Undervisnings- och utbildningsplanering - för vem? : En studie av ingenjörsutbildning vid en svensk högskola

Sammanfattning: This dissertation points at some of the consequences of the changes in the economic and social conditions of the second half of the twentieth century that have had a great influence on higher education. A growing number of students are attending our universities and at the same time the Government is asking for greater quality and efficiency in education. As a result, courses and teaching methods must be adjusted to deal with classes that are not only larger, but also more mixed in their grouping structures. As the Government uses the word quality and efficiency in many contexts it is difficult to interpret the meaning of the concepts. Anyhow, whatever their meaning we must learn more about what is happening in the interaction between students and lecturers in the educational process in order to get more students through the system satisfactorily. One way is to study the educational process from the perspective of students. This thesis is about how 1835 engineering students at a Swedish university experience their academic studies and how far they succeed. The empirical data is collected partly from a questionnaire analysed by using multivariable analysis and partly from the student records database. The result has then been applied to the teaching and education planning process so as to discuss what changes are needed and what the obstacles are. The results suggest that about 62 percent of our students need there to be changes in their academic situation so as to feel to more comfortable at ease, less stressed and able to adopt to a deep approach learning style. To make the changes necessary neither the external parameters set by the Government nor the internal parameters set by the University are any obstacle. There seems to be another obstacle namely informal parameters set by the teachers themselves and caused by their attitudes to the students.