Summary Study environments at Lund University ... - Lunds universitet

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Findings and conclusionsThe highest study demands come from the students themselves. This is how themajority of the students in this investigation of the study environment describe theirstudies at Lund University. In second place the demands from the labour market areemphasized and only in third place the requirements of the education as they arecommunicated by teachers and supervisors. The investigation gives the picture ofthe existentially lonely student with high demands on him-/herself. A far-reachingindividualism often characterizes how students and university staff explain whysome students show signs of stress; they were overambitious and achievementorientedalready before they began their university studies. Thus problematizationoccurs primarily at the individual level. This investigation shows, however, thatthere are also reasons to look for explanations within the study environment of thevarious faculties of the university.4The students’ assessments of their study environment vary considerably amongstudy programmes. The study programme in Law has the highest proportion ofstudents experiencing a stressful study situation. High demands from the labourmarket of lawyers in combination with weak support from teachers and supervisorsare probably the primary reasons. An interesting comparison is provided by thedescriptions of the study situation at Malmö Academies of Performing Arts. Withinthe programmes of Art, Music and Theatre the study requirements are perceived asat least equally high, but there is a considerably smaller share of the studentsexperiencing the education as stressful. These programmes are characterized by thestrong support the students receive in class.Fairly high levels of psychological demands are also characteristic for the studysituation at Lund Institute of Technology (LTH), but the proportion of studentssuffering from stress are considerably fewer than within the study programme inLaw. An exception is the programme oriented towards Industrial Economics. As forthe rest of the engineering study programmes strain is compensated by a strongsupport among fellow students, at least for the majority of male students. Womenstudents report higher levels of study demands and higher strain. Within the studyprogrammes of Medicine and Care students also report high levels of demand,particularly within the programmes in Physiotherapy, Speech Pathology andTherapy as well as Medicine. For the majority within this area, as within LTH, ahigh level of support among fellow students is as a rule conducive towardsreducing levels of strain.Within the programmes at the Faculty of Science as well as at Lund UniversitySchool of Economics and Management (LUSEM) students as a rule assess thestudy demands as moderately high. A higher level of decision latitude is characteristicfor students in Natural Sciences. The Natural Science students also report thatthere is a well-functioning support among fellow students. All in all this probablycounteracts strain. Within the programmes at LUSEM the students’ experiences aredifferent. Above all female students experience the study situation as stressful.Students at LUSEM, just as the Law students, perceive above all the support fromteaching but also that among fellow students as weaker than students within otherprogrammes do.Within programmes in the Social Sciences, Humanities and Theology most studentsreport somewhat lower levels of demands and less strain in the study situation.Within the Social Science educations the students describe the study situation in the
programme of Master in Political Studies and in the subject of Media- and CommunicationStudies as slightly more stressful than do students in other SocialScience study programmes. The levels of stress are lower in Humanities andTheology. These educations are characterized by low levels of demands combinedwith fairly weak support from fellow students. An exception is female students inTheology who give the support among fellow students much higher marks thanmale students do. This support is an important buffer against strain. Most studentsin this investigation assess the possibilities for decision latitude as constrained andlimited. The information they have about the design and contents of the educationdoes not as a rule make it possible to make a time-oriented plan encompassing awhole semester. Another import aspect of control is the influence on the contents ofthe studies, which is perceived as constrained and limited. The students assess thesupport they receive during teaching as insufficient, for example in terms of feedbackduring the progress of the course and in connection with exams. In theStudentbarometer 2000 it was stated that it was problematic to take any measureswith regard to the students’ dissatisfaction with the response on study-achievements,since the university was in a situation of financial reductions. From afinancial perspective the situation is hardly less problematic today! The combinationof limited possibilities for decision latitude and support in teaching is howevera considerable risk-factor, according to the demand-control model for workenvironment analyses applied in this investigation. Despite this the majority ofstudents don’t experience their situation as particularly stressful. This is probablydue to the fact that they perceive the study demands as reasonable and that thesupport among fellow students is strong. Most students also give high marks to thetreatment they receive in class. According to the students’ judgments, the studentsin the Natural Science programmes and at the Malmö Academies of PerformingArts receive the best treatment. Within the Law programme and in some respectwithin LUSEM the treatment is given poorer marks. This may be connected withthat students in these educations assess both the support they receive in teachingand from fellow students as weaker than other students do.5An essential part of the investigation of study environments are issues related to theEqual Treatment of Students Act. The findings demonstrate that a fifth of the studentshave experienced being badly treated during their studies. The majority arewomen from academic backgrounds. They are a few years older than the average.The age-group 26-34 years has the highest proportion of students, who have beenbadly treated. They devote relatively more time to their studies and most of themhave achieved more than 80 credits (120 ECTS). Thus the students who havenegative experiences are as a rule women with high ambitions and with severalyears’ of experience in the university environment. Some students, more precisely6% of those participating in the investigation, have perceived the treatment as beingso bad that they have taken offence. This is equivalent to slightly more than 1000students in the population as a whole. The offending situations the studentsdescribe often indicate complex situations and relations in class. Only a smallnumber of cases have been judged as serious offences.Among the motives mentioned in the Equal Treatment of Students at UniversitiesAct gender is the most frequent reason for offensive actions. Most of the offendedstudents are female within traditionally male-dominated study programmes, forexample in the engineering area, but also in women dominated programmes asPsychology and Theology. Those who have experienced offence due to their ethnicbackground are somewhat overrepresented among students with a different ethnic
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Summary Study environments at Lund University ... - Lunds universitet

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