FAQ Teaching and Learning in Higher Education

Yes, at least to a certain degree. As a full-time employee, five percent of your working hours are set aside for skill enhancement. Talk to your manager about how to solve the time aspect.

Yes, you should talk to your manager before you register. This is important in order for you to plan the time required for participation. 

You should have a university degree. The courses in teaching and learning in higher education correspond to advanced level, which means that at least a bachelor's degree is recommended. You do not need any credits in pedagogy or teaching experience to register, even though it might be good to have some teaching experience.

The course Educational development work is the only one that has prerequisites. To register, you need to have taken at least two of the other courses or other courses in teaching and learning in higher education corresponding to 6 credits.

You will find the application forms for each course respectively on the web course pages. Registration is done no later than one month before the course starts. Your registration will be confirmed by e-mail, and you will also receive an e-mail about whether you have received a place or not. The registration opens on Tuesday week 9 for courses in the fall and on Tuesday week 40 for courses in the spring.

Each course comprises two weeks of full-time studies, equivalent to three course credits. Most courses run at quarter speed, which means that you need to set aside about ten hours a week. For courses with a slower rate of study, the recommendation is that you make a plan for how to allocate the time for your studies during the course.

The only requirement is that you must have read at least two of the other courses before you take the course Educational development work. Otherwise, the recommendation is that you read the courses in the module of qualifying courses in the order in which they are given, but this is not a requirement. The in-depth courses are independent and can be read in any order.

The courses are given online.

The courses will be given via the learning management system Moodle. Zoom will be used as e-meeting tool. When joining Zoom meetings, you need a headset. Other tools may also be used in the different courses. Information is provided at the latest at the start of each course.

An education in teaching and learning in higher education is usually required for employment, promotion and teacher qualification. The national recommendation is that the qualifying education compromises 10 weeks or 15 credits. If you are interested in developing or gaining further qualifications, you can also study in-depth courses in teaching and learning in higher education.

Mid Sweden University does not yet have a system for validating competence in teaching and learning in higher education. Thus, you need to have completed at least 15 course credits in teaching and learning in higher education for employment, promotion or teacher qualification.

You can find links to course descriptions on the page Courses in Teaching and Learning in Higher Education.

Both courses follow the recommendations of SUHF and are at advanced level, so it does not matter which one you choose. Both courses are qualifying for employment as a university teacher.

However, there are some differences in layout and admissions. The course offered by the Department of Education runs at quarter speed during one academic year, giving you 15 course credits. The course has national admission and you apply in competition with others. The students come from different parts of Sweden and have different backgrounds.

Most courses offered by the Division of Research and Educational Support also run at quarter speed, but you do not need to study the equivalent of 15 course credits all at once. The training consists of shorter courses where you can to some extent influence the order of the courses. All participants are employed at Mid Sweden University and right now there are no other admission rules than "first come, first served". The courses do not result in any course credits, but the course certificates show the extent and how many course credits they correspond to.
 

No, the courses do not give course credits and are not reported to Ladok, but the course certificates state the scope and the number of credits they correspond to. In this way, FUS' module of qualifying courses follows SUHF’s recommendations.

You need to pass all the assessments within a course. The certificate will be sent to you automatically after a completed course. 

No, not automatically, but the courses correspond to a certain amount of course credits. According to SUHF (the Association of Swedish Higher Education Institutions), professional training for academic teaching comprises a total of at least ten weeks' full-time studies (15 ECTS). The training at Mid Sweden University is divided into two-weeks-courses, so you should take five courses in order to receive a certificate of higher education teaching qualifications.

No, the courses do not give credits, but the course certificates state the scope and the number of credits they correspond to. In this way, FUS’ module of qualifying courses follows SUHF’s recommendations.

It depends on the content of the course, see Assessment of completed courses in teaching and learning in higher education.

It depends on the content of the courses, see Assessment of completed courses in teaching and learning in higher education.

According to the recommendations from SUHF, courses in teaching and learning in higher education from any Swedish university should be acknowledged by all other Swedish higher education institutions. This means that you are authorized to teach at all Swedish universities, regardless of whether the courses were given credits or if they were given as staff training courses.