Regjeringen har nylig fjernet de siste korona-baserte avstandsreglene, og vi er p? god vei tilbake til en normal arbeids- og studiehverdag. En del forelesninger kj?res sannsynligvis heldigitalt ut semesteret fordi undervisningsrommene er disponert til annen fysisk eller hybrid undervisning, og fordi omrokeringer kan f?re til problemer med kollisjonssikring og manglende forutsigbarhet for b?de studenter og undervisere. Samtlige masterlesesalplasser ble imidlertid frigjort allerede samme dag som lettelsene kom, og alle avstandsmark?rer er etterhvert fjernet fra lesesalene. Booking av lesesalsplasser opprettholdes inntil videre av hensyn til muligheten for smittesporing.
N? kan vi endelig begynne ? tenke litt lenger enn til H?ies neste pressekonferanse, og det kjennes befriende!
Dekanatet er sammen med fakultetsstyret i full gang med ? ferdigstille SV-fakultetets Strategi 2030. Kvalitet er naturligvis sentralt for all v?r aktivitet innen b?de forskning, utdanning, formidling og som organisasjon.
Post-pandemi-undervisning
P? studiesiden vil vi fokusere v?r kvalitetsfremmende innsats p? b?de underviserne, studentene, programmer og emner, og p? organiseringen av hele studievirksomheten. En viktig diskusjon som det er s?rlig viktig at alle involverte deltar i, er hva slags undervisning vi ?nsker ? tilby ‘post-pandemi’. Hva var bra med digital undervisning som vi vil ta med oss eller videreutvikle, og hvordan setter vi sammen en studentaktiv og fagn?r undervisning av fremragende kvalitet?
Undervisning med h?y kvalitet skal ogs? kunne vise til relevans, og fakultetets strategiske arbeid de neste ?rene vil v?re rettet mot store samfunnsutfordringer som b?rekraft, klima og milj?, flerfaglighet og livslang l?ring.
Studentenes opplevelse av undervisningens arbeidslivsrelevans er et tema som eksisterte f?r korona, og som b?de fakultet og enhetene har blinket ut som et viktig fokus de neste ?rene. SV-fakultetet sk?rer svakt p? opplevd arbeidslivsrelevans p? Studiebarometeret, og trenden er synkende.
Vi som planlegger undervisningen vet at den er relevant, og at Karriereunders?kelser og andre kilder tyder p? at studentene v?re f?r jobb etter endt utdanning.
Det er likevel rimelig ? anta at lav opplevd arbeidslivsrelevans kan f?re til redusert studiemotivasjon og ?kt frafall fra v?re programmer.
Arbeidsgruppe med gode innspill
Som utgangspunkt for mer m?lrettet innsats p? dette omr?det opprettet fakultetet f?r sommeren i ?r en intern arbeidsgruppe best?ende av Ylva ?stby (PSI), Tora Skodvin (ISV), Lars Erik Kjekshus (ISS), Karen Helene Ulltveit-Moe (?I), Christian Krohn-Hansen (SAI), Taran Thune (TIK), Linn Buhaug Solbakken (Karrieresenteret) og Idar Henrik Seem (SVSU) og ledet av arbeidslivskoordinator Barbro Kolbj?rnsrud (SV-fak). Oppdraget til gruppen var ? gi innspill p? hvordan vi kan sikre en mest mulig m?lrettet, helhetlig og koordinert innsats for arbeidslivsrelevans, som ogs? st?tter opp om enhetenes fagspesifikke satsinger p? det samme. Arbeidsgruppen leverte sin rapport 30. september. Den vil bli gjort tilgjengelig for alle, s? her kommer bare i f?rste omgang noen hovedpunkter.
Rapporten baserer sine anbefalinger p? et omfattende bakteppe av stortingsmeldinger og nasjonale og internasjonale utredninger, samt strategier, ?rsplaner og evalueringer p? UiO, fakultetet og enhetene. I tillegg har arbeidsgruppen skaffet mer informasjon fra studentenes perspektiv, samlet oppdatert informasjon om arbeidslivsrelevante tiltak p? samtlige av v?re studieprogrammer, og sikret innspill fra en sentral representant fra arbeidslivet.
Arbeidsgruppens anbefalinger peker p? tiltak som kan sikre relevansen av studentenes kompetanse etter endt utdanning for arbeidslivet og p? tiltaksom kan ?ke studentenes egen forst?else av og evne til ? sette ord p? egen kompetanse.
Det anbefales ogs? tiltak som bidrar til ? sikre arbeidsgiveres forst?else av og kunnskap om studentenes kompetanse etter endt utdanning.
Anbefalingene sentrerer seg om fem innsatsomr?der: 1) ? fremme praksisemner som gir erfaringer med arbeidslivet, ressurser og nettverk; 2) Mer varierte studentaktive l?ringsformer med fokus p? hvordan faget er relevant for arbeidslivet, og der studentene l?rer ? l?re; 3) Helhetlig og integrert karrierel?ring, der studentene f?r kunnskap om og kan formidle egen kompetanse; 4) Mer systematisk arbeid opp mot alumni b?de som nettverk og ved ? bringe alumni tettere inn i r?d/utvalg, planlegging og gjennomf?ring av undervisning; og 5) Tettere 澳门葡京手机版app下载 med arbeidslivet b?de i form av overordnede avtaler og mer uformelt, p? b?de fagenheter og fakultet.
Mye ? hente fra koordinering p? tvers
Mye av arbeidet med arbeidslivsrelevans vil mest hensiktsmessig foreg? fagn?rt p? enhetene. Naturlige akt?rer ved fakultetet i arbeidet med disse tiltaksomr?dene er blant annet arbeidslivskoordinator, det nyopprettede l?ringsnettverket EILIN og 澳门葡京手机版app下载et med Karrieresenteret. Rapporten framhever at s?rlig noen av de anbefalte tiltakene er ressurskrevende, og at det vil v?re mye ? hente p? bedre dialog, 澳门葡京手机版app下载 og koordinering av tiltak innen og p? tvers av institutter, fakulteter og sentrale kompetanseenheter.
Rapporten er resultat av et aktivt 澳门葡京手机版app下载 mellom utpekte representanter fra fakultetet og alle v?re enheter, inkludert studentene, og med innspill fra arbeidslivet. Den har blitt et grundig og tydelig dokument som kan legge et viktig grunnlag for videre arbeid b?de p? fakultetet og p? enhetene. Et sitat innledningsvis hentet fra ISS sin strategiplan uttrykker hovedbudskapet i rapporten, og jeg videresiterer det gjerne her:
Arbeidslivsrelevans: Det er ikke nok ? fortelle om det, studentene m? erfare, oppleve eller observere relevansen selv.
Editorial: Relevance to working life will be important going forward
Students’ perception of the relevance of teaching to working life was a theme even before the COVID-19 pandemic and is something that both the Faculty and the departments and institutes have noted as an important focus area over the coming years, Trine Waaktaar, Dean of Studies, writes in this editorial.
The government recently lifted the final social distancing rules relating to COVID-19 and we are well on the way back to a normal working and student life. Some lectures are likely to be held digitally until the end of the semester, as in cases where the auditoriums have been allocated for other physical or hybrid teaching, and where changes could lead to problems in terms of scheduling conflicts and a lack of predictability for students and teachers alike. However, the master’s reading room spaces were released on the same day that restrictions were removed and all of the distance markers have gradually been removed from reading rooms. Reading room spaces will still need to be booked in advance for reasons of infection tracking.
We are now finally able to start thinking further ahead than the next press conference, which is a liberating feeling.
Work on completing the Faculty of Social Sciences’ 2030 Strategy is fully underway by the Deanship and the Faculty Board. Obviously, quality is a central aspect of all of our activities within research, teaching, dissemination and as an organisation.
Post-pandemic teaching
When it comes to studies, our strategic focus will be on quality-enhancing initiatives efforts for teachers, students, programmes and courses, as well as on how we organise our study activities. One important upcoming discussion for all involved parties relates to the teaching we want to offer ‘post-pandemic’. What positives from digital teaching do we want to further develop, and how can we combine student-active and academic teaching of outstanding quality?
High-quality teaching must also show relevance for society, and the Faculty’s strategic work over the next few years will be aimed at major societal challenges such as sustainability, climate change and the environment, interdisciplinary teaching and lifelong learning.
Students’ perception of the relevance of teaching to working life was a theme even before the COVID-19 pandemic, and this is an issue that both the Faculty and the departments and institutes have noted as an important focus area over the coming years. The Faculty of Social Sciences has a low score on perceived relevance to working life in the Study Barometer and this trend is declining.
However, career surveys and other sources indicate that our students find jobs after graduating.
Nevertheless, it would be reasonable to assume that the low perceived relevance of teaching to working life could lead to reduced motivation to study and increased dropout from our programmes.
Excellent input from working group
As the basis for more targeted efforts in this area, the Faculty established an internal working group before the summer, consisting of Ylva ?stby (Department of Psychology), Tora Skodvin (Department of Political Science), Lars Erik Kjekshus (Department of Sociology and Human Geography), Karen Helene Ulltveit-Moe (Department of Economics), Christian Krohn-Hansen (Department of Social Anthropology), Taran Thune (Centre for Technology, Innovation and Culture), Linn Buhaug Solbakken (Careers Centre) and Idar Henrik Seem (Faculty of Social Sciences Student Committee) and is chaired by Working Life Coordinator Barbro Kolbj?rnsrud (Faculty of Social Sciences). The group was tasked with providing input on how to ensure a targeted, comprehensive and coordinated effort in relation to relevance to working life that also supports academic efforts relating to the same issue. The working group submitted its report on 30 September. The report will be made available to everyone, therefore I we will only cover a few main points in this instance.
The recommendations in the report are based on an extensive backdrop of reports to the Parliament, national and international reports, as well as strategies, annual plans and evaluations at the University of Oslo, the Faculty, the institutes and departments. The working group has also collected additional information from the perspective of students, consolidated updated information on measures relevant to working life in all of our study programme, and secured input from a key representative from working life.
The working group’s recommendations highlight measures to ensure that students’ expertise is relevant to working life after completing their studies, as well as measures to increase the students’ own understanding of and ability to formulate their own expertise. Measures that help ensure the employer’s understanding of and knowledge of students’ expertise after completing their studies are also recommended.
The recommendations focus on five priority areas: 1) Promoting supervised professional training courses that provide experience of working life, resources and networking, 2) More varied, student-active learning methods with a focus on the relevance of the course to working life and in which students learn how to learn, 3) Comprehensive and integrated lifelong learning, in which students gain knowledge of and the ability to disseminate their own expertise, 4) More systematic work with alumni, both as a network and by involving alumni more in committees/councils, as well as in the planning and implementation of teaching and 5) Closer collaboration with working life through general contracts and more informally through academic units and the Faculty.
Plenty to gain from cross-coordination
A lot of the work related to relevance to working life will be most appropriately conducted in the academic units. Obvious resources at the Faculty in the work on these action areas include the working life coordinator, the newly established learning network EILIN and the careers centre. In particular, the report notes that some of the recommended measures are resource-intensive and that there will be a lot to gain from improved dialogue, collaboration and coordination of measures within and across departments, faculties and key expertise.
The report is the result of active collaboration between dedicated representatives from the faculty and all of our units, including students, and with input from working life. It has become a thorough and clear document that can form an important basis for further work at the Faculty and at the institutes and departments. One quote, originally taken from the Department of Sociology and Human Geography’s strategy plan, expresses the main message of the report, and I would like to include it here:
Relevance to working life: Talking about it is not enough, students need to experience, perceive or observe the relevance themselves.