Assessment area: Student perspective

.

The programme works to allow students to take an active role in improving the content and implementation of the programme.

The student council organizes activities on and off campus. It collects feedback from students and acts as a link between the students and WMU. WMU meets with the student council twice every year, and have additional meetings when needed. In addition, students are represented in several councils. However, student representation is mostly used as a way to provide WMU with the students? views.

The students are provided with opportunities to evaluate individual courses twice a year. The handling of the evaluation is done by the registrar, thus guaranteeing anonymity, and the results are presented to the President as well as

the Quality Assurance Committee, which propose suitable changes. Changes or responses are reported back to the candidates in written form. According to WMU, in 2019 the response rates were between 60 and 100 percent, numbers that indicate a high involvement from the students.

There is a department at WMU that supports students with practical assistance, a function that is of great importance since the vast majority of students are not familiar with the Swedish welfare system. In addition to providing rudimentary health care etc., it also focuses on "fostering positive effects", i.e. making students feel at home. The students also received support from the city of Malmö, which arranges meet-and-greet sessions with newly arrived students. Some students stated that they studied Swedish For Immigrants (SFI) on their own initiative. Swedish language courses are not arranged by WMU. However, that was not considered a problem by the students; being abroad for a limited time, and spending much time with non-Swedes in an international environment does not require Swedish language training. Something that was appreciated, though, was the chance to get a host family through the care of WMU.

The switch to distance learning, in the wake of COVID-19, has overall been a positive experience for the students. Zoom-lectures have proven to provide more of a discussion, being more interactive compared to a traditional lecture. Generally, the students feel that the teachers have an open-door policy, something that they appreciate. The relatively small classes further build close relationships between the students and the faculty.

In conclusion, satisfactory measures have been taken by WMU to provide the students with the opportunity to take an active role in the work to improve the content and implementation of the programme.