The strategic review of the university’s degree programmes continues. Among other things, it will be a standing item on the agenda at this year’s four dialogues where the management teams of the teacher education board and the faculties meet with the vice-chancellor.
The vice-chancellor has approved a planned continuation of the education review that was initiated in the spring of 2023. An important starting point in the first phase was that we have to have a sufficient number of attractive degree programmes to ensure a sufficient number of new programme students – it is important that we do not to stagnate as a university. The review resulted in new degree programmes and revisions of existing ones. The development of new degree programmes means that there is a need to look over both volume and the programmes that no longer attract as many students and/or have low student completion rates. This is to avoid overproduction and to ensure that we run sustainable degree programmes. The need to limit volume increases and review degree programmes that are not sustainable has been further accentuated in line with the winding down of government support that was granted in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and an increasingly tight national budget. We also see that the declining interest in teacher education programmes continues, which affects Karlstad University as well.
During the late autumn and winter, the matter has been prepared by the Education Strategy Team and discussed in the management council, resulting in a vice-chancellor’s decision that assigns all three deans the task of adjusting the education volume to align with our funding cap and proposing measures to ensure an educational offering that is economically sustainable. The vice-chancellor’s decision also includes an assignment for the dean of teacher education board to monitor the development of the proposals in the report “Utveckla lärar- och förskollärarutbildningarna”, which could have quite significant consequences for us if they are implemented.
For the Education Strategy Team, it has been important that the continued review work is carried out within the line organisation, passes through the faculty boards when necessary and is coordinated with other initiatives such as Programhjälpen, which conducts comprehensive analyses of degree programmes with low student completion rates. Reporting will be a standing item on the agenda at this year’s four dialogues where the management teams of the teacher education board and the faculties meet with the vice-chancellor, and a final report shall be presented at the last dialogue of the year. The aim is for this adjustment to create good conditions for the long-term and sustainable development of our degree programmes.
