Integrated Plant Protection - Final Report
Integrated Plant Protection - Final Report
Integrated Plant Protection - Final Report
MASTER’S PROGRAMME ON
December 2018 1
Dirección de Evaluación y Acreditación
TABLE OF CONTENTS
December 2018 2
Dirección de Evaluación y Acreditación
INTEGRATED
PLANT English -
MASTER 120 2 years Full-time
PROTECTION Russian
Julián Cuevas González, Full Professor of University of Almeria; Vice-Rector for International
Relations of the University of Almeria.
Pablo J. García Murillo, Tenured Professor of Plant Biology and Ecology, Head of PLACCA
research group, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Seville.
Smirnov Aleksey Nikolaevich, Professor of the Department of Plant Protection of the Russian
State Agrarian University - MAAA named after K.A. Timiryazev.
Upadyshev, Mikhail Tarievich, Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences; Head of the
Department of Biotechnology and Plant Protection, Chief Researcher of the Federal State Budget
Scientific Institution "All-Russian Selection and Technology Institute of Horticulture and
Nursery".
December 2018 3
Dirección de Evaluación y Acreditación
December 2018 4
Dirección de Evaluación y Acreditación
after Patrice Lumumba - one of the symbols of the struggle for the independence of the peoples
of Africa. The Russian language classes at the preparatory faculty for foreign students began in
1960, and at the six basic faculties of the University (Engineering, History and Philology,
Medical, Agricultural, Physical, Mathematical and Natural Sciences, Economics and Law) - on
September 1, 1961. In 1964, the University became a member of the International Association of
Universities (IAU).
Nowadays, the structure of the RUDN comprises 5 main faculties: Faculty of Physics,
Mathematics and Natural Sciences, Faculty of Ecology, Faculty of Philology, Faculty of
Humanities and Social Sciences, Faculty of Economics, Engineering Academy and 10 institutes:
Medical Institute, Law Institute, Institute of Foreign Languages, Agrarian-Technological
Institute, Institute of World Economy and Business, Institute of Hospitality Business and
Tourism, Academic Research Institute of Gravitation and Cosmology, Institute of Medical and
Biological Problems, Academic Research Institute of Comparative Educational Policy, Institute
of Space Technologies.
The distinctive features of the educational process at RUDN are:
ECTS Credit system
European Diploma Supplement
Worldwide academic mobility
Teaching in foreign languages. Up to 800 academic hours of foreign languages
learning
Diploma in translation (2-3 foreign languages)
Over 1500 courses for continuing education
All levels of education (master, PhD, DSc, Clinical residency, internship)
RUDN has the right to set its own educational standards (sanctioned by Russian
President, 2012).
The University has a personnel team consisting of more than 5,000 employees, among
them - about 2,500 teachers, including 500 academics and doctors, more than 1,200 professors
and candidates to doctor of science, 57 full correspondent members of the Russian Academy of
Science and field-specific academies, 28 Honored Scientists of Russia and 26 full members of
foreign academies and scientific societies.
The educational process and research activities of the University are supported by the
sufficient infrastructure, material resources and technical equipment. For example, the following
indicators can describe the fully computerized library of RUDN:
December 2018 5
Dirección de Evaluación y Acreditación
The University has 45 educational and scientific centers and 150 scientific
laboratories.
The outcome of the work of professors’ and researchers of RUDN includes: 870
copyright certificates, 160 patents of the Russian Federation and 2 scientific inventions, and 84
certificates for computer programs and databases (RUDN intellectual rights).
According to international ratings, RUDN is included in the World Top-500 in the QS
World University Rankings. In 2011-2014, in the annual National universities, Interfax and Echo
proposed an assessment of Moscow RUDN in a ranking of 4-6th among all Russian universities,
and the most internationalized university.
December 2018 6
Dirección de Evaluación y Acreditación
Albeit, currently, there is not an internationally agreed protocol for assessing the quality of
the higher educational degrees, it seems appropriate to employ criteria roughly analogous to
those that would apply if the evaluated institution were located in the same country as the
agency. Therefore, the seven criteria used in this report correspond, with some necessary
adaptations, to the structure of the Quality Handbook elaborated to that effect by the Andalusian
Agency for University Quality Evaluation and Accreditation (DEVA). Specifically, this
evaluation process relies on the last edition of the “Guide for Renewing the Accreditation of
University Bachelor’s and Master’s Degrees in Andalusia”.
For each of these seven criteria, it was chosen one of four possible ratings, namely:
“Fully conform”,
“Substantially compliant”,
“Partially compliant”, and
“Not compliant”.
As applied here, the latter implies very serious shortcomings and might, depending on the
criteria in question, originate an unfavorable overall assessment. A rating as “Partially
compliant” implies some shortcomings, sometimes severe enough to demand changes in some
aspects of the educational process. A “Substantially compliant” rating implies a satisfactory
situation; however, there may be some, or even considerable, room for improvement. “Fully
conform” corresponds to excellent quality. Therefore, whatever the rating chosen for each
criterion, the stakeholders are encouraged to pay close attention to the provided comments and
recommendations.
Comment: After studying the self-assessment report, a vast range of internal documents, and
holding extensive on-site meetings with the program’s administrators, teaching staff, students,
graduates and employers, as well as with staff of RUDN’s quality management and general
leadership, the Panel has a favorable opinion about the quality of the program.
The Masters degree “Integrated Plant Protection” appears to be a nice, solid-built, attractive
program, capable to attract international and Russian students searching for a specialization in
the field of Plant Protection. A high degree of practical-orientation is observed, which provides
graduates with appropriate skills and knowledge. At the same time, the Program seems to be
more research-oriented than oriented to forming personnel for the business sector. In spite of
that, the employers are satisfied and trust the formation the students receive, so they actively
recruit students from RUDN for their companies. Students and Graduates are really satisfied not
December 2018 7
Dirección de Evaluación y Acreditación
only for the knowledge they acquire, but also for the patient and gentle attitude of the professors.
They highlight the program’s bilingualism as one of the important characteristics of the Master.
The Panel was really impressed by the full commitment to quality assurance.
December 2018 8
Dirección de Evaluación y Acreditación
Comments
Information about the training program, its development and the results achieved should
be public for all interest groups. Although there is available considerable information on the
RUDN and the Agricultural Technological Institute web pages, the information related to the
Integrated Plant Protection Master is especially scarce and predominantly in Russian language. It
would be convenient to provide more information related to this Master’s degree in its webpage
and an English version of the entire contents of the page, taking into account the special
consideration given to international students by RUDN.
December 2018 9
Dirección de Evaluación y Acreditación
December 2018 10
Dirección de Evaluación y Acreditación
Recommendations
December 2018 11
Dirección de Evaluación y Acreditación
and the creation of a profile for the Integrated Plant Protection Master’s degree.
Comments
In general, the Master Program management considers and values the importance of the
Quality Assurance System. Moreover, at the top of the system developed by RUDN is the
Federal system of quality assurance, which acts as a safeguard.
The Master’s degree has an Improvement Plan, periodically revised and updated, which
includes specific actions related to the analysis and review of results. Likewise, it has launched
actions in order to carry out the improvement proposals derived from the monitoring process.
Instruments and ways to improve the Program seem in practice.
December 2018 12
Dirección de Evaluación y Acreditación
quality data are available for public inspection and are published at the end of each academic
year.
- QUALITY MANAGEMENT MODEL. On the webpage: http://quality.rudn.ru/?pagec=883, it
is possible to read a description of the Quality Management Model, which is based on W.E.
Demming ideas. It should also be noted that, although it is possible to access this page in
English, the content of the page that appears following the hyperlink is different from the one in
Russian. Moreover, part of the content in Russian cannot be translated online because it
corresponds to an image. In any case, RUDN Quality Management Model interconnects criteria,
and technological processes are used. Two qualitative components are distinguished in the
RUDN training quality system: the level of knowledge transferred by the University and the
level of perception of knowledge achieved by the students. To these, another ten criteria
subordinated to the requirements of the Federal quality assessment system must be added.
In short, the Quality Management Model allows to comprehensively monitor the
effectiveness of the university's activities in the field of education in order to improve the
contents, the organization of the training process and the efficiency of all processes of
communication and perception of knowledge.
- QUALITY ASSURANCE SERVICE. It carries out internal as well as external quality audits
and develops its activity under ISO 9000:2000 and the European Quality Assurance Standards.
- QUALITY ASSURANCE PROGRAMME. Pages 14-15 of SAR outline the main ideas of the
Programme. This text informs that the implementation of the Learning Quality Programme is
discussed in different contexts: the University Management Committee, the Rector's Office and
RUDN Academic Council. The annual report describes the key progress as well as flaws, ways
of correcting them, and actions to be taken to improve learning quality in the next academic year.
Consequently, the Academic Council takes decisions, which are to be approved under the
Rector's order. Finally, the report is published in the University’s website
(http://quality.rudn.ru/?pagec=884). A Vice Rector for Academic Affairs is in charge of
supervising the right functioning of QAS.
Furthermore, there is a feedback system to discover the limitations of certain processes
and find out how they can be improved. This system is based on different meetings among
diverse academic instances. In addition, as indicated on pages 15-16 of the SAR, the University
has an agency that participates actively in the processes related to the quality of education, and is
in regular contact with the Rector. On page 16 of SAR, the section 2.2 outlines the procedure for
Updating the Education Quality Assurance System. A book about the procedure for accreditation
and QA programs was published.
In addition, RUDN website has a section titled "Open Dialog"
(http://www.rudn.ru/opendialog ), where students, employees, and teaching staff can use a form
to submit suggestions or complaints (clearly substantiated, however) regarding the quality of
education. There is personal implication of the Rector and/or the Rector’s office, which does not
seem very operative, although this “Open Dialog” is mandatory according to Russian Law.
Therefore, the information provided in the SAR and on RUDN webpages, indicates that the QAS
of the RUDN University satisfies all the necessary requirements.
December 2018 13
Dirección de Evaluación y Acreditación
Concerning the evaluation system, a list with a total number of 28 indicators was initially
proposed from which 15 were selected. Critical values for these indicators have been established.
In section 2.3 of the SAR, on page 17, under the heading ‘Programme update plan based on the
Quality Assurance System data Integrated Plant Protection’, there is a graph with the score of
these 15 indicators, illustrating the Master’s performance. Two of the indicators refer to research
funding and show low scores, below the critical values. Besides, Indicator 4 (number of
publications indexed in the Web of Science database per academic staff member) and Indicator
14 (Students’ satisfaction with education quality) are rated with lower scores than the rest.
Therefore, plans for improving these values have been implemented. On page 17, it is indicated
that: The department is currently working on two grants to improve Indicators 10 and 11 funding
‘The development and optimization of existing diagnostic methods for the bacterial spot
pathogen in cucurbits’ and ‘The assessment of insecticide toxicity of plant essential oils to
various crop pests’. Not only values reached for each indicator are published, but they also
project target values to be reached next year. A comparison among the different Master Programs
taught at RUDN highlights the strengths and flaws of every Program.
A survey among students every three years (Master lasts only 2 years) is conducted.
Recommendations
RECOMMENDATION 6.- It is recommended to take actions in order to correct the low scores
achieved in Indicators 4 and 14.
RECOMMENDATION 8.- Satisfaction surveys among students should be more frequent and the
participation rate should be reported, to assess the reliability of the results.
December 2018 14
Dirección de Evaluación y Acreditación
Comments
Considering the available information on the organization and development of the
Master’s educational program, the Master Program is well designed and the contents, as well as
its distribution over time, are well structured. Entrepreneurs and heads of institutions showed
their satisfaction with the Master’s content and organization. Likewise, all the graduates and
students interviewed showed their agreement with the qualification received. Nevertheless, some
small problems have been detected and are indicated below.
December 2018 15
Dirección de Evaluación y Acreditación
Director of the Master. Students and graduate students also showed their satisfaction with the
master's organization.
Nevertheless, the Panel believes that some small problems still persist, like the need to
explain the equivalence of credits to the European credit system and the lack of information
about the articulation of the degree in the Bologna context. More importantly, there is certain
bias in the content of the courses. While the study of bacteria and viruses is widely developed,
the study of fungi is not well covered. In this respect, it should be noted that fungi is responsible
for important diseases, and responsible as well for the highest yield losses in Russia according to
the information provided. In addition, and although the course Biological Methods of Plant
Protection covers it in part, pest management should be developed more deeply, especially for
organic cultivation. We wonder why not to rename (and refocus) this course to Advanced Pest
Management as it is usual in Master’s degrees in this field. Nematodes, recently included in the
Program according to the interviews, and weeds should be given more attention. It seems that
these important topics are offered as disciplines that can be selected by the students, who have to
choose just 1 out of 2 in 4 Units. Protection against frost and in general against bad weather, so
far marginally covered, should be more developed in a wider context. Scarcely a reference about
the influence of environment and weather on pest development could be noted. Abiotic stress
could be added at least in a general course of Plant Production Principles, such as the one titled
“Innovative technologies in agronomy”. Finally, the Panel thinks that the orientation given to this
Master, emphasizing integrated plant protection is appropriate, despite the comments that in
Russia most farmers still rely on chemical control for pest and diseases.
A brief pilot analysis of Master degree programmes (training and methodology complex)
in the "Integrated plant protection" specialty was conducted. It is given in the table.
Name Some revealed features Assessment
Forecast of pest and Everything is correct Substantially
agricultural crop compliant
diseases development
Quarantine The methods of detecting quarantine diseases Substantially
and pests are given constructively and in very compliant
good faith
Information The main positions of the training and Compliant, but
technology methodology complex are given very briefly requires some work
Mathematical Correct Substantially
modeling and design compliant
Plant immunity Is given one-sidedly, the mechanisms of Compliant, but
protective reactions are not considered, however, requires discussion
this may be the peculiarity of the teaching in
December 2018 16
Dirección de Evaluación y Acreditación
December 2018 17
Dirección de Evaluación y Acreditación
Nematode diseases Regular training and methodology complex, but Compliant, but
many of its sections are too brief requires some work
Forecast of pest and Regular training and methodology complex Substantially
disease development compliant
Harvest insurance Regular training and methodology complex Substantially
support technologies compliant
Phytosanitary There is a regular training and methodology Compliant, but
examination complex, but many of its sections are given too requires some work
briefly, while individual sections (for example,
about mushrooms) are given in too much detail.
Training and methodology complex is built
somewhat eclectic, the correspondence between
the tasks and the structure is lost
Formation of Regular training and methodology complex Substantially
conjugate compliant
pathological systems
Population genetics The pathosystems and their molecular genetic Compliant, but
bases are considered very correctly, but as requires some work
regard to them, plant protection means are given
too briefly.
It follows from this table that part of the courses is substantially compliant with the basic
requirements for the purpose and structure of training and methodology complex, part of the
courses requires discussion and revision.
Recommendations
December 2018 18
Dirección de Evaluación y Acreditación
Comments
The information provided is limited, unwieldy and a bit difficult to get. Clarity on the
main aspects about the teaching staff is necessary for an accurate assessment. Some important
components, such as the coordination process, seem missing or complicated to find as explained
below.
With regard to the availability of coordination criteria for the training program for the
different subjects, no references were found indicating how the practical classes are coordinated,
nor there is any information on how the supervision is carried out. A list of professors in charge
of the internships is provided. Nonetheless, the criteria for the selection are absent. After the
interview with the Master’s Director, it became clear that the coordination of the internships is in
the hand of the Master’s Director. In any case, this matter would be regulated by RUDN QAS.
The information related to criteria to select the teaching staff who will be in charge of
supervising Ms. Sc. Theses is also missing
At a first glance, the teaching staff seems, according to the information received, short:
only 5 Professors, 7 Associate Professors, 6 Assistant Professors and 2 PhD for a 2 year Master.
This fact not only affects the teacher’s workload but also the quality of the degree, in the sense
that they might be forced to teach topics far from their expertise and/or not cover well enough
some fields of plant protection. This is a weakness for the Program that could be solved hiring
young brilliant professors in the relevant areas.
According to the information received at RUDN, the selection of new professors takes
into account the results published in prestigious Journals and the opinion of the graduating
students. Besides, although some teachers show excellent profiles, some others do not appear in
the most common databases. In the interview with the staff, they told us that they usually publish
in scientific journals in Russian, and that is the reason why some of the aforementioned
professors fall outside the scope of the main international databases that measure research
quality. This does not mean that they do not have merits to develop the skills required by the
course they teach. The Director of the Master described the selection of the teachers as quite
rigorous, fulfilling the existing requirements of RUDN QAS although, in this context, quality of
publications is capital. However, the fact is that the qualification of these lecturers does not
appear in the most relevant citation databases, although these databases are considered indicator
December 2018 19
Dirección de Evaluación y Acreditación
variables in RUDN QAS and, also, they is a common resource for students and colleagues to
select postgraduate studies for them or their students. In this respect, the CV of all the
teachers involved in the Master should be made easily available for students and other
stakeholders.
During the visit, the Panel learnt that the most common size of research groups is
relatively small (many are formed by only 5-10 people), making it more difficult getting external
funds for research.
The salary seems to depend to a great extent on personal performance. Good
performance of professors is incentivized and rewarded by a system based on bonuses that
depend on different components. There are explicit conditions for tenure and also for the
contracts signed by full professors. The adherence to good results is reinforced thanks to the
goals set by the contracts signed every January. A warning system is also established to warn
professors to improve performance.
University brochures inform that from a faculty number of 1,700 professors at RUDN,
200 per year are offered mobility. The number of professors carrying out international activities
of collaboration seems limited, as it is the number of bilateral agreements offered for mobility to
the students (Thessaloniki in Greece and Brazil and Ecuador seem to be the exception). In
addition, it seems that none of the teaching staff members works for a private company in the
phytosanitary or agricultural sector. However in the interview with the entrepreneurs and heads
of institutions, they showed that there was a good and fluid collaboration between RUDN and
their companies. Furthermore, on page 19, section 3.3 of the SAR, it can be read: ’Foreign
experts are involved in teaching the Master's programme’. However, in the aforementioned
report there is no information about those experts or the activity developed by them into the
Master context; although, among the Master’s professors interviewed there was an Iranian
professor expert in cereals.
In relation to the Ms Sc Thesis, it seems that there is a list of topics, elaborated by the
teaching staff and offered to the students in order to choose the final work or Master Thesis.
Nevertheless, no public information is available on the details related to the preparation of the
list and on the rules and priority of the students in choosing the topic.
Recommendations
December 2018 20
Dirección de Evaluación y Acreditación
of E.N. Panin is 22.4% of the total work load, while for E.V. Romanov - 3.5%).
Comments
In general terms, RUDN offers infrastructures appropriate to the needs of the students
taking this Master. Nevertheless, there are some doubts about the availability of equipment of
several specific laboratories for some of the disciplines developed in the Master. Services
provided to the students for orientation and to graduates for job search seem correct and useful
according to the opinion of students, graduates and employers. Students have also academic and
professional guidance services fitting the characteristics of the degree and appropriate
information actions have been developed.
The SAR points out (page 39) that the following resources are available: 2 lecture halls,
4 scientific practical laboratories (an immunity laboratory, a research laboratory, a biotechnology
laboratory, and a plant micro clonal propagation laboratory), 4 seminar rooms, 2 computer
rooms, and 2 foreign language rooms. Besides, it indicates that the classrooms have modern
multimedia equipment (projectors, interactive whiteboards, and multimedia devices) and Internet
connection.
Moreover, the Panel visited RUDN facilities. Some of the laboratories visited presented
nice modern equipment of high level, although they were mainly laboratories related to food
sciences, rather than laboratories related to the disciplines linked to the evaluated Master. The
Panel was informed that the source of funding was a H2020 project and, although equipment was
located in the facilities of a different department, potential users were extended to professors of
the Master. For reasons of time the Panel could not visit the experimental plots where the field
works are carried out.
In addition, library resources are mentioned in the SAR (page 39). An astonishing
amount of 1,800,000 items is part of its offer. Each student has individual unlimited access to
one or more electronic library systems that contain all titles in the required reading lists of the
December 2018 21
Dirección de Evaluación y Acreditación
December 2018 22
Dirección de Evaluación y Acreditación
respectively, that is very insufficient with the R&D income of RUB 230-420 Mio. The R&D on
the integrated plant protection is also financed lower than the boundary of the band of normal
achievements.
Recommendations
Comments
According to the information provided, all the aspects related with learning outcomes are
reasonably well developed.
The scoring system of the Master is the same as that used in RUDN, which is a
cumulative 100-point scale (see page 33, SAR). The score is accumulated for doing some
activities, such as practical activities, formative performance assessment, and controls (final and
interim). In this system, a unit is considered completed when 50% of the potential points have
been reached. Nothing is said about controlling students’ attendance to classes, nor the associated
score if such control is achieved. The educational activities must be completed within the
deadlines specified in the programme. Students who fail are given an opportunity to master
certain units/topics, and the points accumulated by each student in the term control are converted
to an ECTS grade.
Besides, the Integrated Plant Protection Master’s webpage contains the links to the
different courses offered (http://esystem.pfur.ru/course/index.php?categoryid=408). The
webpage of each course includes a file: 01. УМК. The file is written in Russian and includes
different details of the evaluation system for that course. It shows the different ways for the
evaluation of the competences: oral interview, homework, calculation and graphic work, written
tests, testing, discussions, and the way that the control works will be developed.
December 2018 23
Dirección de Evaluación y Acreditación
Finally, on pages 34-35 of the SAR a detailed list of assessment criteria of the Graduate
Qualification Work are developed. The students have very limited time to present their results in
the Ms Sc Thesis: only 10 minutes. However, no complaints were expressed during the
interviews to students. Accordingly, on page 13 of the SAR, it is stated that ‘no complaints or
negative feedback on educational and extracurricular student activities have been received from
students’. Besides, during the meetings with the students and graduates, they considered
adequate the evaluation system employed in the Master. Similarly, the employers expressed their
satisfaction with the skills acquired by the graduates, according to the work they developed in
their companies and institutions.
Therefore, it seems that the evaluation system allows a reliable certification of the
students’ acquisition of competences.
Recommendations
Comments
December 2018 24
Dirección de Evaluación y Acreditación
employers of the satisfaction with the training program are taken into account in the degree’s
improvement.
In relation to the facilitated data, an increasing success in the last three years is evident,
although data from more years would be needed to establish a tendency.
Concerning the sustainability of the degree, it is apparently correct, but the Master needs
to be more open to other countries, especially to the European Union and to increase the number
of students from the European region.
Finally, the assessment of the indicators on graduates’ labor market outcomes seems
suitable.
Reports and comparative survey analyses concerning satisfaction and performance are
carried out by the Department of the Educational Policy Office and the Management of RUDN,
and according to page 41 of SAR, they are published in ‘FEEDBACK OF THE INNATRAVSKI
SYSTEM OF QUALITY’ webpage (http://quality.rudn.ru/?pagec=886). The page is in Russian
and it informs about the main principles and the feedback system that fundament RUDN System
of Quality. Also, this webpage shows several hyperlinks that correspond to other documents
related to the analysis of different surveys. They have been classified in four categories: students,
graduates of RUDN, teachers and additional surveys. All of them are in Russian and they report
different surveys in the context of the entire University. There is no information that refers
exclusively to the evaluated master, only some scattered data with the opinion of students of the
Agricultural and Technological Institute.
Thus, in the file COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF RESULTS OF SOCIOLOGICAL
RESEARCH " ESTIMATION OF STUDENTS OF QUALITY OF EDUCATION IN PFUR "
STUDENTS HELD IN 2004/2005, 2007/2008, 2010/2011, 2012/2013 AND 2015/2016 UCH.
Years (СРАВНИТЕЛЬНЫЙ АНАЛИЗ РЕЗУЛЬТАТОВ СОЦИОЛОГИЧЕСКИХ
ИССЛЕДОВАНИЙ «ОЦЕНКА СТУДЕНТАМИ КАЧЕСТВА ОБУЧЕНИЯ В РУДН»,
ПРОВЕДЕННЫХ В 2004/2005, 2007/2008, 2010/2011, 2012/2013 И 2015/2016 уч. гг)
(http://quality.rudn.ru/file.php?id=416) it is stated that the rate of satisfaction with the equipment
of computer and office equipment in the Agricultural and Technological Institute is 67.1%, or
that the greatest assessments for laboratory equipment and practical training were given by
students of the Agrarian-Technological Institute (79.7%). But this information is not readily
available and does not refer specifically to the evaluated master. As explained before, it seems
that surveys among students are performed every three years; a shorter interval is preferred
considering this Master Program lasts two years.
Similarly, following the hyperlink: COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF RESULTS OF
SOCIOLOGICAL RESEARCH "ESTIMATION OF QUALITY OF EDUCATION WITH
EYES OF TEACHERS OF PFUR" In 2005/2006, 2008/2009, 2012/2013, 2014/2015 and
2017/2018 academic year (СРАВНИТЕЛЬНЫЙ АНАЛИЗ РЕЗУЛЬТАТОВ
СОЦИОЛОГИЧЕСКИХ ИССЛЕДОВАНИЙ «ОЦЕНКА КАЧЕСТВА ОБРАЗОВАНИЯ
ГЛАЗАМИ ПРЕПОДАВАТЕЛЕЙ РУДН» В 2005/2006, 2008/2009, 2012/2013, 2014/2015 и
2017/2018 уч.гг.), there is a pdf document in Russian, that offers information about a
comparative analysis on the quality of education, at RUDN, according to the academic staff. As
December 2018 25
Dirección de Evaluación y Acreditación
mentioned in the previous paragraph, the context is the entire University. There is no specific
report exclusively referred to the evaluated master and, with difficulty it is possible to find some
data related to the Agricultural Technology Institute. For example ‘Data on the deterioration of
the quality of equipment’ shows that the percentage of unsatisfied students increased in the
Agrarian and technological institute. The note ‘Today a special level of dissatisfaction with
computer equipment and office equipment caused in Agrarian and technological Institute’ shows
that the indicator decreased by 19.3%, but no information about the assessment and satisfaction
with the professors of the Integrated Plant Protection Master was found. The mentioned
documents reproduce to some extent the information provided by QA.
Therefore, in the aforementioned documents there is no information that may reveal the
assessment and satisfaction of students, teachers, administrative and laboratory staff, graduates
or employers, in relation to the evaluated Master.
On page 42 of SAR there is a table with the percentage of satisfaction with learning
quality at RUDN among students of the Agricultural Technological Institute. It shows a positive
trend since 2010. The top category on the table has increased from 56.4, in 2010/2011, to 77.2, in
2015/2016. Nevertheless, these data correspond again to the whole Agricultural Technology
Institute, not to the Integrated Plant Protection Master. In spite of all these objections about the
difficulties and shortage of information about the level of satisfaction by different groups,
according to the interviews with students and graduates, their level of satisfaction in relation with
the assessed degree is high. For example, the graduates interviewed would recommend this
Master to their colleagues. This fact is a relevant indication of the level of satisfaction with the
assessed degree.
Concerning the Satisfaction surveys about professors and teaching staff, the only data
from the Agricultural Technological Institute appear in a table on page 42 of SAR. It shows how
the satisfaction level is high and has been increasing since 2012. Thus, in 2012, 72% of the
professors were in the category of the highest satisfaction, while in 2017, this item reached 82%.
In contrast, the percentage in the category of the lowest satisfaction has been very low, 9.1% in
2012, and plain 0% in 2017. However, these data are for the whole Agricultural Technology
Institute, again not for the Integrated Plant Protection Master.
As mentioned previously, there is no data reported on students’ satisfaction with the
teaching staff of Integrated Plant Protection Master. Nevertheless, in the interviews, students and
graduates showed their satisfaction with the teachers that participated in the Master. Besides,
there are no data on satisfaction with the tutors of external internships. The survey about
internships tutors is not performed or documented according to the information provided.
Nonetheless, the students and graduates interviewed indicated their satisfaction with the external
practice classes and internships. There is no explicit criteria for the selection of these tutors, the
Master's director is in charge of this selection.
With reference to the students’ satisfaction, in the provided documentation there are no
data on satisfaction with academic and professional guidance services related to this Master’s
degree. However, in the interviews, students and graduates showed their full satisfaction with the
professional and academic guidance services. In relation to the facilitated data, an increasing
success in the last three years is evident.
December 2018 26
Dirección de Evaluación y Acreditación
Recommendations
RECOMMENDATION 15.- It is recommended that the study of the level of satisfaction with the
Agricultural Technological Institute, includes all the years available, to assess evolution over
time. The comparative survey analyses should contain specific information referred to the
Integrated Plant Protection Master about graduates and students satisfaction with academic and
professional guidance services and other aspects of the Master’s degree.
December 2018 27
Dirección de Evaluación y Acreditación
December 2018 28