Teaching Culture Survey 2019
Key Findings Teaching Culture Survey
TU Delft is one of 13 universities participating in the 2019 Teaching Cultures Survey (TCS 2019) to date. Over 1021 members of its academic community took part in the survey, ranging in seniority from PhD
students to senior university management. The response rate (29%) is lower than the TCS 2019
institutional average (32%).
Survey participants were positive about TU Delft’s support for university teaching:
- almost two thirds (63%) noted that the university “provides a supportive learning environment with opportunities to develop and improve my teaching practice” (all TCS 2019 institutions: 59%);
- half (50%) reported that that they were able to access mentoring support for university teaching (all TCS 2019 institutions: 52%).
The survey pointed to opportunities to enhance the status and role of university teaching in key
institutional processes at TU Delft:
- less than a quarter (22%) of participants indicated that their achievements, goals and ambitions in university teaching were explored in depth in their most recent annual appraisal;
- a majority (53%) agreed or strongly agreed with the statement: “Roles focused on university teaching are career-limiting at my institution”, while only a quarter (25%) agreed or strongly agreed with the statement: “Time spent on university teaching has a positive impact on the career progression of academics at my institution” (TCS 2019 average: 27%);
- a minority perceived that senior managers were ‘very committed’ to rewarding excellence in university teaching; departmental leaders were more likely to be regarded as ‘very committed’ (20%) than Faculty leaders (14%) and university leaders (16%).
The survey indicated considerable academic support for enhancing the status and role of university
teaching, with particularly strong support among university leaders:
- while only a quarter (24%) of participants considered university teaching to be currently ‘very important’ in promotion to full Professor at the university, almost two thirds (63%) would like it to be ‘very important’. Amongst university leadership, the proportion who would like university teaching to be ‘very important’ rises to 73%;
- while only a minority (31%) anticipated that the priority given to teaching in academic promotion would increase in the next five years, the majority (57%) would like to see such an increase. University leaders were more likely to anticipate an increase in the priority given to teaching (54% of university leaders anticipated a rise, compared to 28% of early career or mid career academics).
These findings suggest that, while the academic community at TU Delft are positive about the learning environment for teaching, they would like to see greater recognition of teaching within the academic career (in appraisal and promotion).