SLU news
SLU’s teaching staff and their work rank highly among international students
Published: 18 March 2024
The International Student Barometer (ISB) surveys approximately 120 000 students around the world. The latest results see the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU) ranking first for teaching quality and teaching staff among all the Swedish universities surveyed. SLU’s campus environments have been awarded top grades among the participating universities worldwide.
The survey ran during the autumn of 2023 and responses were collected from over 120 000 international students from 137 universities worldwide, making it the largest survey of its kind. Ten Swedish universities participated.
SLU came first place in Sweden in several categories after international students were asked to give their opinions on matters relating to teaching. SLU was number one within the following categories: good teachers, communication with tutors, quality of lectures, and best laboratories. SLU’s distance teaching ranked consistently highly and our online lectures took first place in both Sweden and Europe.
Deputy Vice-Chancellor Pär Forslund says, ‘We are delighted that our international students are so satisfied with their studies. The results are a good indication of student experiences at SLU in a global context, and it is especially rewarding that our teaching quality has ranked so highly. Most of all, these surveys provide us with valuable information about how we need to run our teaching.’
Top grades for SLU’s campuses
SLU ranked highly in categories linked to our campuses. SLU came first both in Sweden and globally in the campus environment category. International students also awarded high grades to campus buildings, security and the university’s eco-friendly attitude.
Pär Forslund continues, ‘I think the key to good results is incredible dedication from teaching staff, operational support and student unions.’
Almost half of SLU’s international students responded to the survey. SLU had a response rate of 46.7 per cent (218 respondents), which is relatively high for longer surveys.
‘This commitment demonstrates our international students’ willingness to share their experiences, and we will use these results as part of our continuing improvement efforts,’ Pär Forslund concludes.
Example of the top categories for SLU:
- Good teachers: #1 in Sweden, #2 in Europe
- Quality of lectures: #1 in Sweden, #3 in Europe
- Communicating with tutors: #1 in Sweden, #2 in Europe, #4 worldwide
- Laboratories: #1 in Sweden, #2 in Europe, #3 worldwide
- Online lectures: #1 in Sweden, #1 in Europe
- Campus Environment: #1 in Sweden, #1 in Europe #1 worldwide
- Making friends from this country: #1 in Sweden, #3 in Europe
The following Swedish universities participated in the ISB:
- Umeå University
- Linnaeus University
- The University of Gothenburg
- Chalmers University of Technology
- Karolinska Institutet
- Uppsala University
- Lund University
- Jönköping University
- Stockholm University
- The Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
About the ISB
The International Student Barometer 2023, Wave 2 was created and organised by the International Graduate Insight Group (I-Graduate), an independent benchmarking and research service. A total of 121 418 students from around the world participated. Responses came from exchange students and international degree programme students, both fee and non-fee paying.