Researchers: drop the notion that more hours spent studying guarantees higher educational quality | Education - University of Copenhagen

Several Danish universities have a financial incentive to ensure that their students spend a great amount of time on study-related assignments. But the number of hours spent by students on their studies does not necessarily guarantee programme quality and student engagement, according to a critique by the researchers behind a new University of Copenhagen study. 

Photo: Vlada Karpovich from Pexels

Since 2018, Danish university students have had to report the annual number of hours they spend in lectures, at study and preparing for exams to the Danish Ministry of Higher Education and Science.

When determining whether a university should receive its entire subsidy or whether to shave up to five per cent off of its appropriation, the weekly number of study hours is one of the parameters weighed.

The reporting of study hours stems from the Ministry of Higher Education and Science’s aim to ensure for high quality education. However, according to the researchers behind a new study at the University of Copenhagen, an increased number of hours is no guarantee for higher educational quality.

“Universities have a financial incentive to get students to spend large amounts of time at study. However, this does not necessarily provide an authentic or fair view of educational quality. Instead, we should be interested in what students actually get out of the time that they spend,” asserts Lars Ulriksen, a professor at the University of Copenhagen’s Department of Science Education...

Swap out targets for qualitative surveys

Lars Ulriksen suggests that qualitative surveys could be implemented to allow for students to verbalize and elaborate upon their experiences with the educational quality of their programmes.

Read more... 

Source: University of Copenhagen