Sonaravne tehnologije in sistemi v strojništvu

The external evaluation of the doctoral study program Sustainable Technologies and Systems in Mechanical Engineering 3rd level from the University of Novo mesto, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering (FS UNM) was carried out by a group of experts following the recommendations, criteria, and criteria set by the National Agency of the Republic of Slovenia for Quality in Higher Education. The evaluation was carried out in five standards: Internal quality assurance and enhancement of the study program (standards 1 and 2), Changes and updates of the study program (standard 3), and Delivery of the study program (standards 4 and 5). A group of experts established that the study program meets all requirements within all five standards. This means that a group of experts found no partial or even major weaknesses or non-compliance. Nevertheless, the group of experts has identified several opportunities for improvement and pointed out several strengths. In identifying the strengths, we focused on the most evident strengths of the study program and UNM, listing a total of 10, but there are certainly more. Many strengths of the study program and faculty are direct consequences of the strengths and excellence of UNM as a whole. Students highlighted the very high level of commitment of mentors and other teachers in the PhD programme, as well as the excellent communication, tailored to individual working styles. In terms of infrastructure, we additionally emphasize very suitable material conditions for the teaching process in lecture and computer rooms. Regardless of the many strengths, we have highlighted 24 opportunities for improvement, which faculty can use for further development and quality of the study program. These opportunities apply to virtually all assessment standards, especially the opportunities for upgrading the monitoring and quality assurance processes of the study program, where more concrete improvement and monitoring measures are needed. Information on the SEP results should also be increased and students and external stakeholders should be more intensively involved in the overall quality cycle at the faculty. The next set of opportunities relates to the provision of more and better equipped laboratory infrastructure for research. The next challenge for UNM-FS is the staffing policy, to increase the proportion of parttime and mainly full-time staff, younger staff with research ambitions in the field of research and mentoring of new PhD students. Doctoral students could be offered more courses on research methods, the preparation of scientific research papers, writing proposals for research projects, etc. We also recommend that the faculty and the university as a whole should have a clearer strategy for scientific research and should establish more links with international partners in the field of scientific research and projects. At this point, the members of the group would like to thank all those who made sure that the college visit went smoothly: Jožica Kramar, SQAA expert, faculty management, and all other stakeholders for constructive cooperation in interviews.