Garden biology is one of BIG's audited courses. Photo: Margareta Ohné.

The review process

In the spring of 2023, the faculty started a quality review of all orientation courses and it has now been completed. The purpose of the review is to examine more closely how the orientation courses are used and how they are taught and examined. In this way, it is hoped to be able to capture both good examples and potential problems.

Within the faculty there are eight departments that offer orientation courses and this spring they each wrote their course report according to a special template. The course reports were then reviewed by a group consisting of a student and four representatives of the institutions, including Björn Birgersson. The review was done so that no member of the group reviewed the report from their own institution.

The review group in turn wrote a report that was discussed in the faculty's undergraduate education committee (GB). It all resulted in proposals for both recommended and necessary measures which were approved by the Area Committee (ON) on 30 November.

BIG's orientation courses

For BIG, the review covered six orientation courses: Systematics, ecology and behavior of birds, Evolution of dogs, genetics and behavior, World of insects, Biology of infectious diseases, Biology of the garden and Eco of the world. All these courses comprise 7.5 credits and are given at quarter speed in the evening.

In BIG's course report, it was found that the course participants are a motley mix of young people who are curious about the subject and academic studies in general, interested pensioners and professionals mainly in school or care. Distance courses attract the most applicants, but the throughput is higher on courses given on campus. The teaching is for the most part traditional lectures, but the examination forms vary greatly between the different courses.

What exactly is an orientation course?

The review group summarizes its report with the assessment that orientation courses fulfill several important functions that the other courses within the faculty do not: they reach the interested public and they are used for the broadening of our regular students and for the further education of professionals. But it is also said that a clearer definition of the term orientation course is needed. After discussions in the GB, the following definition was formulated, which has now been established by the ON:

"An orientation course is a course whose main purpose is to with a scientific approach spread knowledge within a limited subject area to a broad general public, including existing students and professionals from various disciplines. Orientation courses should have basic eligibility and a strong research connection, either to the research at the department, research methods or in some other way to the research front, and have teachers who have a doctorate."

Other general views from the review group

A point of view that applies to all the audited departments is that it is doubtful whether the extent of the courses in credits really corresponds to full-time studies (for a course of 7.5 credits, full-time studies means a total of approx. 200 hours).

All departments that provide orientation courses have now been given the necessary measure to ensure that the courses are set up so that the students' expected workload corresponds to full-time studies. If you find that this is not the case for a certain course, you can either add more course elements or reduce the scope of the course in credits, for example from 7.5 credits to 5 credits.

Another general comment from the review team concerns the examination. Many orientation courses have been examined through take-home exams, a problematic form of examination given the rapid development of AI chatbots. Concerned departments are now advised to review the examination forms so that they are appropriate and legally secure.

What does the review mean for BIG?

For BIG's part, the review has thus resulted in a necessary measure, the same as for other departments: to ensure that for each course the extent of the teaching corresponds to the course's points. In addition, BIG is recommended to review the examination on the courses that usually use take-home exams.

In addition, the review group has recommended in its report that BIG consider giving a broader overview course. However, it is not a formal recommendation, just a "tip". BIG has actually offered such an orientation course before but it was a long time ago. It was simply called "Biology", corresponded to ten weeks and began to be given in 1973.

After about ten years, it was discontinued and replaced by courses that were both shorter and more limited in terms of subject matter, and it has been that way ever since. Maybe time to rethink? But can such an interdisciplinary course be laid out so that it matches the new definition of an orientation course?

The departments must report which measures have been taken by 30 June 2025 at the latest.