Guidelines for Approval of Distinguished University Teachers

Background

Uppsala University: Mission and Core Values[1] commits the University to conducting top quality research and education. This means, among other things, a commitment to offer students environments in which they can develop into knowledgeable, critically thinking, creative and responsible individuals. One essential condition for this is teaching by well-qualified teachers with both academic and educational expertise.

The document Teaching and Learning at Uppsala University emphasises that expertise in university teaching and learning, commitment and skill will have an explicit value as a career qualification for positions that include teaching and learning activities. The University will show teachers in various ways that it pays to develop their expertise and proficiency in teaching and learning. Teaching and Learning at Uppsala University also states that the University will introduce appropriate procedures for assessing teachers’ educational skills and that a system for such assessment must include incentives for teachers to improve their teaching and learning qualifications. This system will be based on the criteria for educational expertise that are specified in the University’s regulations.

Guidelines

The Swedish term ‘excellent lärare’ is used for teachers who have attained a higher level of educational expertise. This level is clearly distinct from the basic level, just as the docent level is distinct from the doctoral level. The English term is ‘distinguished university teacher’.[2]

Each domain/faculty board is entrusted with drafting supplementary guidelines in accordance with these Guidelines for Approval of Distinguished University Teachers.

Each domain/faculty board is to specify the requirements for approval of distinguished university teachers. These requirements are to reflect the criteria for educational expertise set out in the Appointment Regulations for Uppsala University. Teachers are to document their qualifications in a teaching portfolio. The assessment of their qualifications may be supplemented by interviews and teaching skills tests.

In order to serve as an incentive to teaching and learning development, the supplementary guidelines formulated by each domain/faculty board should promote the involvement of individual teachers and their departments. Any teacher approved as a distinguished university teacher will receive a standardised salary increase (cf. approval as docent).

Only permanently employed teachers at Uppsala University[3] (lecturers, senior lecturers/associate professors and professors) are eligible for approval as distinguished university teachers.[4] At least one opportunity to apply must be offered each year. Each domain/faculty board must establish a working group[5] to evaluate applications. For each application, expert opinions must be obtained from two experts in teaching and learning, one of whom must be from another higher education institution. At least one of the experts must be academically qualified in the applicant’s field. The working group is to submit its proposal prior to the decision of the domain/faculty board. In case of rejection, a new application may be submitted no sooner than one year after the decision.

The amended[6] guidelines enter into force on 1 July 2012 and will be evaluated across the entire University in 2014.

[1] UFV 2007/1478 [superseded by Uppsala University: Mission, Goals and Strategies, UFV 2018/641] 2UFV 2007/670

[2] At Lund University, the equivalent term is Excellent Teaching Practitioner; at Mälardalen University and Karolinska Institutet it is excellent lärare (distinguished university teacher). 4UFV 2010/1842

[3] In accordance with the categories of teachers specified in the Appointment Regulations for Uppsala University.

[4] The Faculty of Medicine may specify special rules for individuals who, though employed by the county council (regional health authority), are highly involved in teaching at the University.

[5] The working group must include student representatives.

[6] This amendment removes the following sentence from the guidelines: “When an individual has attained distinguished university teacher status, no further assessment of educational skills is required in connection with an application for a new position, promotion or docent status at Uppsala University.”