Quality development for students

An opportunity to get involved

Student feedback plays a key role in various ways for quality development in learning and teaching.

The student survey for Faculties 3, 5, 6, 8, 9 and 10 has been launched. Click here to go to the student survey 2023:

The surveys at a glance

For students, participation in the course survey is voluntary. However, the surveys are an excellent tool to provide suggestions for improving the teaching in your study program.

Why? The course survey offers students the opportunity to evaluate individual courses. The aim of the survey is that lecturers receive constructive feedback from students on how they can individually improve the course. For this reason, the results should be discussed with the students after the survey is completed so that potential for improvement can be identified.

When? The course survey will be conducted in the middle of the semester.

How often? The evaluation of each course at least every two years is mandatory. If necessary, lecturers can have their course evaluated every semester.

What happens next? In addition to discussing the results in the course itself, the results will be included in module reports and module overviews, which are made available to the module manager or to the Dean of Undergraduate and Graduate Studies on a regular basis (usually every two years).

Data protection? Your data is safe and will be destroyed after evaluation. The questionnaires are regularly checked by the Central Data Protection Office of the Baden-Wuerttemberg Universities (ZENDAS) [de]. No evaluations will be made if five or fewer questionnaires have been completed. This prevents traceability to individual persons. Free text entries will be scanned. In order to make it impossible to relate the data to an individual person, students should change their handwriting in paper surveys.

How is the module survey conducted? The module survey is done for selected modules during the lecture-free period. It records your acquisition of skills, your workload (including the time to prepare for the exam), and the interplay of the different components of the module (e.g. lecture and exercises). The survey is conducted online. If a survey is scheduled for a certain module, all students of the module who are registered for the exam will receive an email invitation to participate ten days before the final module examination, and a reminder three days before the module examination.

Why do I receive several invitations to participate in the survey? If students complete several modules in one semester, they are entitled to take part in several surveys. The module survey takes only a few minutes.

Why should I participate in the survey? The module survey enables students to evaluate all components, including the framework conditions, of a module. The aim of the survey is the improvement of the entire module by the lecturers involved. For this reason, the results will be made available to the module manager and to the Dean of Undergraduate and Graduate Studies.

When? The module survey will take place about ten days before the examination.

How often? All compulsory and basic modules with more than 30 registrations for examinations and a scheduled exam date are evaluated on a regular basis. If necessary, the study program managers can announce the evaluation of further modules.

What happens next? For the further development of the modules, the results will be made available to the module managers as well as to the deans of undergraduate and graduate studies in the form of module reports and module overviews.

How can I participate in commenting on the module report? The Stuttgart Evaluation Model provides for students and lecturers to jointly comment on the module reports. If you would like to participate in commenting on the report, please contact the module manager directly. The student council, the student representatives in your committee for student affairs and teaching, and the staff of the Evaluation department are also available to answer any questions.

Why should I participate in commenting on the report? Experience from past semesters has shown that the individual modules can be discussed in a very objective and improvement-oriented manner. The comprehensive basis of data from the module report helps to make meaningful changes and improvements. If you contribute to the commentary, you will help the module managers put the different data in the right light. Once commenting is completed, the module managers are required to forward the results to the study program managers.

When? At regular intervals, the study program managers receive a module overview, which they can use to select modules for commenting together with the committee on student affairs and teaching.

How often? Commenting is only done on request (for example by the students of the module or by the committee on student affairs and teaching).

What happens next? The conclusions from the comments will be forwarded to the study program managers and, if necessary, will be included in the study program report.

To ensure the quality of the study programs and of learning and teaching at the University of Stuttgart in general, surveys are conducted on a regular basis. These include ...

  • a survey of students
  • a survey of graduates
  • a survey of applicants
  • a survey on drop-out / termination of studies, and a survey on change of study program

The results of the surveys are analyzed as part of the study program evaluation. The results of the analysis are included in the study program reports and, if necessary, are used to define measures for further developing the study program.

Information according to Art. 13 DS-GVO on the occasion of data collection for the survey of graduates of the examination year 2019/20 of the University of Stuttgart

Reference to persons

For the invitation to the survey, we use the names and address data available at the university. This data is not stored in connection with your responses. For sending the reminder letters, it is important to know whether you participated in the survey. Therefore, the questionnaire contains a personal ID code. After your participation, this ID code is automatically deleted by the evaluation system and is not included in the data set.

The survey itself does not collect any data that directly identifies the participants (e.g. name, matriculation number). However, data is collected that the university could use to uniquely identify a person in certain cases. For example, by combining course of study, age, gender, and/or other information in the questionnaire. Such identification is neither intended nor required for purposes of the survey. Accordingly, the persons involved in evaluating the survey do not have access to the student administration system. However, due to legal requirements, we must inform you that for the University of Stuttgart, a personal reference may exist in special constellations.

For these cases, you will receive the information below. Please note that the rights mentioned under "Your rights" actually only apply if the person or the response data set can be clearly identified.

Responsible in the sense of data protection law

Universität Stuttgart
Keplerstr. 7
70174 Stuttgart
Tel.: +49 (0)711/685-0
Mail

Data Protection Officer

Universität Stuttgart
Datenschutzbeauftragter
Breitscheidstr. 2
70174 Stuttgart
Tel.: +49 (0)711/685-83687
Mail

Categories of data processed

For the invitation to the survey, we use the names and address data available at the university, which the university is permitted to store and use on the basis of Section 5 (4) of the Landeshochschulgesetz, insofar and as long as this is necessary for surveys as part of quality management and you do not object. If you wish to object, please contact the person listed below under "Your rights".

Since the addresses of graduates stored at the university are not always up-to-date approximately one year after graduation. The addresses are updated, if necessary, as part of a search with the help of the residents' registration offices for the letter with the invitation to the survey. The update only takes place in the data stock of the Quality Development Office; the address stored in the student administration system remains unchanged. In addition to the data obviously collected for you in the questionnaire, the time of completion is recorded when you fill out the online questionnaire.

Purpose of data processing and consequences of failure to provide personal data

According to § 5 of the Landeshochschulgesetz, the University of Stuttgart is obliged to carry out regular self-evaluations in order to ensure high quality and evaluation as well as fulfillment of the university's tasks. According to the "Evaluation Regulations for Teaching, Studies and Continuing Education as well as these Supporting Services of the University of Stuttgart", surveys of graduates are also planned. Their participation is voluntary, non-participation has no consequences.

Legal basis

The legal basis for the processing of contact data for the invitation to the survey is Art. 6 para. 1 lit. e in conjunction with Art. 6 para. 3 Data Protection Regulation (DS-GVO) in conjunction with § 5 para. 4 Landeshochschulgesetz. In case of your participation, the legal basis for the data processing of the data collected during the survey is your consent (Art. 6 para. 1 lit. a DS-GVO).

Recipients
  • The Quality Development Office is responsible for the survey and evaluation and uses the collected data to create reports for quality assurance and development in teaching and learning. The evaluation of the survey results is carried out in aggregated form and from a statistical point of view. The publication of the results takes place only in anonymous form.
  • Records must be offered to the University Archives in accordance with archival regulations before they are deleted. The latter decides on the takeover of documents.
Duration of data storage

The names and address data are used exclusively for sending the cover letter with the invitation to the survey and up to two reminders. After that, the data will be deleted immediately by the Quality Development Office (approximately 8 weeks after the first letter). The storage of the data in the student administration system is independent of this.

The Quality Development Office retains the collected data, in particular the questionnaires stored in electronic form, as well as the evaluation itself for a maximum of up to six years. The deletion takes place at the latest at this time.

If necessary, the records are taken over by the responsible university archive and are usually kept there indefinitely.

Your rights
  • You have the right to obtain information from the University of Stuttgart about the data stored about you and/or to have incorrectly stored data corrected.
  • You also have the right to request deletion or restriction of processing or the right to object to processing.
  • You also have the right to obtain the personal data concerning you that you have provided to the University in a structured, commonly used and machine-readable format and to have this data transferred directly to another controller, provided that this is technically feasible and does not affect the rights and freedoms of other persons.
  • In addition, you have the right to revoke your consent at any time, whereby the lawfulness of the processing carried out on the basis of the consent up to the revocation is not affected.

In each case, please contact Janina Gresser, Quality Development Office of the University of Stuttgart (Tel.: 0711/685-84193, mail) or the above-mentioned data protection officer.

  • You have the right to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority if you believe that the processing of personal data concerning you is in breach of the law.

The supervisory authority in Baden-Württemberg is the State Commissioner for Data Protection and Freedom of Information Baden-Württemberg. (Stuttgart, 30.11.2021)

Information in accordance with Art. 13 DS-GVO relating to data collection for the student survey 2022 from the Quality Development Office at the University of Stuttgart.

Personal identification

For the survey invitation, we use the names and addresses available at the university. This data is not stored in connection with your responses. When sending reminder letters, it is important to know whether you participated in the survey. For this reason, the questionnaire contains a personal ID code. After you have participated in the survey, this ID code will be automatically deleted by the evaluation system and is not included in the data set.

The survey itself does not collect data that directly identifies the respondents (e.g. name, student ID number). However, data is collected that would make it possible for the university to identify a person in certain cases. For example, the combination of study program, age, gender, and/or other information in the survey. Such personal identification is neither intended nor required for the purposes of the survey. Accordingly, the persons involved in evaluating the survey do not have access to the student administration system. However, due to legal requirements, we must inform you that in certain cases it would be possible for the University of Stuttgart to identify you personally as a result of certain constellations of answers.

The information below relates to such cases. Please note that the rights specified under "Your rights" only apply if the person or the answer data set can be clearly identified.

Responsible in the sense of data protection law

University of Stuttgart
Keplerstr. 7
70174 Stuttgart
Tel.: +49 (0)711/685-0
Email

Data protection officer

University of Stuttgart
Data protection officer
Breitscheidstr. 2
70174 Stuttgart
Tel.: +49 (0)711/685-83687
Email

Categories of processed data

For the invitation to the survey, we use the names and address data available at the university, which the university is permitted to store and use in accordance with § 5 paragraph 2 of the Landeshochschulgesetz, insofar and as long as this is necessary for surveys that are part of quality management and as long as you do not object to this. If you wish to object, please contact the person listed below under "Your rights".

Because the addresses of students stored at the university are not always up to date, the addresses will be updated, if necessary, as part of research undertaken with the help of the residents' registration offices. These will be used for the letter accompanying the survey invitation. Such updates to personal information are only recorded in the Quality Development Office's database; the address stored in the student administration system remains unchanged.

In addition to the data visibly collected in the questionnaire, the time of completion is also recorded when you fill out the online survey.

Purpose of data processing and consequences of failure to provide personal data

In accordance with § 5 of the Landeshochschulgesetz, the University of Stuttgart is obliged to carry out regular self-evaluations in order to ensure high quality and assessment, and to ensure that the university is fulfilling its obligations. In accordance with the "Evaluation regulations for teaching, university studies and continuing education, as well as services supporting these at the University of Stuttgart", student surveys about your studies to date, or certain sections of your study program are also planned. Participation is voluntary and there will be no negative consequences should you choose not to participate.

Legal information

The legal basis for the processing of contact data for the invitation to the survey is Art. 6 para. 1 lit. e in conjunction with Art. 6 para. 3 Data Protection Regulation (DS-GVO), in conjunction with § 5 para. 2 of the Landeshochschulgesetz. If you choose to participate, the legal basis for processing the data collected during the survey is your consent (Art. 6 para. 1 lit. a DS-GVO).

Recipients
  • The Quality Development Office is responsible for the survey and evaluation and uses the collected data to create reports for quality assurance and development in teaching and learning. The evaluation of the survey results is carried out in aggregated form and is conducted under consideration of statistical aspects. The publication of the results takes place only in anonymous form.
  • Before they are deleted, the documents must be offered to the University Archives in accordance with archival regulations before they are deleted. The latter decides whether to retain the documents.
Duration of data storage

Names and addresses are used exclusively for sending the cover letter with the invitation to complete the survey and a maximum of two reminders. Once this process has been completed, the data will be deleted immediately by the Quality Development Office (approximately 8 weeks after the first letter). The storage of the data in the student administration system is independent of this.

The Quality Development Office retains the collected data, in particular the questionnaires stored in electronic form, as well as the evaluation itself for a maximum of up to six years. The data will be deleted at this time at the latest. If necessary, the documents are retained by the responsible university archive and are usually kept there indefinitely.

Your rights
  • You have the right to obtain information from the University of Stuttgart about the data stored about you and/or to have incorrectly stored data corrected.
  • You also have the right to request that your data be deleted, or that processing is restricted, and you have the right to object to processing.
  • Furthermore, you have the right to receive your own personal data, which you have provided to the university, in a structured, commonly used and machine-readable format, and to have this data transferred directly to another responsible party, provided that this is technically feasible and does not affect the rights and freedoms of other persons.
  • You also have the right to revoke your consent at any time, whereby the legitimacy of the processing carried out on the basis of the consent up to the revocation is not affected.

Please contact Carina Schwaderer, Quality Development Office at the University of Stuttgart (Tel.: + 49 711 685-81033, email) or the abovementioned Data Protection Officer.

  • You have the right to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority if you believe that the processing of your personal data is in breach of the law.

The supervisory authority in Baden-Württemberg is the State Commissioner for Data Protection and Freedom of Information Baden-Württemberg. (Stuttgart, 30.11.2021)

 

Review of the study program

Particularly with regard to the successful system accreditation of the University of Stuttgart, the participation of the students in quality issues is coming into focus. Students need to actively take responsibility for the quality of teaching in their study program, so that an adequate quality improvement can be achieved.

Against this background, the most important body is, besides the committee for student affairs and teaching, the review commission, which includes some of the members of the Senate Committee for Teaching and Lifelong Learning.

Each study program must undergo a study program review [de] every six to eight years. The review commission of the University of Stuttgart makes a final assessment. Before the assessment, all documents relevant to the study program are examined. In the commission meetings, great importance is placed on the feedback from the students about the “studyability” of the study programs, which is regularly reflected in the evaluations of the commission. In addition, the student council to which the study program to be reviewed is assigned sends a student representative to the review commission as a voting member.

 

Quality Development

Geschwister-Scholl-Str. 24D, 70174 Stuttgart

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