About the area of activity
In addition to its mandatory control function of supervising the educational activities at the institutions, NOKUT also conducts analytical investigations into educational quality, quality work and the assessment of quality with the aim of encouraging quality enhancement. These activities never include the issue of accreditation or recognition; nor will they carry any sanctions for the institutions involved. The purpose of these activities is to produce and compare knowledge that can stimulate the institutions and the authorities’ work to improve quality in education. The reporting activities shall also help to further develop NOKUT’s methods.
Typical activities in this area are:
- Comparison and analysis of information with identification of trends and tendencies across institutions. The analyses may be based on results from NOKUT’s own activities or on information obtained from other sources.
- Evaluations to assess quality and to identify measures that may help improve quality. These may be programme evaluations of the type carried out in relation to general teacher education, for example, or thematic evaluations targeted at specific aspects or issues across different educational programmes and institutions.
- Projects of an investigative and/or developmental nature, relating to specific aspects of educational quality or quality assurance, often in cooperation with institutions of higher education or discipline communities, and with the aim of inspiring improvement in the institutions’ quality work and the further development of NOKUT's methods.
- Seminars and the dissemination of fresh results and other relevant information on educational quality and quality assurance.
Strategies for further development in the area
- Organisation and priorities
NOKUT shall organise its research and analysis activities in a network model, where a small core of permanent personnel can also draw on relevant competence in NOKUT’s other departments and externally in the execution of specific projects. The selection of project topics is made on the basis of identified challenges in educational quality or of quality work at the institutions, or of the need for further development of NOKUT’s methodologies. We will prioritise areas where our expertise or our mandate give us particular qualifications for producing and comparing knowledge that may have a stimulating effect in the sector.
- Annual report with quality assessments
NOKUT will develop a comparative and analytical annual report where we disseminate aggregated information and results from NOKUT’s quality assurance activities and investigative projects, focusing on trends and tendencies across institutions. In the longer term we will supplement this with information from other sources and analyses of quantitative data, based on an improved set of performance indicators. Over time this will enable us to gradually develop a knowledge bank on educational quality in higher education and tertiary vocational education.
- Multiannual planning of evaluations and investigative projects
NOKUT shall draw up five-year programmes for more extensive evaluations and two-year programmes for smaller evaluations and projects in consultation with the sector, the Ministry of Education and Research and other relevant organisations. The plans will be drawn up on the basis of an overall analysis of cost-benefit, and will be adapted to comply with the expected budget levels through the period.