Quality Assurance work at the SEDU

All employees – teachers, researchers, and support staff – as well as students and participants in commissioned education contribute to the quality of the institution's activities. Quality assurance work should be a natural part of daily operations at all levels of the institution.

A deliberate and systematic approach to quality assurance is essential for SEDU to achieve the goals outlined in our vision and strategy.

SEDU’s quality assurance work is based on continuous improvement and a learning-oriented approach. To foster a positive quality culture, both staff and students should feel a sense of responsibility and engagement in ensuring and enhancing quality. The quality assurance process should be characterised by structure, follow-up, and learning, which includes clear, committed, and competent leadership, collegial involvement in quality work, visibility, and long-term perspective.

Timelines and templates for evaluations and quality dialogues can be found on the respective page in the right-hand column.

The Components of the Quality System and Operational Governance

Försvarshögskolans processer för kvalitetssäkring, kvalitetsutveckling och verksamhetsstyrning

Planning and follow-up are the primary tools used by the university management to guide and ensure efficiency, quality, and cross-cutting perspectives. FHS’s quality system and operational governance processes support each other through the exchange and transfer of knowledge at different levels. Centralised quality management, follow-up, and evaluation become truly effective only when they are clearly linked to systematic quality work at the local level. It is at this level that fundamental quality development takes place, and where the results from central follow-up and evaluation should be translated into concrete improvement measures.

The Vice-Chancellor leads both ´SEDU’s trimester dialogues for operational governance and quality dialogues for education and research. Heads of department are responsible for both trimester and quality dialogues within their respective disciplines. Identified needs for action can also be integrated into SEDU’s annual operational plan.

The Research and Education Board (FoUN) holds strategic responsibility for the quality of education and research. The Dean represents FoUN in university management and connects the board’s quality work with that of the leadership. FoUN’s evaluations of education and research are coordinated with the Vice-Chancellor’s quality dialogues, ensuring that results and actions can also be addressed within operational governance and, if necessary, in the annual operational plan.

Collegiality and student influence are fundamental principles at the Swedish Defence University (FHS). The student unions have the right to representation in all preparatory and decision-making bodies responsible for quality and play a vital role in quality assurance and quality development.

Students' influence over their education and study environment contributes to creating an attractive and high-quality education. Their participation in quality work is essential, and their learning and development should be at the centre. Through their engagement in education and through student representatives, students influence the university’s operations and quality development. Student influence is therefore a key component of FHS’s quality system.

Participants in Commissioned Education
The term "student" refers to individuals admitted to and pursuing studies at the undergraduate, advanced, or doctoral level. FHS also has a significant number of participants in commissioned education, and it is important to consider their perspectives, even though they are not covered by the Higher Education Act’s provisions on student influence. This is particularly relevant in core subjects and bodies responsible for higher officer education.

The Swedish Defence University's Quality Policy pdf, 342 kB. and the Description of the Swedish Defence University's Quality System pdf, 337 kB. together provide a concrete outline of the objectives and principles for quality assurance, as well as the means included in the quality system.

The policy highlights a set of guiding principles for quality assurance and emphasises the importance of student influence and collaboration with society to ensure and enhance quality.

The description of the quality system outlines its components and processes, the four main levels of quality work at the university, and how they interact, as well as the functions responsible. Finally, it explains how the processes for quality assurance, quality development, and operational governance are interconnected and work together.

The Swedish Higher Education Authority (UKÄ) uses the following definitions to describe the concepts of quality system and quality work.

Quality System
The quality system defines the framework within which quality work is carried out. It includes both the documented foundations, such as organisational structure, allocation of responsibilities, and internal governing documents, as well as the routines, templates, and working methods used for both quality assurance and quality development. It also encompasses activities through which the organisation identifies the goals, processes, and resources required to achieve the desired outcomes.

Quality Work
Quality work refers to the activities conducted within the framework of the quality system and includes both quality assurance and quality development. This involves efforts to ensure that the educational activities meet the established quality standards, as well as initiatives to further develop education towards the defined goals. Quality work is carried out at all levels of the university, covering both daily operational tasks and strategic efforts, from the programme level to central governance.