the culture of educational quality that permeates our university.
A clear manifestation of this culture is the University's pedagogical conference that celebrated 30 years last autumn under the title "Högskolepedagogiska pärlor – 30 år av utveckling" (approx. Teaching and learning gems – 30 years of progress). In other words, discussions around teaching and learning have taken place for a long time at our university, and we have organised activities and forum for educational discussion across faculties for several years already. In that respect, I'd like to call particular attention to the Centre for Educational Development (UPL), which offers a wide selection of courses and workshops that provides staff with the chance to improve their educational skills. Something else worth mentioning in this context is the educational mentorship programme that was launched in 2019 in which experienced distinguished university teachers mentor colleagues who wish to excel in their role as teacher. And there are many activities offered at department level too. All of this clearly shows that the educational qualification model cannot function isolated from all other activities. Instead, it is integrated into our academic culture as a whole.
Recently, Umeå University submitted a renewed application to become a European universities alliance, together with another eight European universities. Given our long experience of educational development and teaching support, it is not surprising that Umeå University will take particular responsibility for teaching and learning within the alliance. This is yet another proof that we are indeed ahead when it comes to teaching and learning, even if there is always room for improvement.
The strong position we hold in this area is something we should be very proud to communicate, both internally and externally. It puts us on the map and is a competitive factor for students, staff and collaborative partners. It doesn't just show that we have a well-functioning model that enables educational qualification for individual teachers, which is not to be diminished in itself. But it also shows that we see teaching expertise and teaching as a requirement for offering courses and study programmes of high quality, which will render students that are attractive on the future labour market. And for that, we deserve to feel proud of ourselves!