University and College Union (UCU)

Institution und Leitung UCU

Carlow Street Office NW1 7LH, London United Kingdom

„UCU is the largest trade union and professional association for academics, lecturers, trainers, researchers and academic-related staff working in further and higher education throughout the UK.”

(www.ucu.org.uk/1680, Stand 30.4.2014).

Auftraggeber und Finanzierung

„The University and College Union (UCU) represents more than 120,000 academics, lecturers, trainers, in-structors, researchers, managers, administrators, computer staff, librarians and postgraduates in universities, colleges, prisons, adult education and training organisations across the UK. It was formed on 1 June 2006 by the amalgamation of two strong partners - the Association of University Teachers (AUT) and NATFHE-the University & College Lecturers' Union - who shared a long history of defending and advancing educators' employment and professional interests.” (www.ucu.org.uk/1685, Stand 30.4.2014)

Aufgaben und Zweck

„In recent years, there has been a renewed focus on the status and quality of teaching and learning in post-16 education. This debate has been most acute in higher education, where rising tuition fees and increased pres-sures on academics to publish ‘world-class’ research have led to accusations that students are being ‘short-changed’ by universities.

In contradistinction to a consumerist, marketised approach, UCU believes that the best way to ensure high-quality teaching and learning in higher education is through good, committed, professional practice in an adequately funded system.

This requires changes to the way that higher education institutions are currently organised and funded. The following paper outlines the building blocks of an alternative UCU position ...:

 a policy of ‘student engagement’ based on students as partners in the learning process, including revised student feedback mechanisms...

 a staff entitlement to high quality training, support and professional development...

 a promotion system that genuinely recognises and rewards good teaching...

 a research assessment system that values research on the scholarship of teaching as well as subject-specific journal articles...

 a demand for smaller class sizes in higher education”

(ucu_teachinginhe_policy_feb14.pdf, Seite 1,2)

Erhebungscharakter und Durchführung

Die Erhebung erfolgte im November 2013 unter ca. 6.000 Gewerkschaftsmitgliedern in der Hochschulbil-dung, Sie wurde landesweit elektronisch durchgeführt.

„The paper is also informed by the results of a recent UCU survey on teaching in higher education. Sent out in November 2013, nearly 6000 members responded to an electronic survey, covering issues such as the student experience, teaching and research roles and training and professional development. Some of the key findings are referred to in the text below.” (ucu_teachinginhe_policy_feb14.pdf, Seite 2)

Fragebogen und Indikatoren

Der Fragebogen ist nicht zugänglich. Der Survey richtet sich zudem nicht an Studierende, sondern an ihr Lehrpersonal. Dennoch ist die Befragung wichtig, denn sie setzt sich kritisch mit dem NSS auseinander.

Sechs Fragen finden sich in „ucu_teachinginhe_policy_feb14.pdf”.

Ergebnisse und Befunde

„Over the last decade supporting and enhancing the 'student experience' has become one of the key features of UK higher education policy. While the student experience encompasses all aspects of student life (ie aca-demic, social, welfare and support), the most contentious issue for UCU is the nature and scope of student evaluation of teaching (SET). Of course, SET has been a feature of UK higher education for many years, particularly through the use of anonymous module questionnaires. Anonymous module questionnaires can be a good way of providing valuable formative feedback to lecturers on their teaching practice. However, such questionnaires cannot provide unequivocally valid and precise measures of teaching effectiveness. For that reason the questionnaires should be divorced from disciplinary, capability and promotion procedures, partic-ularly as student feedback can occasionally reveal discriminatory attitudes.

What is wrong with the National Student Survey?

Since 2005 the main SET instrument, however, has been the National Student Survey (NSS). The NSS gath-ers opinions from mostly final year undergraduates on the ‘quality’ of their courses, with seven different scores published including an ‘overall satisfaction’ mark.

UCU’s approach has been to ‘to raise public awareness of the detrimental nature of the NSS to university students’ education’19 and to ‘strenuously challenge the inappropriate methodology and application of stu-dent surveys and their use in league tables.’...

UCU’s critique of the NSS is based partly on the ways in which the scores are used and abused by manage-ments. For example, disproportionate attention is paid to minor changes in annual NSS 'league tables'. More-over, we have received reports at UCU Congress and via union surveys of universities using ‘poor’ NSS scores as a ‘bully's charter’ to intimidate staff, suspend student recruitment and eventually cut courses.

Our concerns are also based on a critique of the methodological robustness and statistical validity of NSS data. These chime with a number of academic studies on the NSS, which show that:

 NSS data should not really be used for comparative purposes and the construction of university or subject league tables.

 Despite it becoming the centre piece of the Key Information Set, there is little evidence to suggest that NSS data is a major factor in determining student choice.

 The nature and timing of the NSS provides major opportunities for institutional‘ game playing’.

The NSS is also based on students as passive consumers of education, whereas high quality undergraduate courses are often ones which encourage students to engage with academic knowledge in transformative ways.” (ucu_teachinginhe_policy_feb14.pdf, Seite 2-4)

„In conclusion, this paper represents an attempt to develop an alternative union agenda on the ‘student expe-rience’ in higher education, with the strategic aim of trying to shift the debate away from conceiving students as consumers of education towards one based on partnership and active engagement. It has also sought to re-establish the importance of higher education as a transformative experience for students. Working with the NUS on this agenda and inputting into the current review of the National Student Survey should be priority actions in 2014.” (ucu_teachinginhe_policy_feb14.pdf, Seite 12)

Dokumente und Reports

Der Fragebogen an die Lehrenden in der Hochschulbildung von 2013 ist nicht zugänglich. Die Literatur be-schäftigt sich weitgehend mit der allgemeinen bildungspolitischen Ausrichtung der Hochschulen. Danach vernachlässigt diese zu sehr den allgemeinen Bildungsanspruch und die Phase der persönlichen Entwicklung von Studierenden zugunsten einer mehr verbraucherorientierten Perspektive des Studiums. Außerdem wer-den Kosten und Nutzen einer Universitätsausbildung für die wirtschaftliche Entwicklung beleuchtet.

Berichte

Copeland, Rob. Beyond the consumerist agenda. February 2014. (ucu_teachinginhe_policy_feb14.pdf) McNeil, Clare & Silim, Amna. Further higher? Tertiary education and growth in the UK’s new economy.

Juni 2012. (further_higher_report_final.pdf) Links

www.ucu.org.uk/1680 www.ucu.org.uk/1685

Italien

Überblick

UNIRES ist ein Zusammenschluss der Universitäten in Rom, Mailand, Pavia, Bologna und Florenz und wur-de von wur-der Fondatione CRUI (Centre for Research on Universities of Italy) gegrünwur-det. UNIRES stellt jedoch nicht nur eine weitere Forschungsinstitution mit Sitz in Mailand dar, sondern ist auch den fünf Forschungsin-stituten übergeordnet, nämlich CHESS in Mailand, CIRSIS in Pavia, CCPP in Bologna, CESVI in Florenz und eben CRUI in Rom. Jedes Institut besitzt seine eigenen Schwerpunkte.

UNIRES vergleicht fachübergreifend den Wandel der Hochschulen allgemein. Das Centro CHESS gehört neben anderen zum Dipartimento di Scienze sociali e politiche Università degli Studi di Milano. Es unter-sucht unter anderem die soziale Dimension des Bologna-Prozesses und die wechselseitigen Veränderungen, die durch die sozialen und politischen Entwicklungen auf die Hochschulen ausgeübt werden und diese wie-derum beeinflussen. Zu CIRSIS in Pavia gab es keine weiteren Informationen. Das CCPP in Bologna führt vergleichende Recherchen zu politischen Fragestellungen durch und legt besonderen Wert auf den universi-tären und internationalen Austausch. Das CESVI in Florenz untersucht die regionale und lokale Entwicklung in Verbindung mit der Konkurrenz von Institutionen. Insbesondere gibt es zwei Forschungsthemen: den Bei-trag der Universitäten zur regionalen Entwicklung und die Auswirkungen, die die Tätigkeiten der Banken-stiftungen auf die regionale Entwicklung haben. CRUI in Rom schließlich unterstützt Institutionen dabei, die Forschungsergebnisse der Universitäten in die Schlüsselbereiche der Entwicklung zu übertragen.

CRUI hat eine Befragung durchgeführt, die sich an Absolventen richtete, die während oder kurz nach ihrem Studium ein Praktikum zum großen Teil im Ausland absolviert hatten. Von 2004 bis 2012 waren zwei- bis dreimonatige Praktika von CRUI vermittelt worden, danach wurde das Programm per Gesetz eingestellt. Um gegen diese Entwicklung zu protestieren und den Erfolg eines Praktikums zu demonstrieren, hat CRUI im Oktober 2012 die Umfrage durchgeführt und die Ergebnisse im Juni 2014 veröffentlicht.

Dokumentation

1. UNIRES – ItalianCentre for Research on Universities and Higher Education Systems