Practical support in working with contract education
Here you will find information about the administration of contract education. You can read about who can buy and participate in contract education, the rules governing the activity, how agreements are to be managed and how to use the Mira system. It also provides links to templates, internal regulatory documents and guidelines on quality assurance and document management.
The Mira education management system is used for contract education administration. It is also a tool for collecting information about the contract education offered at Lund University.
Who can purchase and participate in contract education?
The University may provide contract education in accordance with the Ordinance on contract education at higher education institutions (2002:760).
The Ordinance states that contract education is education organised for a fee, and that only legal entities may purchase contract education. This means that self-employed people cannot buy contract education from the University. In addition, it is always the commissioning client who selects the programme participants.
It is the funding and the specific way in which participants are selected that characterise contract education.
Fees for contract education – full cost recovery
Contract education is to be conducted on a full cost recovery basis, which means that both direct and indirect costs are to be included. Before signing a contract for contract education, a full cost calculation needs to be made in order to calculate a price that ensures full cost recovery.
For support and information, please refer primarily to the faculty-specific procedures.
The importance of a written agreement
The Swedish Council for Higher Education's regulations (UHRFS 2013:11) on how the Ordinance on contract education at higher education institutions is to be applied, state, among other things, that contract education is always to be based on a written agreement between the higher education institution and the client.
It is important that the contract education provided by the University is relevant to the participants' work for the client or is needed for labour market or welfare policy reasons.
At Lund University, the following agreement template and associated general terms and conditions are to be used for contract education, to ensure that the provisions of the Ordinance on contract education are correctly applied.
- Contract education agreement – template (Word 99 kB, new window, in Swedish)
- General terms for contract education (PDF, 154 kB, new tab, in Swedish)
Who signs?
The person authorised to enter into agreements under Lund University's decision on the allocation of decision-making powers must always familiarise themselves with the content of the agreement and decide whether the University should enter into the agreement. This applies regardless of whether the contract is reviewed by legal counsel or not.
Information on contract law and how to assess an agreement
Contract education – distinct from other education
Contract education is not to be confused with, for example, higher education courses or programmes conducted on behalf of other units within Lund University or contracted courses conducted for, or commissioned by, other higher education institutions. Contracted courses are not regulated by law or regulation, but only in the public service agreement for state higher education institutions.
For staff working in contract education
A member of the University's staff may not hold an appointment or carry out activities in the University's contract education or contract research without the authorisation of their employer.
Information on secondary employment on the HR website
Internal regulatory documents
Policy for contract education at Lund University
Lund University's policy for contract education describes the University's long-term orientation, overall positions and priorities regarding the contract education conducted at the University.
Policy for contract education at Lund University (PDF, 95 kB, new tab)
Lund University’s regulations on the management of contract education in Ladok
The University has established rules for the management of credit-earning contract education in the study administration system Ladok. These include how courses are to be labelled with a specific course code and that courses and programmes are to have an established syllabus.
The following general advice and guidelines also apply to credit-earning contract education.
- General Guidelines on Course Evaluations and Course Evaluation Reports at Lund University (PDF, 157 kB, new tab)
- Guidelines for Quality Assurance and Quality Enhancement of Education at Lund University (PDF, 132 kB, new tab)
- Lund University’s regulations on managing contract education in Ladok (PDF, 182 kB, new tab)
For more information about quality assurance at Lund University, see Education support on Staff Pages.
Information about quality assurance and enhancement at Lund University
The Records Management Plan
The Records Management Plan includes information on how different documents in contract education are to be managed. Use the plan as a reference guide to find out what you should do with your documents.
Contact
Contract Education
Coordinator Samira Elmi Eriksson
contracteducation [at] stu [dot] lu [dot] se