Ada Lovelace Photo credit: Cecilia OlssonOf the 14 institutions of higher education that offer post-graduate education in computer and information science, eight are assessed to be of high quality, while six have their quality questioned in the UKÄ examination.
LiU’s programme for a licentiate and subsequently doctoral degree within computer and information science, which was the first in Sweden, maintains a high quality.
“We are, of course, delighted by the result. Our post-graduate programmes have a long history, the spectrum of knowledge in computer and information science at LiU is huge, with skilled and experienced supervisors. We also have a relatively large number of research students in our post-graduate programmes. These factors provide a solid foundation for long-term development”, says Henrik Eriksson.
Active work with gender equality
Gender equality
Of the six programmes whose quality was questioned, most failed in the area of gender equality. The UKÄ evaluation shows that there is a large potential for improvement here. This involves such matters as the choice of authors for teaching material, choice of guest lecturers and guest researchers, who is appointed to adjunct posts, the role models who are in focus, and the composition of examination committees.
“We have worked actively with gender equality for many years and in many ways, not least when Mariam Kamkar was head of department”, says Henrik Eriksson.
The UKÄ assessment also praises the healthy labour market for newly graduated doctors in computer and information science, and the high degree of internationalisation in the education offered. Many research students who travel to Sweden to work in computer and information science remain here after finishing their degree, and this contributes to development and growth.
The six institutions of higher education whose quality of research education has been questioned, among them several large universities, now have one year in which they must take measures to remedy the deficiencies. UKÄ will then carry out a follow-up assessment, and may, in the worst case, withdraw the institution’s degree-awarding power.
Translation George Farrants
