University teaching and evaluation of courses - popular? University teachers' perspective

There is high agreement among evaluation experts that the acceptance of evaluation by the stakeholders is a substantial prerequisite that evaluation results in quality improvement. However, there is a lack of empirical studies on that topic. It is the intention of the present study to overcome this deficiency. University teachers from three faculties from various Austrian universities were asked about their attitudes towards university teaching and evaluation of courses. Data from 234 subjects could be used for data analyses (participation rate was 39 %). As expected, results showed that university teachers prefer research in comparison to teaching. But, independently from subjects' positions within the university there is agreement, that evaluation should primarily focus on teaching. Most of the university teachers had experience with evaluation of highest knowledge showed professors). Only a fifth of the university teachers expected solely positive consequences from the evaluation edicted by law. Results of cluster analysis showed that acceptance of the evaluation by university teachers needs differentiate procedures.