Good news for audited programmes

Mid Sweden University's programmes in journalism and media and communication studies are of high quality. This is shown in a recent report from the assessment group that reviewed the programmes. 

The assessment team's conclusion is that the college works hard and continuously with quality assurance, pedagogical development and to ensure that students' learning is stimulated and that they achieve the degree objectives. 

Mid Sweden University, Karlstad University and Linnaeus University work together in a model for quality development within the collaboration Treklövern. Programmes with similar content are grouped into clusters and reviewed by an assessment group. The report that the assessment group has now delivered highlights both things that the subjects do well and things that can be developed. 

– The work has flowed well, the working group has had a good composition where we complemented each other and have been able to take advantage of each other's strengths and special areas of interest, says Sara Ödmark, Assistant Evaluation Manager and Senior Lecturer in Journalism and PhD in Media and Communication Studies at Mid Sweden University. 

The report highlights in particular the teachers' good skills and good cooperation with the industry to ensure relevant, updated and reality-based education. The teachers' well-thought-out coordination of theory and practice within the programmes and a relevant way of integrating AI into teaching are also emphasized. 
The potential for improvement is the development of existing method courses in the two programmes, with a focus on the students' understanding of method and the ability to reflect on their own research from an ethical perspective, with a focus on the basic level of the programmes. 

– The most striking impression after the evaluations is what much we have in common. The challenges identified are similar for everyone and we are grappling with the same issues: How do we deal with generative AI? How do we maintain the scientific quality of students' independent work? How do we ensure that we are relevant to an industry in constant change? Says Sara Ödmark, who tells further,

– It was empowering to see what consensus we have on challenges, and it also helps us as we continue to work to maintain the high quality of our education, concludes Sara Ödmark. 

The group that makes the assessments and has delivered the report consists of representatives from the three universities, as well as subject experts from other universities, students and representatives from working life. The assessment group started work in the autumn of 2024 and has during the spring of 2025 read the subjects' self-evaluations, reviewed students' independent work, and conducted interviews with teachers, students and management via meetings.

Read more (in Swedish) Kvalitetsarbete enligt Treklöver-modellen och ta del av rapporten

Read more (in Swedish): Treklöverutvärdering av journalistik och medie- och kommunikationsvetenskap är i full gång (2024-12-03)