Quality agreements
On 6 December 2021, the University Council approved the Supplementary Implementation Plan for Quality Agreements, a follow-up to the original Leiden University Implementation Plan for Quality Agreements from December 2018.
The plan sets out which measures the University will take in the years ahead to improve the quality of its teaching, and how it will use the funding that is available for this. This funding was freed up with the introduction of the loan system and according to the coalition agreement must be used to improve the quality of university teaching.
The 2018 Implementation Plan was reassessed and updated in 2021. The main change is the start, in 2022, of two University initiatives on themes that are important at the University: Student Well-Being and Lecturer Development. On 6 December 2021, after a period of intensive consultation, the University Council approved this Supplementary Implementation Plan for Quality Agreements 2022-2024. The joint implementation of these agreements will contribute to knowledge exchange between faculties and will enhance and increase the range of support for students and lecturers.
New initiatives on student well-being and lecturer support
The student well-being initiative aims to improve our students’ well-being, which has been greatly affected by the coronavirus crisis, and to help them feel more connected to their degree programme by enhancing the mentoring/tutoring they receive. All the faculties will appoint well-being officers, who will work together on initiatives such as training, support and information materials. The emphasis is on prevention and early identification of problems.
The University is also choosing to invest in additional support for its lecturers. In 2020, the first year of the coronavirus pandemic, an ad hoc support system was developed for lecturers and a wealth of experience was gained in developing online courses. This will form the basis of more-structural support for lecturers who are developing online or on-campus courses, or a combination of the two.
Leiden University Implementation Plan for Quality Agreements
How the University will spend the resources from the Quality Agreements is set out in the Leiden University Implementation Plan for Quality Agreements 2019-2024. This was positively evaluated by the Accreditation Organisation of the Netherlands and Flanders (NVAO) in February 2019 and approved by the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science in June 2019. The plan is based on implementation plans drawn up by the faculties in consultation with the faculty councils and approved by these same councils. In the plans the faculties describe their specific policies and the measures they will take to improve the quality of their teaching. The students, lecturers and, once again, the participation bodies, will be actively involved in the implementation of the plans.
Leiden University believes the quality agreements and associated funding are important tools for the further implementation of its Vision on Teaching and Learning: Learning@LeidenUniversity. The quality-improvement funding makes it possible to add impetus to a teaching and learning environment with greater student engagement, better support for the learning process and smaller-scale supervision.
Progress Quality Agreements
Leiden University prepares an annual report on the progress of the quality agreements and the expenditure of resources. This report is an appendix to the university annual report and we discuss it with the university council. A summary of this is included in the education chapter of the annual report.