Responsible unit: Office of the President

Contact: Tove Holmqvist

Quality Policy

The quality policy sets out the points of departure for how Stockholm University secures and develops its core operations of research and education, with the aim of achieving the highest quality.

Quality culture

The university’s quality work is founded in a vital and strongly established quality culture, characterised by reflection and a critical search for knowledge, along with the sharing and defence of established knowledge. Research and education are developed in close connection with each other, through collegial work involving departments, faculties, scientific areas, university management and students. Peer review is one of the cornerstones in the efforts to develop the highest quality. Another is that the professors, senior lecturers and associate senior lecturers of the university are active in both research and education, and make contributions to the quality and the development of both activities. Conducting and developing education and research requires competent and efficient administrative support. An inclusive environment, where all staff and students are treated equally and with respect, is another part of the quality culture, where the different backgrounds, life situations and competences staff and students bring to the university are seen as assets.

Organisation and management

A quality-enhancing culture is based on commitment, trust, and individual responsibility. This means that teachers, other staff, and students each have a responsibility in their respective roles, both individually and in collaboration with others, to actively contribute to securing and developing the university’s core operations. The quality of research and education lies foremost with the teachers and researchers at the departments. In the university’s collegial bodies, such as departments, faculties, and scientific area boards, quality in planning processes and decisions is assured through the broad combined expertise of the members. The collegial bodies are led by chairpersons, who also act as line managers, and have an overall responsibility for the quality work and for keeping a dialogue with and through their subordinate line managers and bodies to organise the core organisation and lead necessary development processes. The university strives to achieve a trust-based management where internal control and monitoring are resource-efficient activities, with the aim of promoting quality. This intent is reflected in the organisational structure of the university with its various levels of responsibility, in the form of clear and transparent decision- and delegation procedures, which comprise both collegial bodies and managers.

Leadership plays an important role in all activities and units of the university. Skilful managers who initiate and lead the development of the core operations, based on well-grounded decisions, provide a guarantee for high quality in education, research and administration. The organisation and distribution of responsibilities create good conditions for dissemination of knowledge, which allows the university to take appropriate, legally secure and effective action.

Quality System

The university's current quality system consists of both development and evaluation and considers for instance preconditions, implementation, and monitoring of education and research. Internally, the system must be quality-enhancing and contribute to fulfilling the goal of the university's strategies: to strive for research and education of the highest international quality. The quality system includes processes where research and education are regularly reviewed and monitored, in order to ensure quality and development of the core operations. The quality system must also ensure that laws and regulations that apply to university activities are obeyed. Finally, the system must meet the quality requirements, expectations and demands from the Government, students, and external stakeholders. The various components of the quality system are described in more detail on the university's website, on specific web pages as well as in governing documents.