University Teaching Qualification

Risbo offers the University Teaching Qualification (UTQ) to lecturers in higher education. Our team of professional educational coaches organises this trajectory several times a year. During the trajectory they take you on a journey where you will reflect on your vision on education en your own teaching skills, inluding designing education and assessments. Once you acquire the UTQ, you have officially qualified as an academic teacher, which is formally recognized by all Dutch universities.

Target group

The UTQ is mandatory for most teachers connected to a Dutch University. During our trajectory you will work on the (re)design of a course. You need to be involved in teaching and/or (co)coordinating this course. 

Risbo organises this qualification trajectory on a large scale for lecturers at Erasmus University Rotterdam, but also organises tailor made UTQ trajectories for other higher education institutions such as the Police Academy and Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences. 

Objectives

• Identify students’ needs in their learning process.
• (Re)design a course according to the principles of constructive alignment.
• (Re)design a course that optimizes student motivation and learning.
• Construct assessment(s), aligned with your learning objectives and for optimal utility.
• Construct a grading model for your assessment for optimal utility. 
• Outline grading procedures for your assessments in your course.
• Deliver your content in a way that enhances students’ learning.  
• Demonstrate your flexibility and adaptability in your teaching practice.
• Use feedback as an effective strategy to enhance student learning.
• Identify students’ needs in their learning process.
• Empower your students by providing constructive feedback and structure. 
• Stimulate sustainable growth to improve their learning process.
   

Content and form

The UTQ consists of five sessions of 3 hours each, which take place every two weeks:

1. Foundations of university teaching
2. Design of education
3. Assessment in education
4. Delivery of education
5. MicroLab of choice: How to supervise (thesis)students / How to optimize individual feedback & grading processes.

The UTQ has a blended set up, which means that each session starts with an online preparation in our learning environment. During the sessions you will dive deeper into the materials you have prepared. This gives us the opportunity to deepen your knowledge on the content and strengthen your skills with engaging activities in the session.

Throughout the whole trajectory, you will work on improving and building your own teaching portfolio. For example, we ask you to critically evaluate the assessments of your course. Lesson observation is an important part of the UTQ. During the trajectory you will 1) observe a lecture of a colleague, 2) be observed by a colleague and 3) be observed by a Risbo coach.

The UTQ trajectory finishes with a graduation session where you will reflect on your progress, on the critical behaviors during the UTQ, and how you would like to further develop as a teacher.

Time investment

Following the UTQ trajectory requires about 60 hours. When registering for the UTQ, we would advise you to reserve 4-6 hours per week, so you can do the preparation work and keep up with writing the portfolio in addition to following the sessions.

• Preparatory work: 15 hours (3h per session)
• Training sessions: 15 hours (3h per session)
• Lesson observations: 12 hours (4h per observation, including discussing feedback)
• Assignments: 12 hours (6h per assignment)
• Graduation: 4 hours (including preparation)
• Coaching (optional): 2 hours.

Have a close look at the UTQ learner journey, a visual overview of the UTQ trajectory.

Costs

Participation in the UTQ program is typically funded by your employer. However, most institutions have specific conditions that must be met before approving this trajectory. To ensure a smooth registration process, we recommend contacting your (faculty) management beforehand. If you have any questions about the costs associated with the UTQ trajectory, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us.

Registration

To register for the UTQ, please go to BKO - Informatie (eur.nl) and follow the therementioned steps to register. 

Exemption

It is possible to apply for (partial) exemption of the UTQ trajectory. Read more about this on the page about the Institutional UTQ-committee (to be translated).