Quality development in teaching

Each course at the University of St.Gallen undergoes a regular evaluation through the course participants. The results of these evaluations are made available to the course teachers, the students, the programme management as well as to the University's President. Whenever possible the results are discussed with the students during class to ensure transparency and open communication. Measures of improvement are identified and implemented.

Teachers whose course is not planned for a regular cyclical evaluation in a given semester may register their course for a voluntary evaluation to be conducted in that semester. These evaluations serve the purpose of giving the teacher the opportunity to further improve their course, integrate innovative teaching methods and explore new course structures whilst receiving direct feedback from their students. A high number of voluntary course evaluations we conduct every semester makes it obvious how important quality of teaching is to our teaching staff. 

To see their own course with the eyes of the course participants and thus to optimise their teaching, our teaching staff has the opportunity to participate in a Teaching Analysis Poll, a qualitative feedback tool offered by the course evaluations team together with the Centre of Learning and Teaching in Higher Education (HDZ). Members of a TAP Team conduct a 30 minute session with the course participants to find out what helps them or hinders their learning and which improvements they think should be made. In the middle of the semester. The course teacher discusses the results with the TAP team around mid-term, which gives the teacher sufficient time to implement all necessary changes.