Pind’s ministry: Student commitment is "relatively low"

As part of a comprehensive quality survey of the country’s higher education programmes, the Ministry for Higher Education has asked students to evaluate their fellow students’ involvement or ‘commitment’ in their studies. In total, more than 120,000 students participated in the study.

Almost 12,000 UCPH students

In the survey, the students were asked to evaluate the statement ‘my fellow students are involved [in Danish, ‘engageret’, ed.] in the teaching/lectures’ on a scale from 1 to 5, with 1 being ‘disagree completely’ to 5  ‘agree completely’. Overall, students across the country’s higher education programmes assess their fellow students’ involvement at 3.66.

Good teaching requires an effort from everyone and falls flat unless the students show diligence and immerse themselves

Søren Pind, Minister for Higher Education and Research

At the University of Copenhagen, where more than 11,800 students participated in the survey, the number is 3.8. The same goes for the IT University of Copenhagen, while Roskilde University gets a 3.4 with Aarhus and DTU getting a 3.9.

The results will be included in the so-called Education Zoom project, which is a digital tool where young people can find information about quality and relevance when choosing their study programmes.

Room for improvement

However, Minister for Higher Education and Research Søren Pind believes there is scope for improvement.

“Good teaching requires an effort from everyone and falls flat unless the students show diligence and immerse themselves. Students must also pull up their socks and take responsibility. This will help lift the overall quality of the education system,” he said in a press release which his ministry gave the heading ‘Student commitment is considered relatively low.’

Marie Thomsen, vice-chairman of the Student Council at UCPH, reckons that 3.8 out of a possible 5 is actually a good average: “It’s probably a ‘10’ grade on the new scale. I think that’s good,” says Marie Thomsen, and continues:

“It’s probably a ‘10’ grade on the new scale. I think that’s good”

Marie Thomsen, Student Council

“In general, we have been critical of the Education Zoom. We see the questionnaire as being unfocussed and fluffy. It does not define, for example, what being involved in the classroom or lectures means – does it mean asking many questions? I would not really know how to respond.”

See the data from the survey here.