Dutch universities have taken an important step towards further strengthening the quality and cooperation within university education with the mutual recognition of the Senior University Teaching Qualification (SUTQ). This development builds on the successful national recognition of the University Teaching Qualification (UTQ), which has contributed to further teacher professionalisation in higher education since 2008.
The SUTQ focuses on experienced teachers who play a leading role in educational improvement and innovation at curriculum and program level. With the mutual recognition now established, senior lecturers who obtain the qualification at one university do not have to take it again at other institutions. This strengthens the mobility of education professionals and the exchange of expertise between universities.
Moreover, by comparing the SUTQ with each other and calibrating them nationally, a common language is created for further teacher professionalisation, which contributes to a shared quality culture within the university education field. This fits in well with the broader Recognition and Rewards programme, which focuses on career development, professional growth and recognising various contributions from education professionals.
The universities have jointly drawn up a framework and a statement stating what an SUTQ must meet. For this purpose, they have all the SUTQ and on that basis determined which requirements an SUTQ must meet. Within this framework, there is sufficient room for universities to give their own interpretation to the SUTQ. In this way, diversity is maintained and quality is guaranteed. Universities that do not yet have an SUTQ or are developing it will be able to join the framework in the future, which will also ensure that their qualification is recognised in the future.
The Mutual Recognition Declaration and its framework can be found here (NL). The statement and the frameworks will be evaluated after about two years and supplemented or adjusted where necessary.
