Universities need to improve teaching

Students often say they want teachers to pay more attention to their needs Keystone

A ranking of Swiss universities has revealed that students want more teachers but are generally satisfied with campus facilities.

The fifth annual swissUp ranking shows that biology, medicine and dentistry courses are particularly appreciated.

The snapshot of Swiss tertiary institutions includes the country’s technical universities, the eight public universities and the two federal institutes of technology, covering 11 subject areas.

The results show some contradictions. While students complain about a lack of interaction with teaching staff, they consider their courses to have a good reputation.

Physics courses at the two federal institutes of technology in Lausanne and Zurich are a case in point. They are rated the best in Switzerland, but students there say there is not enough support from faculty.

The president of Lausanne institute, Patrick Aebischer, told the Hebdo magazine that this was surprising given previous internal audits, adding that faculty was considered to be very present in physics.

He said procedures would have to be scrutinised.

Contradictions

Gero Federkeil of Germany’s Centre for Higher Education Development says the contradiction between the rating of student support and course reputation is not that surprising.

“Support from teaching staff is just one criterion among many others for ranking purposes,” he said.

It could also be that Swiss students are more critical than their German and Austrian counterparts. Teaching staff in Switzerland are far more present in high schools than they are at the country’s universities.

Students say they are generally satisfied with biology courses at most universities (except Geneva). Medicine in Bern and Geneva was given the thumbs up, while computer studies at the two federal institutes were considered the best.

Computer courses at technical universities weren’t rated as well, considered generally average at best. Out of ten schools, four didn’t make the grade, while the six others scored a pass.

Failings

Many of the students from technical universities who responded to the survey said what they were taught had little to do with the real world.

Given the role these schools play in training engineers, some observers consider this a major failing.

The St Imier campus of the Western Switzerland University of Applied Sciences is one school that failed to pass muster. The university says this result contradicts earlier peer review and that its management has already promised to remedy the problem.

The swissUp ranking has one major downside. Less than a quarter of those contacted by e-mail bothered to answer and the numbers vary wildly from one school to another.

At Lugano University there was a 77 per cent response rate, while at Neuchâtel the figure was less than one in ten.

Some schools were also not enthusiastic about giving feedback to the ranking’s organisers. Their presidents do admit though that these lists can highlight problems, even if they say they will not dictate policy.

swissinfo with agencies

In brief

The swissUp ranking is sponsored by the Foundation for educational excellence in Switzerland, the Swiss public university presidents’ conference and the Swiss technical universities’ conference.

The ranking encompasses 11 subjects: biochemistry, biology, chemistry, pharmacy, medicine, dentistry, physics, maths, geosciences, geography and computer studies.

Questionnaires were sent to students and staff asking them to rate various indicators on a rising scale of one to six.

Users – in particular students deciding which university to attend – will be able to compare the results with similar rankings in Germany and Austria.
The rankings showed that Swiss universities did well.

Key facts

More then 2,700 students and nearly 1,100 professors answered the questionnaire.
The response rate was 18% for public universities and the federal institutes, and 23% for the technical universities.
Bern and Geneva are considered best for medicine, Basel and Zurich’s institute of technology score best for chemistry.
Some courses such as dentistry, medicine, geography or biochemistry are only taught at a restricted number of schools.