Higher Education Quality Evaluation Centre of Latvia
ASSESSMENT OF STUDY PROGRAMMES
ACADEMIC STUDY PROGRAMME
COMPUTER CONTROL AND COMPUTER SCIENCE
AND
PROFESSIONAL STUDY PROGRAMME
PROGRAMMING
AT
FACULTY OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY,
LATVIA UNIVERSITY OF AGRICULTURE
25-26 FEBRUARY, 2002
Final report
ACCREDITATION COMMITTEE
Professor em. Janis Bubenko jr.
Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm
Professor Jüri Kiho
University of Tartu
Professor Janis Grundspenkis
RTU, Riga
1
OVERVIEW
The accreditation commission visited Latvia University of Agriculture and Faculty of
Information Technology (FIT) during 25th and 26th February 2002. The Evaluation
Commission was well received by the members of the Faculty. The visit was
professionally arranged, and the commission had possibility to get acquainted with
faculty, staff, students, employers, and teaching facilities.
The commission met all leading staff of the Faculty, including those responsible for
the programs. It also conducted interviews with younger staff members, a group of
students (about 50 students, about 25 undergraduate students and about 25 students of
the professional program), and a group of potential employers (13) of future
graduates of the programs. The commission also attended lectures and laboratory
exercises. Also a short trip to the Faculty of Engineering, the Sports Centre, and the
students’ hostel was made. The commission had a full access to all supplementary
materials of the study programmes, as well as to publications of the teaching staff. A
quick tour to the Fundamental Library and the Museum was made.
At the end, the accreditation commission conducted an informal meeting with
members and students of the Faculty and highlighted some of the strengths and
weaknesses of the programs under review.
In our opinion, the outcome was a positive and constructive experience for the
University. The high quality (correctness and completeness) of presented selfevaluation reports as well as all other supplementary material should be specially
noted.
This is the final report of the commission. It is structured as follows.
First we present some positive impressions of the FIT and the study programmes.
Next we give some suggestions for improvement including critical remarks. Finally
we present our suggestion concerning accreditation of the two programmes.
POSITIVE REMARKS
The Faculty has put good effort in developing both programs and it performs their
execution carefully. Proper attention is also paid to develop and/or adapt modern
teaching/learning methods.
The Faculty members demonstrate a high degree of professionalism and the programs
they teach in are comparable to other classical universities within Europe.
The commission found the structure of the study programmes satisfactory. The
inclusion of 20 CP practical training in the professional programme is adequate, but
more attention should be paid to quality and organisational aspects of practical work
training.
The faculty staff is relatively young, the average age of informatics teachers is 35.
The selection of students seems good: 1 out of 6 is accepted. The proportion of Ph.D.
graduated teachers is acceptable: 12 out of 50.
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Facilities in terms of rooms and computing and networking equipment meet the
requirements of the study programmes.
Potential future employers are enthusiastic about the programmes and very much
interested in employing students for practical training, as well as for future work.
It seems the faculty has also realised the need for individual development of faculty
staff and is in the process of developing concrete plans for this. Defence of 6 Ph.D.
thesis is expected within 2 years.
The students are extremely enthusiastic about the programme so far, including the
selection of course topics within the programmes.
Other positive factors, contributomg to the success of the programme and its output,
are the Zemgale Development Agency promoting IT entrepreneurship in the region,
as well as strong interest from companies such as Dati, Lattelekom, and Latvenergo to
establish the regional activities in Jelgava.
SUGGESTIONS FOR IMPROVEMENT
Our greatest concern is the foci of both programmes. The commission recognises that
the goals and tasks of the programmes are stated differently, i.e they have different
foci. Nevertheless the curricula do not reflect these differences properly. Also, the
way of teaching topics of both programmes must differ and the need for practical
training in the professional programme must be emphasised.
More attention must be paid to the students’ individual work, especially within the
academic programme. It could be achieved by increasing the number of term papers.
The commission is also concerned about the amount of research performed by the
faculty staff in core topics of computer science and in applying computer science to
problems in agriculture and regional planning and development. Effort should be
directed for improving this situation.
The long-term goals and interests of the programs could be more clearly reflected.
The possible sub-goal of the academic program – to prepare students for master
studies, is not explicitly mentioned. The Faculty does not yet appear to have a clear
plan for developing a master program in Computer Science. Lack of such a plan may
have a negative influence for further development and growth of the academic
program.
Students, as well as employers have both pointed out the need to increase possibilities
for foreign language studies. This should be considered and possibly implemented as
optional courses. A certain lack of applied courses with high-tech topics can also be
noted, e.g. distributed systems, parallel and mobile computing, ERP systems, CSCW,
etc.
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SUGGESTIONS FOR ACCREDITATION
Despite some critical points, the general feeling of the commission is positive. We are confident the
Faculty of Informatics of the Latvia University of Agriculture has a good potential to successfully
develop and adopt both programmes to future needs. Our recommendation therefore is:
Academic study programme COMPUTER CONTROL AND COMPUTER SCIENCE - accreditation
for 6 years.
Professional study programme PROGRAMMING – accreditation for 6 years.
15-03-2002
Janis Bubenko jr.
Jüri Kiho
Janis Grundspenkis
INDIVIDUAL REPORT ABOUT ACCREDITATION OF
ACADEMIC STUDY PROGRAMME
"COMPUTER CONTROL AND COMPUTER SCIENCE"
AND
PROFESSIONAL STUDY PROGRAMME
"PROGRAMMING"
OF
FACULTY OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
AT LATVIA UNIVERSITY OF AGRICULTURE
I visited the Faculty of Information Technology (FIT) of the Latvian University of
Agriculture on 25th and 26th February 2002. During my visit I had the possibility to
get acquainted with faculty, staff, students, employers, and teaching facilities, as well
as with the Faculty of Engineering, the Sports Centre, and the students’ hostel.
Discussions with students, potential employers and teaching staff were carried out.
All necessary supplementary materials of the study programmes, as well as
publications of the teaching staff were available.
General impression from the visit is consistently good. The staff is relatively young.
The average age of informatics teachers is around 35 years. There are 12 Ph.D.
graduated teachers (out of 50) that is rather good number for the regional university.
Defence of six Ph.D. theses is expected in next two years. The facilities (rooms,
auditoriums, computing and networking equipment) meet the requirements of the
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study programmes. The students are satisfied with contents and teaching of both
programmes so far. The potential employers are enthusiastic about the programmes.
They are ready to employ students for practical training, as well as for future work.
Very positive factor is that the Zemgale Development Agency is promoting IT
entrepreneurship in the region. Latvian biggest companies such as Dati, Lattelekom,
and Latvenergo have plans to establish the regional activities in Jelgava.
I found the structure of both programmes satisfactory. Curricula satisfy requirements
for the standardised part of bachelor's study programmes in Latvia. At the same time
the foci of both programmes are very similar despite of the fact that the goals and
tasks of the programmes are stated differently.
Other critical remarks are the following:
 The great part of compulsory courses overlaps, for instance, both programmes
include computer architecture, programming, application software, WWW
technology, database technologies, operating systems, administration of computer
networks, etc. that have the same volume and the same control forms. Moreover,
it turns out that the way of teaching these subjects is the same. The suggestion is
to emphasise practical training in the professional programme that may be
achieved by following the practice of RTU where the ratio of lectures and labs is
2:1 in academic studies, and 1:1 in professional studies.
 More attention must be paid to the students’ individual work, especially within the
academic programme. The current number of, so called, study works (term
papers) is extremely small. Only three term papers are planned during four years
of studies while in the similar study programme of RTU there are thirteen during
three years.
 At the present moment there are only first and second year students in both
programmes. It is impossible to evaluate the quality of graduates and have any
feedback from industry. It seems also that the administration has not clear
perspectives for the future development that concerns the possibilities for
graduates to continue their education. There are no plans for master and doctoral
studies.
 Very few research activities are directed towards informatics and its applications
in industry. This situation must be improved in the nearest future.
I agree with other critical remarks and suggestions listed in the final report of
accreditation commission.
I suggest six years accreditation for the academic study programme COMPUTER
CONTROL AND COMPUTER SCIENCE.
I suggest six years accreditation for the professional study programme PROGRAMMING.
Member of the accreditation commission,
Professor Janis Grundspenkis
09-03-2002
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Higher Education Quality Evaluation Centre of Latvia
Evaluation Commission member’s
Individual Report
Latvia University of Agriculture
Programs Assessed
Academic Study Program COMPUTER CONTROL AND COMPUTER
SCIENCE
Professional Study Program PROGRAMMING
Visit Date
25-26 February 2002
Evaluation Comission member
Jüri Kiho
Institute of Computer Science
University of Tartu, Estonia
6
Part I
General Overview
The Higher Education Quality Evaluation Center of Latvia has invited three
university experts from Latvia, Sweden, and Estonia to review and make accreditation
recommendations for two computer-related programs at the Latvia University of
Agriculture (hereinafter called “University”). The programs include Computer
Control and Computer Science at the bachelor level, and a professional program
Programming. The Faculty of Information Technology (hereinafter called “Faculty”)
directs the two programs.
The Evaluation Commission visited the University Monday and Tuesday, 25-26
February 2002. The expert team met with all leading staff of the Faculty, including
those responsible for the programs. It also conducted interviews with a younger staff
members, a group of students (about 50 students, about 25 undergraduate students and
about 25 students of the professional program), a group of potential employers (13)
the programs graduates. It visited almost all computer laboratories where students of
the Faculty could work with computers. The commission also attended a lecture and
some laboratory exercises. It had a look at the local collection of volumes and
periodicals within the Faculty and the Library. Also a short trip to the Faculty of
Engineering, the Sports Centre, and the students’ hostel was made. The Evaluation
Commission met with the University administration during an introductory meeting.
At the conclusion of the visit, the Evaluation Commission conducted an informal
meeting with the members and students of the Faculty and highlighted some of the
strengths and weaknesses of the programs under review.
The Evaluation Commission was well received by the members of Faculty, and, in my
opinion, the outcome was a positive and constructive experience for the University.
The high quality (correctness and completeness) of presented self-evaluation reports
as well as all other supplementary material should be specially noted. (Though, the
programs’ code numbers were not provided.)
What follows are my findings (Part II), general conclusions (Part III) and the
accreditation recommendations (Part IV).
Part II
Findings
The following are the findings of mine as a member of the Evaluation Commission.
The self-evaluation reports submitted by the Faculty, the observations made at the
time of the visit, and the supplementary material received during the visit form the
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basis of these findings. I have integrated my observations for the two programs in
these findings.
2.1. Structure and Management of Education Policy
The Faculty has developed well both programs and performs their execution carefully.
Proper attention is paid to develop and/or adapt modern teaching/learning methods.
The average age (35) of informatics teachers involved in this program is not high.
It seems that the Faculty has also realized the need for the individual development of
faculty staff and is in the process of developing plans for this. Defence of 6 Ph.D.
thesis is expected within 2 years. However, it is a concern that very little amount of
research is performed by the faculty staff in core topics of computer science. Effort
should be directed for improving this situation. Without continuing excellence in CSrelated research the quality of the graduating students will diminish and will produce
long-time harmful effects.
The collaboration between units of the Faculty, and also between Faculty and the
other faculties appears functioning well. There does not seem to exist an explicit
supervisory system to monitor of staff, except for the responsibility of the professors.
2.2. Students
The admission procedure is complete, adequate, well-organized. Students’
educational level at admission corresponds to requirements. The competition is rather
high – 6:1; admission quota needs to be increased in future, to better meet labor
market conditions. The outcome can not be evaluated since the programs just started
(the academic one in 1999, the professional one in 2001).
The students are extremely enthusiastic about program so far, including the selection
of course topics within the programs.
Since the programs are comparable to other universities, they provide a good basis for
student mobility. But students and staff could more actively consider the existing
possibilities about the in-Latvia and international student exchange.
2.3. Educational Study Program (Curriculum)
The Faculty offers quality programs that reflect the tenets of programs within a
classical university. The Faculty members demonstrate a high quality of
professionalism and the programs they teach in are fundamentally comparable to
other classical universities within Europe. There appears to be a proper proportion of
lecture and individual learning within the programs.
The programs and courses are nicely and systematically designed. It appears that the
program designers have properly understood the academic goals of the programs, and
these (implicit) goals reflect the requirements for graduation. It does appear, that goals
and aims are properly formulated. Perhaps, the long-term interests of the programs
could be more clearly reflected. As expected, the goals and tasks of the programs are
stated differently, nevertheless the curricula do not reflect these differences properly.
8
Also, the way of teaching both programs must differ and the need for practical
training in the professional program must be emphasized.
The evident sub-goal of the academic program – to prepare graduate (master)
students, is not mentioned. In general, the Faculty appears not to have a clear plan for
developing a strong master program in Computer Science. No doubt, such deficiency
may have negative influence for further development and growth of the academic
program.
The basis of the programs is on an entirety of education and does enable students to
obtain a level of general, specialized and professional education. Certain lack of
applied courses with high-tech topics can be pointed out (e.g. distributed systems,
parallel and mobile computing).
The educational programs very much involve problem-solving tasks and creativity at
all levels.
The inclusion of 20 CP practical training in the professional program is adequate, but
the attention should be paid to quality and organizational aspect (unfortunately, the
latter is not planned yet).
Students, as well as employers have both pointed out the need to increase possibilities
for foreign language studies. This could be implemented as optional courses.
The foreseen graduating procedures are clear, they guarantee objective evaluation,
and they correspond to program inherent goals.
2.4. The Educational (Teaching) Process
Teaching is of high quality, though the methods used are mainly standard. Computers
are used extensively. An academic calendar forms the basis of the educational
experience. Student assessment is fair and flexible examination procedures exist.
However, it is not clear how the Faculty uses results of student assessment to analyze
and monitor the programs.
No local, Faculty-wide system seems not exist whereby students themselves could
effectively influence the quality assurance of the educational process.
2.5. Organization of Studies and Resources
The studies appear well organized to rational use of the students’ time. Student
counseling takes place and information about courses is available without difficulty.
The Faculty monitors and improves the organization of study when necessary.
However, I am not aware of any systematic use of student load, student grade and
failures to improve the organization of courses.
2.6. Feedback and Quality Assurance
The subject area is rapidly evolving and it is important that the Faculty monitors its
activities so it can respond to a changing intellectual, commercial, and cultural
9
environment. The Faculty receives information about the possible working career of
its graduates, information regarding employers’ assessment of the programs – the
level, knowledge, and skills taught within the Faculty.
Other positive factors are the Zemgale Development Agency promoting IT
entrepreneurship in the region, as well as strong interest from companies such as Dati,
Lattelekom, and Latvenergo to establish the regional activities in Jelgava.
Part III
General conclusions
Goals and aims of the study programs:
Complete and adequate and properly formulated.
Long-term interests of the programs – not reflected.
Structure and division of the study programs:
General layout – good.
Too small differences between the academic and professional study programs –
concern.
The educational process and assessment:
High quality.
Teaching methods used – standard.
Modern teaching methods – satisfactory.
Computers use – extensive.
Student assessment – fair.
Examination procedure – flexible.
Resources, management of education and resources:
Resources – satisfactory.
Studies – well organized.
Student counseling – sufficient.
Systematic use of student loads, grades and failures – concern.
Explicit development plan – missing.
Collaboration between units – good.
Monitoring students’ performance – exists.
Research, involvement of students in the research:
Research focus – concern.
Involvement of students – average.
Quality assurance, feedback:
Quality assurance system – deficiency.
Feedback from employers – good.
Feedback from students – exists.
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Strong points:
Programs’ general design and courses’ design.
Organization of study provision.
Weak points:
Focus of research work.
Quality assurance system.
Opportunities:
Rapidly switch focus of the research work (from rural development problems to
computer science).
Develop long-term plans for programs, including academic master program.
Threats:
Possible difficulties to switch focus of the research work (from rural development
problems to computer science).
Little motivation and perspective for bachelors to enter master studies.
Notwithstanding the lacks, concerns and deficiencies mentioned above, it is highly
likely that the Faculty together with the University administration can correct these
problems, most of them in a short time period.
Part IV
Accreditation recommendations
Accreditation Recommendation for the Academic Study Program
COMPUTER CONTROL AND COMPUTER SCIENCE :
accreditation for 6 years
Accreditation Recommendation for the Professional Study Program
PROGRAMMING :
accreditation for 6 years
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INDIVIDUAL ACCREDITATION REPORT ABOUT
ACADEMIC STUDY PROGRAMME
"COMPUTER CONTROL AND COMPUTER SCIENCE"
AND
PROFESSIONAL STUDY PROGRAMME
"PROGRAMMING"
OF
FACULTY OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
AT LATVIA UNIVERSITY OF AGRICULTURE IN JELGAVA
By
Janis Bubenko jr
Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden.
I visited Latvia University of Agriculture and Faculty of Information Technology
(FIT) during 25th and 26th February 2002 together with other members of the
Evaluation Commission. The Evaluation Commission was well received by the
members of the Faculty. The visit was professionally arranged, and the commission
had possibility to get acquainted with faculty, staff, students, employers, and teaching
facilities.
The commission met all leading staff of the Faculty, including those responsible for
the programs. It also conducted interviews with younger staff members, a group of
students (about 50 students, about 25 undergraduate students and about 25 students of
the professional program), and a group of potential employers (13) of future
graduates of the programs. The commission also attended lectures and laboratory
exercises. Also a short trip to the Faculty of Engineering, the Sports Centre, and the
students’ hostel was made. The commission had a full access to all supplementary
materials of the study programmes, as well as to publications of the teaching staff. A
quick tour to the Fundamental Library and the Museum was made.
At the end, the accreditation commission conducted an informal meeting with
members and students of the Faculty and highlighted some of the strengths and
weaknesses of the programs under review.
In our opinion, the outcome was a positive and constructive experience for the
University. The high quality (correctness and completeness) of presented selfevaluation reports as well as all other supplementary material should be specially
noted.
12
In our joint report, the Evaluation Commission lists a number of positive observations as well as a
number of issues which could, and should be improved. I fully agree with these observations of our
final joint report.
My conclusion is, also in accordance with the joint report, the following recommendations:
Academic study programme COMPUTER CONTROL AND COMPUTER SCIENCE - accreditation
for 6 years.
Professional study programme PROGRAMMING – accreditation for 6 years.
15-03-2002
Janis Bubenko jr.
Professor
13