On 27 September 2022, the Accreditation Council granted IT University of Copenhagen a positive institutional accreditation in the second round.

Read the accreditation report and the council's decision here

The accreditation report for the IT University of Copenhagen is completed and published.

Read the accreditation report here.

Good second visit at ITU centred around two audit trails with students in focus

In the course of three days from 8 to 10 March, the accreditation panel carried out its second site visit to the IT University of Copenhagen (ITU) in connection with the second round of institutional accreditation of the university. The visit offered good and interesting dialogues with both students, teachers and representatives from the different levels of management in the organisation, from Heads of Study Programmes to the interim Vice-Chancellor.

The dialogues were centred around two audit trails that zoomed in on selected programmes and highlighted themes that are selected as audit trails based on input from the panel's first visit to ITU in November:

1. Content and organisation of study programmes
2. Students' contact with the relevant research environment

After a internal meeting on Tuesday morning, the accreditation panel started to examine the first audit trail. During the day's meetings with Heads of Study Programmes, Programme Coordinators, the Team Leader from Research and Learning Support, teachers and students from the three selected programmes, the panel gained a deeper insight into the systematic organisation of the programmes at ITU. They were particularly interested in how student feedback is incorporated into the ongoing development and quality assurance of the programmes. They were also curious about the quality processes associated with ITU's work on the Study Programme Reports and how ITU acts and follows up on identified issues.

The following day, the panel turned their attention to the second audit trail. Again, in order to best highlight the students' contact with the research environment, three programmes had been selected, one of which was a repeat from the previous day. In the discussions with students, teachers and Heads of Study Programmes, the panel asked, among other things, how ITU assures the student’s contact with relevant research environments at the strategic level and their systematic approach in practice at the individual programmes. The panel was also interested in how ITU deals with identified issues and follows up on the strategic initiatives that are launched.

On Thursday, the threads from the two previous days were brought together through three meetings with the executive management, the relevant Heads of Department and a group consisting of the Dean of Education and heads of relevant staff functions. During the day, the panel clarified a number of follow-up questions, before expanding on the preliminary feedback on ITU's quality work provided by the panel after the first visit at the final meeting with the executive management. In that connection, ITU's work with the employers’ panels and an inclusive quality culture was again highlighted as particularly successful.

In the coming period, the panel will, in cooperation with the Danish Accreditation Institution, prepare the accreditation report on the basis of which the Accreditation Council will make its decision on the institutional accreditation of ITU in September. Prior to this, ITU will have had the opportunity to read and comment on the accreditation report during a formal hearing.

Download programme for the second site visit at ITU

The first visit at ITU featured an open dialogue, a meet and greet and a guided tour

From Tuesday 23 November to Wednesday 24 November, the appointed accreditation panel conducted its first institutional visit to the IT University of Copenhagen (ITU). The visit took place as part of the second round of institutional accreditation for ITU and was from the beginning to end characterized by an increased focus on reflection and learning compared to when ITU was accredited for the first time almost six years ago. This included an open dialogue and a focus on practice and systematics in the quality assurance work on the basis of the institutional report that ITU submitted earlier this year.

The accreditation panel began the visit with a ‘meet and greet’ session, where they had the opportunity to greet management and staff at ITU in a more informal setting and was welcomed by the vice-chancellor with a speech. The session was followed by meetings with the institution management and a group consisting of the dean of education, the quality coordinator and heads of relevant staff functions.

After lunch, two students gave the panel a guided tour of ITU. During the tour, they saw an auditorium and several labs, where students have the opportunity to experiment and build prototypes amongst other things. The tour also took the panel to the Friday bar, Scrollbar, before returning to the meeting room in DR-Byen. In the afternoon, they met with a group of student members from Subject Area Teams or Board of Studies and a group of selected heads of department. Finally, the first day of the visit was rounded of with a meeting of members of ITU's employers’ panels.

The following day, the panel met a group of head of study programmes who have a central function in the quality assurance system at the university and thus possess a good understanding of the practice of quality work. Afterwards, the panel was ready for the final meeting with the institution management. Here, the panel chair acknowledged the many good inputs during the visit and gave a preliminary assessment of the quality assurance work at ITU. In this connection, she emphasized, among other things, systematics and relevance in the dialogue with the employers’ panels as well as a consistent commitment to quality work across the institution as special strengths. At the same time, she pointed out a number of development potentials in relation to student well-being, research base and interdisciplinary education.

Based on the panel's assessment and input from the first institutional visit, the panel will now select som audit trails, which will be at the center of the panel's second and final visit in March. After that visit, the panel in collaboration with the Danish Accreditation Institution will prepare the accreditation report, which the Accreditation Council will make a decision on institutional accreditation of ITU on the basis of in September next year.

Download programme for the first site visit at ITU

Accreditation panel for the institutional accreditation of the IT University of Copenhagen

Chair Yolande Berbers, Professor at the Department of Computer Science, Faculty of Engineering Science, Katholieke Universiteit (KU) Leuven, Belgium. From 2009-2016, Yolande Berbers was Vice-Dean at the Faculty of Engineering Science at KU Leuven, with responsibility for education in general, education innovation in particular and quality assurance. From 2014-2016, she was chair of the steering committee responsible for institutional accreditation of KU Leuven by The Accreditation Organisation of the Netherlands and Flanders (NVAO). Yolande Berbers is currently president of the European Society for Engineering Education (SEFI), and is SEFI representative in the Board of the European Network on Accreditation of Engineering Education (ENAEE). Yolande Berbers holds a Ph.D in Engineering: Computer Science from KU Leuven.

Jouko Lampinen, Professor of Computational Engineering at Aalto University, Finland. Since 2016, Jouko Lampinen has been Dean at the School of Science at Aalto University. Jouko Lampinen has several years of experience of academic leadership as the Head of Laboratory of Computational Engineering (1996-2007), and Head of Department of Biomedical Engineering and Computational Science (2008-2013) at Aalto University. From 2015-2016 he was Head of the Department of Computer Science. Furthermore, he chaired the Karvi expert group for higher education in technology in Finland from 2015-2018. Jouko Lampinen holds a Ph.D. in Information Technology from Lappeenranta University of Technology.

Lars Lundberg, Professor at the Faculty of Computing at Blekinge Institute of Technology (BTH), Sweden. Since 2019, Lars Lundberg has been Dean of the Faculty of Computing at BTH. From 2014-2018, he was Head of the Department for Computer Science and Engineering at BTH. Lars Lundberg has participated in several assignments as an evaluator, both nationally and internationally, including the chairing of evaluation boards for the quality assurance of The Royal Institute of Art and the Royal College of Music in Stockholm. Lars Lundberg holds a Ph.D. in Computer Engineering from Lund University.

Staffan Björk, Professor at the department of Computer Science and Engineering at Chalmers and Gothenburg University, Sweden. He has a PhD in Informatics from Gothenburg University and conducts research within the areas of gameplay design, pervasive games, and interaction design. At the department of Computer Science and Engineering, he has been head of the Interaction Design division 2007-2011 (and acting head 2018) as well as vice head of department for education at undergraduate and advanced levels 2019-2020.

Nina Maj Fjordvald, Vice President, Marketing and Communication at EG since 2019. From 2017-2019, Nina Maj Fjordvald was Marketing Leader at IBM and responsible for the marketing strategy for specific it solutions in Europe. Prior to that, in 2015-2016, she was Global Marketing Manager at Vestas Wind Systems A/S, working with marketing strategy across different global regions. Nina Maj Fjordvald is a member of the steering group for female leaders in IT at IT-Branchen. She has a HD in IT and Management Accounting from Copenhagen Business School and a MBA from Warwick Business School.

Tobias Munch, MSc student in Business Administration and Information Systems - Digitalisation at Copenhagen Business School (CBS). Since February 2020, Tobias Munch has served as student member of the Board of Directors of CBS. From 2015-2017, he served as Vice-Chairman of the IT Business Study Board at CBS. Amongst various extracurricular activities, he is currently a member of the Kopernikus Steering Group at CBS, overseeing the implementation of new Student Information System at CBS. Tobias Munch has a BA in Information Management from CBS.

Deadline for institutionsrapport: 27 September 2021

1. besøg: 23. - 24. november 2021

2. besøg: 8. - 10. marts 2022

Høring, rapport: July - August 2022

Rådsmøde: September 2022

ITU is a state-funded, self-governing and mono-facultary higher education institution situated in the Danish capital of Copenhagen. ITU was established in 1999, formally as a part of Copenhagen Business School (CBS) but with its own Board. In 2003, ITU became an independent university. ITU initially offered MSc programmes, part-time diploma programmes and part-time master’s programmes. ITU offered its first BSc programme in 2007. The newest addition to the programme portfolio is the MSc in Data Science, which had its first student intake in August 2021. The study programmes are offered within the subject areas of Games, Computer Science, Digital Design and Business IT.

As of September 2020, ITU has 2,252 full-time students enrolled in its four BSc programmes and five MSc programmes, as well as 158 part-time students enrolled in its professional education programme. ITU has 776 (416.6 full-time equivalent)1 employees, including administrative staff.

On 1 December 2016, the Accreditation Council decided to award The IT University of Copenhagen with a positive institutional accreditation in the first round. Read more about the accreditation process and the council's decision here.

Hjemmeside: IT University of Copenhagen (ITU)

Sprog: The accreditation is conducted in English