Assessment of the programmes at the Faculty of Chemistry, University of Latvia
November 23 and 24, 2000
Programmes assessed
Chemistry (Bachelors)
Chemistry (Masters)
Chemistry (Doctorate)
Food Chemistry (Professional studies)
Environmental Protection (Professional studies)
Teachers of Chemistry (Professional studies)
Assessment Panel (herein known as the panel)
Prof. D. C. Nonhebel, University of Strathclyde, UK (Team Leader)
Prof. A. Opik, Tallinn Technical University, Estonia
Prof. E. Butkus, Vilnius University, Lithuania
Prof. J. Gravitis, Latvian Institute of Wood Chemistry and United Nations University, Tokyo, Japan
Procedure
The panel were provided with details of the programmes, CV's of academic staff and a self evaluation. The assessors obtained further information through interviews with programme co-ordinators, Department heads, senior and junior members of the teaching staff, students representing the different programmes taught by the Faculty, graduates and employers.
INTRODUCTORY COMMENTS
The panel were impressed by the graduates that we met. On the whole they were satisfied with the courses that they had met. Those who had continued their studies in other countries found that they were adequately prepared from a theoretical point of view though they were deficient in their laboratory experience due to the woeful lack of facilities because of the grossly inadequate funding of university education in Latvia. The employers also said that they were satisfied by the graduates that they employed. This lack of resources is also very evident from a visit to the library. Another general area of concern is the very distorted age structure with an average age of professors close to 60. This will cause severe problems in the near future if it is not corrected. Recruitment of young academics is likely to be very difficult as a result of the very poor salary structure.
The extremely low level of funding of students is bound, in many cases, to prevent students reaching the level of performance they would be capable of were it not for the need to spend a lot of time supporting themselves.
We were disappointed that the self evaluation document was not more self critical indicating an understanding and recognition of any shortcomings of the programmes. It has to be mentioned that the self evaluation document was insufficiently analytical and failed to indicate weaknesses in the programme comprehensively.
There has been much talk throughout the whole of Europe about the Bologna Declaration as a framework of education. Within Central and Eastern Europe there are potent driving forces that give the Bologna process a particular impetus. The Bologna Declaration says that as higher education in these countries emerges from the controls of the former communist systems, there is an opportunity for restructuring to take place. Most of the countries of Central and Eastern Europe have aspirations to join the European Union. The Bologna Declaration provides an opportunity for them to restructure in a way that demonstrates a willingness to adopt European Union norms, and in a way which aligns the knowledge-based sectors of their economies with European standards. One aim of this report is to point the way that the University can meet this goal.
Each Faculty in the University seems to be very much a separate entity with little collaboration between them. This is a disadvantage in programmes which cover more than just pure Chemistry such as Environmental Chemistry and Food Chemistry when a substantial input of biological science is also necessary.
GENERAL ISSUES RELATING TO ALL PROGRAMMES
Curriculum Content and Organisation
A measure of the overall success of the work of the Faculty was the high regard that graduates are regarded by a range of employers and also the level of satisfaction felt by the graduates.
Concerns -
(i) There were no Aims for the Programmes as a whole nor for individual courses within each of the programmes. There were no Learning Outcomes/Learning Objectives outlining in detail what a student should be expected to know and be able to use at the end of the course. Study programmes should be rewritten not just to outline the curriculum but also to provide Aims and Learning Objectives for each credit as well as each programme as recommended in a document approved by the Ministry of Education in Latvia (Order no. 272). Appendix B lists the Learning Aims and Objectives for the ECTN Core Chemistry programme.
(ii) Separation of knowledge and subject skills from communication and transferable skills would be useful. These different skills should be recognised and assessed accordingly and students should be fully aware of the criteria used to assess these skills. It is useful, particularly for laboratory-based courses to list the skills a student should acquire in that credit.
(iii) It is important that a culture of safety be part of all programmes. We were very concerned that students were permitted to work in laboratories without wearing safety glasses and that academic and technical staff failed to set a good example.
(iv) A serious criticism is that there is no significant difference in level between the Masters programme and the Bachelors programme as judged from the syllabuses which we were provided with. It is normal within Europe for the Masters degree to be considered as a postgraduate degree, i.e. it is a higher level qualification. This can be achieved through a programme set at a higher level and/or an assessment which demands a higher level of understanding. The Bologna Declaration says that Bachelors and Masters titles are generic titles for the first and second cycles. This implies strongly that the two types of programme should be at distinct academic levels. Unfortunately we did not have any examination papers to confirm that the level of the Masters course was set at a higher academic level.
(v) The infrastructure, i.e. laboratory facilities, laboratory equipment, and libraries was very deficient and indicates a lack of adequate funding of universities in Latvia.
(v) The extremely low level of funding of students is bound, in many cases, to prevent students reaching the level of performance they would be capable of were it not for the need to spend a lot of time supporting themselves financially.
(viii) Another general area of concern is the very distorted age structure with an average age of professors close to 60. This will cause severe problems in the near future if it is not corrected. Recruitment of young academics is likely to be very difficult as a result of the very poor salary structure. Inevitably there is also less likelihood of innovation in new methods of teaching with an ageing staff. There was some evidence of this.
Teaching, Learning and Assessment
There is a need for introducing more coherence into the programmes, i.e. to see the programme as a whole and to ensure that there is agreement within a subject area as to what is to be taught and how. For example chemists unfortunately behave as if there were three of four types of chemist - analytical, inorganic, organic and physical. Attention should be given to integrating courses where this is appropriate, e.g. in the teaching of stereochemistry which can cover both organic and inorganic molecules, or spectroscopy which again can be taught by reference to both organic and inorganic molecules.
A criticism made by employers was that the students were too passive and should be encouraged to become involved in discussion. This points to the need for development of courses in Transferable and Communication Skills and for introducing these skills in appropriate credits.
There is a procedure for allowing students who have failed individual credits to retake them. This is effective.
We would recommend a move away from high contact hours for students with total reliance on lectures for obtaining information to a process involving more directed reading by the students. Effort should be made on making students have more responsibility for their own learning. This again is handicapped by the lack of good library facilities.
Student Progression and Achievement
There is a high drop out rate in the first year (~30%). We recognize that it is because of the low educational level in secondary school system in Latvia in the teaching of Chemistry, Mathematics and Physics. Incoming students sometimes are enrolled in more then one Faculty or even university and after enrolment make a choice for study place. This situation should be improved, probably by establishing of “O” year for students not skilled in Chemistry, Mathematics and Physics. Failure rates are also influenced by the need that most students have of obtaining work to support themselves throughout their programme. The low pass rates do not correspond to the needs of industry and science of Latvia and do not permit maintenance of the existing level in chemical industry and science as well as in the training of school teachers and academic teaching staff.
The Faculty can be commended on the high percentage of students who achieve employment offers after graduation. The feed back that was given by the employers was very impressive.
There is a procedure for allowing students who have failed individual credits to retake them. This is seems to be effective.
Student Support and Guidance
We suggest that the Faculty and the University implement some form of qualified career guidance which is available to students as they progress through the different programmes. This could take the form of occasional visits from employers to outline career opportunities in their particular area. At the same time need for more intensive guidance of the students research activities in the Master sand particularly Doctoral programmes was necessary. Shortage of research materials and equipment strengthens the need for qualified advice and scrupulous planning of the work.
It did not seem that all students were given full details of the curricula at the start of each academic year or better at the end of the previous academic year to allow for consideration over the summer break. This is useful for compulsory courses and essential for optional courses when students need to make an informed choice.
The quality of student accommodation was criticised as was the distance many students had to travel from their accommodation.
Learning Resources
The relative shortage of funding sources for the provision of equipment, infrastructure, IT and library facilities in Latvian higher education is well known. There is a reasonable selection of undergraduate texts and also a good range of scientific journals. There was also a lack of advanced specialist undergraduate/postgraduate texts. Less impressive was the range of books available for students to borrow. These were on the whole old and many were in Russian. Some students comment that they would like more books in Latvian. This request would have to be very carefully examined particularly for more advanced courses where the number of books which could be sold, would be very small and make such an operation very expensive. Students, especially at the Masters and Doctorate level, should be fluent in English or German not least to allow them access to the original literature.
Laboratories, in general, are equipped with out-of-date instruments, some important methods are not available (HPLC, IR-spectrometry, NMR, GC). The Faculty must be commended for the efficient use they make of their limited resources. The lack of modern equipment makes MSc and especially PhD level research extremely problematic. Considerable improvement is necessary if the Faculty is to attain the standards of West European Universities. The current situation creates a problem regarding student exchange under the ECTS scheme as it would be difficult to recommend that students came to Latvia to carry out experimental work. There are a reasonable number of computers though this area needs constant improvement both as regards the number of computers and their capability.
Teaching staff is well qualified, almost all members regularly visit universities in Europe and other countries, attend conferences and other scientific and academic meetings. The staff prepares study materials in the Latvian language. Most of the scientific results are published in local journals and as conference proceedings. Staff should be encouraged to increase the number of publications in international journals: this would, on the whole, require substantial improvement of the level of research.
Teaching Staff
The teaching staff is well qualified, and almost everyone regularly visits universities in W. Europe and other countries, attends conferences and other scientific and academic meetings. Most of the scientific results are published in local journals and as conference proceedings. Staff should be encouraged to increase the number of publications in international journals: this would, on the whole, require substantial improvement of the level of research. The staff prepare study materials in the Latvian language. There seems to be difficulty in funding the production of this material.
Quality Management and Enhancement
It is recommended that the Faculty’s internal arrangements for the monitoring and evaluation of classes in programmes should be formalised and improved. There is undoubtedly an effective de facto system in operation but this is too highly dependent on the staff currently in post.
Recommendations on this aspect of provision may include the following:
(i) The more frequent use of external examiners to ensure comparability of standards with other Universities.
(ii) Use of blind duplicate marking of course work and examination scripts.
(iii) A systematic review of pass rates in all courses.
(iv) The introduction of a formalised induction scheme for new academic staff.
(v) A continuous staff development policy for all staff related to teaching, learning and assessment.
Bachelors Programme
It is recommended that this programme is given accreditation for two years on condition that a plan is formulated to take account of the following points.
(i) The curriculum should be modified to reflect the recommendations for Core Chemistry developed by the European Chemistry Thematic Network. As an example in Organic Chemistry there are certain fundamental topics which are apparently completely absent, e.g. stereochemistry and retrosynthetic analysis. Appendix B summarizes recommendations made by the Core Chemistry working party of the European Chemistry Thematic Network (a network of over 90 University chemistry departments from 24 European countries) regarding the syllabuses for Analytical, Inorganic, Organic and Physical Chemistry. Appendix A is a paper produced by Professor Michael Gagan of the open University and approved by the Core Chemistry working party and discusses the philosophy of teaching as applied to the teaching of chemistry. The essence of this is a modern curriculum with the aim of promoting student learning and understanding.