Course Description Template University of Copenhagen

Standard Operating Procedure: Course Description Template University of Copenhagen

1. Document Control & Revision History

2. Executive Summary & Scope

2.1 Purpose

This Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) defines the mandatory operational framework, data architecture, and validation protocol for the creation, review, and publication of official course descriptions (kursusbeskrivelser) at the University of Copenhagen (UCPH). Adherence to this protocol ensures absolute compliance with the Danish University Act (Universitetsloven), European Standards and Guidelines (ESG) for Quality Assurance in the European Higher Education Area, and internal UCPH Academic Regulations.

2.2 Scope

This SOP applies unconditionally to all faculties, departments, and academic units within UCPH responsible for authoring, updating, and approving course descriptions for Bachelor's, Master's, and single-subject continuing education programmes. It governs all programmatic metadata entered into the institutional Course Database (Kursusbasen) and Study Administration System (STADS).

2.3 Regulatory Standards

• Danish Consolidation Act on Universities (Bekendtgørelse af lov om universitetsloven)
• UCPH Criteria for Quality Assurance of Study Programmes
• General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) regarding administrative metadata transparency

3. Prerequisites & Tool Requirements

Execution of this workflow requires specific system access, technical prerequisites, and verified administrative clearance:

• System Access: Active UCPH User account with multi-factor authentication (MFA) enabled, provisioned with specific role-based access control (RBAC) rights to STADS and the Course Database administration module (Kursusbasen Editor).
• Software Tools: Approved enterprise browser (Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox, latest enterprise patch), UCPH-standardized PDF generation engine, and XML validation utility for batch data imports.
• Documentation Artifacts:
  • Approved Study Board (Studienævn) curriculum mandate.
  • Verified ECTS calculation matrix (breakdown of contact hours, preparation, examination, and coursework).
  • Official Learning Outcome taxonomy mapping (Bloom's Taxonomy verbs aligned with Dublin Descriptors).
• Certifications: Mandatory institutional clearance on UCPH Administrative Data Governance and STADS Curriculum Management Modules.

4. Roles & Responsibilities (RACI Matrix Table)

Definitions: Responsible (The doer), Accountable (The decider), Consulted (In-the-loop input), Informed (Kept updated).

5. Step-by-Step Operational Procedure

Phase 1: Data Gathering and Structuring

• 1.1 Retrieve the master curriculum framework from the relevant Study Board (Studienævn) archive.
• 1.2 Define course metadata fields: Course Code, Title (Danish/English), Credit Weight (ECTS), Level (Bachelor/Master), and Placement (Block/Semester).
• 1.3 Calculate exact student workload hours utilizing the official UCPH ECTS formula (1 ECTS = 27.5 working hours; total per 7.5 ECTS course = 206.25 hours).
• 1.4 Draft learning outcomes using actionable verbs structured around Knowledge, Skills, and Competences (Dublin Descriptors).

Phase 2: System Entry via STADS / Kursusbasen

• 2.1 Authenticate into the UCPH administrative network via VPN and launch the STADS Curriculum Module.
• 2.2 Input course metadata into mandatory structural fields ensuring exact string matching with the approved curriculum.
• 2.3 Populate the instructional format fields (Lectures, Classes, Laboratory exercises, Field trips, Supervision hours).
• 2.4 Insert assessment parameters: Examination type (e.g., written, oral, portfolio), grading scale (7-point grading scale or Pass/Fail), and external/internal censorship requirements.

Phase 3: Administrative Verification & Quality Control

• 3.1 Execute the automated validation script within STADS to flag syntax errors, missing mandatory fields, or ECTS calculation variances exceeding $\pm 0.5$ hours.
• 3.2 Submit the course description package for administrative review to the Faculty Administrative Officer.
• 3.3 Conduct cross-reference verification against overlapping departmental course schedules to prevent structural timetable collisions within the designated Block structure (Blocks 1–5).

Phase 4: Formal Approval and Publication

• 4.1 Present the verified course description dossier to the Head of Studies (Studieleder) or designated Study Board delegate for formal sign-off.
• 4.2 Record the digital approval timestamp within the STADS database workflow log.
• 4.3 Trigger the automated synchronization daemon to push finalized descriptions from STADS to the public-facing Course Database (kursus.ku.dk).
• 4.4 Verify live rendering of both Danish and English editions on the public portal.

6. Quality Assurance & Verification Criteria

To achieve certification for institutional publication, every course description must satisfy the following strict tolerances and benchmarks:

• ECTS Alignment Threshold: Total calculated student hours must equal exactly $27.5 \times \text{ECTS credits}$. Variance tolerance: $0.0%$.
• Learning Outcome Completeness: Must contain a minimum of 3 and a maximum of 6 distinct learning outcomes, perfectly distributed across Knowledge, Skills, and Competences dimensions.
• Bilingual Integrity: English translations must be verified against Danish originals to ensure absolute semantic equivalence, specifically regarding examination prerequisites and mandatory attendance policies.
• Metadata Completeness: 100% population of mandatory fields designated with a red asterisk (*) in the STADS administrative interface. Unpopulated fields result in immediate batch rejection.

7. Practical Troubleshooting Scenarios

Scenario A: ECTS Workload Discrepancy Flagged During Validation

• Symptom: System blocks submission, returning error code ERR-ECTS-CALC-09, indicating that the sum of contact hours and independent study hours does not match the assigned 15 ECTS weight (412.5 hours).
• Immediate Corrective Action Protocol:
  1. Open the course calculation matrix spreadsheet.
  2. Recapsulate preparation hours per lecture block. Adjust independent study hours until the exact arithmetic sum of 412.5 hours is achieved.
  3. Re-enter the corrected values into the STADS workload subsection.
  4. Re-run the automated validation script. Do not proceed until ERR-CODE clears.

Scenario B: Study Board Rejection Due to Ambiguous Learning Outcomes

• Symptom: Study Board Secretariat rejects the course description, citing that learning outcomes utilize passive or unmeasurable verbs (e.g., "understand," "learn," "appreciate").
• Immediate Corrective Action Protocol:
  1. Retrieve rejection memo from the workflow audit trail.
  2. Rewrite offending outcome statements using active Bloom’s Taxonomy verbs (e.g., replace "Understand the principles of X" with "Analyze and evaluate the application of X").
  3. Resubmit the updated metadata packet directly to the Study Board Secretariat queue with an annotated change log attached to the ticket.

Scenario C: Synchronization Failure Between STADS and Public Course Database

• Symptom: Course description is marked as "Approved" in STADS, but fails to render on kursus.ku.dk after the standard 4-hour synchronization window.
• Immediate Corrective Action Protocol:
  1. Verify that the course lifecycle status flag in STADS is explicitly set to PUBLISHED rather than APPROVED_INTERNAL.
  2. Check for illegal character strings (e.g., unescaped HTML tags, non-standard UTF-8 symbols) in the course title or mandatory literature fields.
  3. If status is correct and no illegal characters exist, submit an urgent high-priority ticket to UCPH IT Service Desk citing the STADS Course ID and requesting a manual database cache flush.