Research quality at Linnaeus University

Framework

Linnaeus University’s quality-assurance system is decentralised and much of the work to guarantee and strengthen the quality is conducted at the faculties and in the research environments based on academic freedom, good research practice, and collegial forms of working.

The framework is guiding for the university-common work, and also serves as support in the work that is conducted at the faculties and the Board of Teacher Education (NLU).

Quality-assurance work within research

Within the framework, researchers are given instructions on what is to be strived for, but now how the faculties should achieve this. This due to the fact that the fundamental principles of academic freedom – good research practice, and collegiality – are primarily realised through the everyday academic work. Within the framework, the faculties therefore have freedom to design their work based on the special nature and conditions of their respective fields of research.

Overall quality-assurance process

The principles of the quality-assurance work is an integrated way of working based on a common quality culture which, in turn, is based on participation, communication, development, and systematics.

The university’s quality-assurance system is based on the process in the quality wheel, in addition to the academic way of working and established peer-reviews. The process comprises development and quality checks as well as promotion, further development, and dissemination of good examples.

The quality-assurance work at Linnaeus University is conducted in an integrated way with the rest of the operational management, among other things through subgoals and instructions in the university’s annual operational plans.

There are then recurring dialogues for all parts of the university’s operations to make sure that information, analyses and results from various evaluations are communicated and linked to planning and follow-up. The aim is to identify areas of development and to conduct follow-ups of previous plans and measures.

University-common quality-assurance work

The University Board and the vice-chancellor have the overall responsibility for quality-assurance, concerning both quality control and quality development. Each respective faculty board then has a responsibility for quality-assurance and quality development of their respective research activities.

Both the vice-chancellor and the faculties get help coordinating the quality-assurance work from the university’s Research Council. The coordination of the quality-assurance work also includes an annual council dialogue between deputy vice-chancellors and the council and committee chairs.

At the university-wide level, the quality-assurance work is also conducted in a number of councils and groups in collaboration, among them the Research Council, the Council for Good Research Practice, the Council for Sustainability, and within the frame of HRS4R (HR Excellence Award for Research).

Operations at the faculties

The faculties are responsible for the quality-assurance work relating to research that is conducted at each respective faculty. The peer review forms the basis for the quality-assurance of research. This responsibility rests with the individual member of staff, the research environments, and the scientific community. The university’s responsibility towards the faculties is to make sure that this can be done, and is done, within the faculties’ operations.

More information

The framwork is only available in Swedish but will be translated shortly.

Read the Swedish version here.