New survey – how lecturers experience study administration

SDU has conducted a questionnaire survey among lecturers as well as heads of studies and heads of programmes. The survey is about the perceived quality of administrative support for tasks related to teaching, exams and programme operations over the past year.

The questionnaire includes questions about the overall experience as well as topics such as efficiency, communication and co-operation. It also asks about selected everyday tasks, such as timetable planning and dealing with external examiners.

– We need a common picture of how programme administration is experienced in practice. It gives us a better basis for following developments and continuing to work with the tasks that have been moved and changed in connection with the reorganisation, says Deputy Director of Studies Stinne Hørup Hansen.

Overall positive picture

Overall, the survey paints a positive picture of how administrative support is perceived. On the general questions, most responses are in the positive response categories. At the same time, the results show a clear nuance. Respondents rate co-operation more positively than efficiency in task performance.

The free-text responses are currently being analysed and will further nuance the picture, both in terms of strengths and development areas.

Need for special attention

Although the overall ratings are positive, two themes stand out with relatively lower ratings than the others:

• Easy access to the right help
• Clarity of roles and responsibilities

– These are two benchmarks we take seriously. Our core task is to support students and lecturers through value-creating collaboration. This requires that they can easily find the expert who can help. At the same time, roles and interfaces must be clear so that the task can be carried out efficiently, says Stinne Hørup Hansen.

The survey also contains answers about specific types of tasks. Here, individual tasks gathered many ratings – both positive and negative – including timetable planning, booking rooms and exam support. This points to tasks that take up a lot of time in everyday life and where it may be relevant to take a closer look at workflows and collaboration.

How the results will be used

The survey is used as a development tool in the broader quality work around study administration. The results are included in the cross-functional follow-up – including in the newly established Coordinating Forum for Study Administration (KFU) – and are used to qualify the dialogue on where there is a need to clarify entry points, roles and interfaces.

At the same time, the survey is a supplement to the ongoing, practical follow-up and quality development in the teams that solve the tasks, and to the parallel track where the students' experience is included in the context of the New SIS project.

Thank you to

– Many thanks to the many people who took the time to participate and to everyone who helped organise the survey. The responses give us an important insight into how administrative support is experienced in practice, says Stinne Hørup Hansen.

– We will use the results actively. The survey provides us with a common starting point for prioritising further work and highlighting areas where we need to pay particular attention.

The facts

• The survey is based on just over 400 responses, and all faculties have participated.
• The survey is planned to be conducted three times so that developments can be monitored over time.
• The next survey is planned for autumn 2026.
• Methodological caveat: The survey cannot be considered fully representative of the entire teaching group, as the exact size and composition of the group is not known. The results should therefore be read as a broad, cross-cutting insight and a benchmark for development – not as a statistical basis that can be generalised to the entire group.