Author: Eva Åkesson (Page 5 of 5)

We often discuss the need for society to be open and inclusive. At Uppsala University, we consider openness essential to our development and growth.

This Thursday, I spoke at a conference on equal opportunity. In my speech, I highlighted the need to create an atmosphere where everyone feels they can assert themselves, and how this, to me, is a question of quality. If we fail to do so, we will have a hard time recruiting students and researchers in the fierce competition internationally.

On Friday, I participated in a debate in Lund on the topic: Are Swedish Universities Applying the Right Strategy in Research and Education? The debate revolved around how to keep Swedish higher education competitive internationally, and how to face international competition. However, we must also strive to collaborate with the best and brightest to create what we want – a better world.

The Swedish Minister for Higher Education and Research, Helene Hellmark Knutsson, took part in the conference on Thursday. We – she, I and Anders – discussed the University’s needs at length. We delved into our various initiatives, both upcoming and cancelled ones. We had a good talk, always keeping the ideals of internationality and openness in mind.

Naturally, the atrocities committed in Trollhättan were never far from our minds, either. We have all been greatly affected, and our thoughts go out to any students who now fear going to school. The tragedy has already sparked debate on safety and security – on how we are to protect our children.

On my flight home, I tried to summarize my impressions of a few intense and rewarding days in Korea. Yesterday (Tuesday) marked the occasion of the seventh collaborative symposium with Hallym University, this time on the theme of ‘Current status and future perspective of immunotherapy for malignant diseases’. Kjell Öberg opened the proceedings with a lecture outlining the topic: Current concepts in diagnosis and treatment of neuroendocrine tumours. Kjell has been to all seven symposiums, alternately held in Uppsala and Seoul. The first symposium in 2008 was initiated by my predecessor Anders Hallberg and its legacy has been an increasingly deepened relationship between our two universities over the years. Joining us for the trip were Magnus Essand, Anna Dimberg, Alex Karlsson-Parra and Gustav Ullenhag, who all held well-received lectures before a very attentive and appreciative audience. Next time, we’ll see each other at Uppsala University for the eight annual symposium.

The Korea trip had been deliberately scheduled so as to allow me to participate in the OECD Ministerial Meeting Daejeon 2015 World Science & Technology Forum as an invited speaker this Monday. There, I gave a presentation entitled ‘Innovation and research – a local perspective on global challenges’ during a session on the theme: Global Cooperation, Research For All. Sweden is renowned for its creativity and its many innovators. A week or so ago, our Alumnus of the Year Niklas Zennström stated that Sweden is the world’s greatest country for entrepreneurs right now. I tried to showcase a few examples of how Uppsala University contributes to this through our AIMdays, student participation, KIC:s, and our global collaborations which retain a strong degree of local ties.

South Korea has made enormous strides in a relatively short period of time. The transition to higher education is far greater than ours, upwards of 70-80 percent, while the corresponding figures for Sweden are about 40-45 percent. There is still work to be done in gender equality, as few women hold leadership roles in South Korea. Now, the country faces large challenges, with a rapidly ageing population and uncertain economic prospects, as South Korea relies heavily on exports to China.

As I’ve fallen a bit behind with my blogging, I’ll simply touch on a few things from last week in this post.

Last week, we held domain-focused dialogues with all three Disciplinary Domains. It’s part of standard procedure nowadays to hold dialogues in both autumn and spring with the heads of the Disciplinary Domains. The vice-rectors spoke of overall progress and challenges. We discussed how to face them together. We also received input on which questions the Domain wants the University to bring to the attention of the government in the budget proposal for 2017-2019. This also became the start of a discussion for the VP (verksamhetsplan) of the University for 2017.

Last Monday, the Management Council spent the entire morning at a workshop on fundraising. We still have much to learn and room to grow in this area, that much was clear after our trip to the US recently. Our alumni association needs to be expanded as it is a cornerstone of this business, but our work on collaborations and external relations also need a general overhaul to accommodate more ambitious fundraising.

In the afternoon, I received a guided tour of the Munken Block, where the Faculty of Law has moved into the premises. It was a delight to meet with all the happy law students, many of whom were simply gushing about the new study spots. My sincere thanks to Margareta Brattström for an enjoyable tour!

As Vice-Chancellor, meeting with our students is always a joy. Last Wednesday, I met with our chemists at the Ångström Laboratory. For the second year in a row, I had been graciously invited there to talk about my career path from chemist to Vice-Chancellor.

On the following day, the Diplomatic Forum took place, where Chancellor Harriet Wallberg, (UKÄ), Sven Stavström (VR) and I had the honour of presenting education and research in Sweden to an audience of diplomats. A good opportunity to promote our fine University to an international audience. Lena Wallensteen hosts these seminars for diplomats stationed in Sweden.

The week was topped off in suitably grand style with the staff party at Uppsala Concert & Congress (UKK), which brought together more than 600 staff members. This year, the festivities had been relocated from the Royal Castle to UKK and from November to October, as well as rebranded a staff party instead of a November party. As a result, we can fit more people in the same hall, and there’s no risk of the floor giving out as everyone jumps along to the music. We’ve managed to shake the floor of the former Hall of State pretty good these last few years. With a stable floor and room for everyone, Friday’s party was a hit, to my mind.

There, I managed to hit upon a few of last week’s highlights as well. Now, following the return trip from South Korea, the Gender Equality Conference awaits, including a visit from the Minister for Higher Education and Research, Helene Hellmark Knutsson.

I often speak of internationalization as a part of the process of quality development at Uppsala University. Internationalization is a broad and multifaceted term. It is good to widen your horizons, not only as a university, but also as an individual. We need to see how others do things, draw comparisons, adopt new perspectives, seek out inspiration and learn from others. These last few days have afforded ample opportunity to do all those things alongside a delegation from the University, Uppsala Municipality and Uppsala County, as we have spent them visiting Uppsala’s sister city, Minneapolis.

Here, we have met with the University of Minnesota to discuss innovation systems, and found ourselves impressed by their structured work in fundraising, internationalization and pedagogical development. We have had the great pleasure of meeting with President Kaler and several representatives of various parts of the University. In addition, we have also had the opportunity to learn about how the City of Minneapolis, the State of Minnesota and the University collaborate on different projects.

On Sunday, we went to see the Swedish settlements that inspired Vilhelm Moberg’s novel The Emigrants, and its tales of Karl Oskar and Kristina from Duvemåla. Our very own expert on Sweden-America relations, Dag Blanck, offered problematizing perspectives on the notion of Swedishness, identity and migration. This lent the trip additional depth and value.

A particularly rewarding part of the visit has been traveling with representatives of Uppsala Municipality, Uppsala County and Uppsala University. We have met with architects, arena owners, and city developers. This has provided enough inspiration for new collaborations to last us well after our return.

Our trip was fantastically well-coordinated by the American Swedish Institute. They have generously given us their time and knowledge. The institute also has very inspiring offerings of its own. Among them are a delightful museum that includes temporary exhibitions and a very good café – called “Fika”. If you ever find yourself in Minnesota, I highly recommend you to pay a visit to the American Swedish Institute, as it is absolutely worth it. The Institute works with modern-day migrants in an impressive way, such as a large group of Somalians. For instance, they tell the newly arrived Somalians of migrant Swedes’ experiences from more than a hundred years ago. It is a way of using the past to understand the present. For my own part, I believe our history as emigrants to the US can help us to better understand and deal with the current situation in Europe, as refugees flee war zones and brave great danger in search of better lives.

I personally hold the University of Minnesota and Minneapolis dear to my heart. I spent two years here as a postdoc. It was an edifying period of my life. But they are also dear to Uppsala University. Our Faculties of Law have enjoyed fruitful exchanges with one another in education and research for more than 30 years. Now, representatives of the Faculty of Law and I were given the chance to meet with Professor Bob Stein, who played an important part in initiating the exchange. It is inspiring to see glimpses of how new generations of researchers and teachers from both Uppsala and Minnesota will maintain and further our relationship in the future. That the exchange between our universities has meant a a great deal to many people was made evident during the visit. I was privy to a lot of testimony as to just how appreciated and important the exchange and collaboration has been to both students and teachers.

Today, a few members of the delegation are set to return home, while the rest will accompany me to Dartmouth, a partner university in the Matariki Network.

On the way home from Australia I stopped off in Oslo to take part in the Nordic Vice-Chancellors meeting on Monday and Tuesday.

We were welcomed by Ole Petter Ottersen, Vice-Chancellor of Oslo University. He pointed out that the Nordic countries have more top-ranked universities than France or Germany. Asked what universities should stand for his reply was: Autonomy, curiosity and durability. A lot is going on in Norway, a new funding model has been suggested and several universities are currently merging. There is curiosity regarding our experiences from Campus Gotland.

Kristin Ingolfsdottir, Vice-Chancellor of Háskóli Íslands spoke on Nurturing talent and meeting the needs of new generations. Technology-driven development was the theme, but not much has happened in higher education. She also spoke of MOOCs and the development 2012–2015. There are many question marks regarding the extent and effect they will have in the longer term. But one effect of MOOCs and the discussion they have generated is that many universities have implemented e-learning policies, better infrastructure and innovative teaching. MOOCs have become a catalyser for rethinking structures and reforms in courses. Edinburgh University was put forward as a good example.

Lars Haikola, former university chancellor and head of the Swedish Higher Education Authority (UKÄ), was invited to speak about his inquiry “The role and educational task of higher education”. Part of the inquiry is to describe the relationship between free-standing courses and study programmes, magister vs Master’s programmes as well as assessing if there is a balance between student demand, the needs of the labour market, other needs of society and quality.

Different talks were given on societal challenges and how to face them, the challenges faced in Finland where the situation was described as the worse than in all other Nordic countries. The Confederation of Swedish Enterprise’s reports were criticised by Pam Fredman, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Gothenburg, for being substandard. Multidisciplinary and transdisciplinary research was also on the agenda. Finland and Norway will give tuition fees a pass, perhaps from having seen the consequences in Sweden.

All in all it was an interesting day. It was good to get an overview of what is going on in our Nordic neighbours. But now it feels really good to be back home in Uppsala!

Eva

Our first meeting with alumni and friends in Melbourne on Monday evening became a festive occasion. 35 alumni, exchange students, friends and honorary doctors took part in the event, where many new connections were made. This was one of several events on our trip to Melbourne and Sydney this week. Uppsala University has had exchange agreements with both Melbourne and Monash universities since the beginning of the nineties. Hundreds of students have travelled in both directions over the years since. Both current and previous exchange students have borne witness of the great value of such an exchange period. Australia is both safe and familiar, all while having a clear Asian dimension.

On Monday and Tuesday, I (Eva) have had interesting talks with the University of Melbourne and Monash University, together with my Swedish colleagues Catharina Svensson, Kerstin Rydbeck, Erika Dabhilkar and Kay Svensson. It is interesting to learn about these universities’ strategic work with internationalisation. They have a holistic approach which includes both research and education, and also their international ‘impact’. To them it is to a large extent about systematically describing the results of their research and education, and building a professional and global readiness among their students.

We have also discussed how we can develop our collaborations in already established areas as well as new initiatives such as summer/winter schools and how we work with European research funding. At Monash University we also discussed an upcoming application for mobility for students, researchers and teachers within Erasmus+.

Higher education in Australia is a sector going through large changes. State funding at Monash University has shrunk from 65% of their budget for research and education 15 years ago down to 35% today. Still they manage to maintain a high international level and continue to attract students and researchers. We also discussed their work with quality management as well as admissions and student recruitment, which are central issues to is in Sweden too.

Today we are visiting the University of Sydney. We will get back to you with a blog post from there towards the end of the week.

Today, 80 new PhDs and 17 honorary doctorates have been conferred in the traditional Winter Conferment Ceremony. We also awarded prizes and awards to 11 worthy recipients.

This long day began early – at 06:00 – with a traditional porridge breakfast at Uplands Nation together with the students. One hour later, at 07:00, the day’s first cannon salute resounded over Uppsala, and the actual ceremony began at 12:15 with the procession into the Grand Auditorium. After the conferment ceremony we celebrated together with a ball at the castle.

It has been a grand conferment day, that has filled us with pride. It feels good to be surrounded by so much knowledge and joy at once.

If I could I would mention and thank everyone, but that would make this a post with no end. Instead, here are some photos from today’s ceremony.

 

Once a semester, the whole University Board gets together for 24 hours somewhere in the vicinity of Uppsala. On these occasions, the Vice-Rectors also attend the sessions for part of the time.

The University Board has scope for discussing strategic issues and obtaining in-depth knowledge of our University. The day before yesterday, we had a final discussion ahead of yesterday’s decision on the University’s goals and strategies. Work on this document has engaged large parts of the University over the past year. A working group headed by Coco Norén and Göran Magnusson, with Tom Pettersson’s support, held numerous meetings with both internal and external groups and drew up a proposal. After it was circulated for comment and work had been done at faculties and in disciplinary domains, we continued to work on the proposal during the autumn, both in the Vice-Chancellor’s Management Council and at the Meeting of the Deans. There, we also discussed priorities. The University Board was pleased with the new proposal. They made a few additions and did some language editing. It feels good that the document has already been accepted, thanks to the inclusive process. Soon the new document, ‘Goals and strategies’, will be published on our website. There remains the vital task of translating the visions into concrete education and research activities. This is a task that the University Board will follow very closely.

We also had presentations of this year’s Nobel Prizes and their connections with current research at Uppsala University. This is a much appreciated annual event for our University Board members. This year, the Physics Prize was presented by Olga Bottner, the Chemistry Prize by Jan Davidsson, the Medicine Prize by Klas Kullander, the Economics Prize by Eva Mörk and the Literature Prize by Christina Kullberg. They all did so in an inspired, proficient and engaging way. A thousand thanks for these inspiring and exciting presentations.

During the day’s meeting, the University Board took the decision to appoint Dr Katarina Bjelke as University Director. Katarina’s current job is at the Ministry of Education and Research, where she has been a director and head of research policy. I look forward to rewarding cooperation when she starts in April. We must all help to make her feel welcome with us.

Deputy Vice-Chancellor Anders Malmberg is in South Africa starting our new Erasmus Mundus collaboration. It will be exciting to hear what he has to tell when he returns.

The annual network meeting took place in Göttingen today. U4 is a relatively small, focused university network with four higher education institutions: the universities of Groningen, Ghent, Göttingen and Uppsala. Our cooperation takes place mainly in five academic clusters:

• Humanities (host: Ghent)
• Medicine and Pharmacy (host: Groningen)
• Science and Technology (host: Uppsala)
• Social Sciences, Economics and Law (host: Göttingen)
• Institutional Management

After listening to reports from all the clusters and from the student representatives, I can state that activities in the network have both expanded and been broadened. There are summer and winter courses, workshops, joint degrees, conferences, leadership programmes, benchmarking and various administrative processes. Uppsala University will host the next joint meeting for the whole network on 15–16 November 2015, but before that several workshops and cluster meetings a be held. There are also options to apply for funding of stays in Göttingen and to start new contacts in the network. If you have any queries or thoughts about how you can use this network, please get in touch with Oskar Pettersson, our contact and coordinator for U4. On the trip, as well as myself and Oskar, were Kay Svensson, Johan Tysk, Caisa Lycken, Lars Magnusson and Mats Larhed.

There’s a lot going on. Both Anders and I have been travelling recently, with no time to keep writing our usual blog posts. But we’re now going to summarise a few highlights of the past few weeks. The visits to Campus Gotland have been commented on in separate blogs.

In the past week, we’ve had domain reviews with the management of all three disciplinary domains. The discussions during the retreats for the management staff and deans continued at the reviews, and touched on the broad notion of university and its meaning. What are the forms required to make best use of the strengths of the wide-ranging, complete international research university? The domains can prepare documentation for discussing a few priority issues that are advantageous to pursue jointly. Discussions were also held on developing our collaboration, nationally and internationally. Development in terms of volume and quality in education and research, as well as internationalisation and skills provision, were self-evident themes. Discussions in the course of the domain reviews were structured on the basis of the following questions:

• How should we deal with the strategic initiatives in the University’s operational plan for 2015 at domain and faculty level?
• What strategic issues exist at domain and faculty level?
• What strategic issues need addressing in the University’s operational planning for 2016?
• What should we pinpoint for the Government in the budget documentation for 2016–18?

The Dag Hammar­skjöld Lecture was well attended. This time, Helen Clark, the Director of UNDP and former Prime Minister of New Zealand, came to give the lecture in the Grand Auditorium. It was resonant and interesting. Fifty-three years after his death, Dag Hammarskjöld remains an inspiration.

The Taipei Mission came to visit, and we discussed collaboration between universities in Taiwan and ourselves. We already have collaboration agreements, covering both education and research, with outstanding universities in the island nation. We talked about how we can intensify the existing collaboration projects and develop them further.

On Saturday I travelled to Vietnam, one purpose being to open our new office in Hanoi. The aim of our internationalisation efforts is to strengthen our position in Asia. The University already has several joint projects under way in, for example, business studies, women’s and children’s health, and government. Since 2009 we have implemented a Master’s Programme in Public Management (contract education) seven times. Vietnam is a country where, historically, Sweden has a unique position and where we see interesting opportunities for developing new collaborations. Earlier this year, we signed an agreement with Vietnam International Education Development (VIED), which funds Vietnamese students’ education abroad. In conjunction with the visit, the Lotus+ (Linking organisations through university synergies) project, part of the EU Erasmus Mundus programme, had its kick-off in Hanoi. This programme, coordinated by Uppsala University, has 20 partners and a budget of some SEK 30 million in scholarship funding to use for mobility at Bachelor’s, Master’s and postgraduate level (first-, second- and third-cycle education), and also for postdoctoral students and staff.

An eventful year is now drawing to a close. The first year for us as Vice-Chancellor and Deputy Vice-Chancellor has entailed new assignments and challenges, but above all an opportunity to get to know you and Uppsala University.

2012 has been a successful year in many ways. Uppsala University is in a phase of triumph and transformation, words we have used in many different contexts. In this last blog entry from us this year, we want to thank you for all of your superb contributions and also to recall and reflect upon the past year. The New Year is an occasion to look both backward and forward.

Emerging strategic priorities

Uppsala University is a broad research university with a strong international reputation. Our mission is to conduct research and education of the highest quality and in various ways to interact with the wider community. Our ultimate goal is – with our research findings, our excellent students, and our outreach collaboration – to help make the world a better place.

In various contexts during the year – primarily, of course, with the vice rectors and students in the Leadership Council – we have pursued discussions about what issues will be especially important for us to continue to work with in coming years in order to reach our ambitious goals regarding research, education, and collaboration. Four prioritized areas have crystalized in these discussions. These are areas where we in many cases are already well poised but where there is reason to step up our efforts even more to advance our positions at departments, faculties, and disciplinary domains – and at Uppsala University as a whole. These four areas are:

Quality and quality work. Uppsala University´s long-term success is entirely dependent on the culture of academic quality that is reproduced and developed in the collegial forums responsible for research and education at departments and faculties. The challenge faced by a broad university in this connection is also to develop work modes where we learn from, are inspired by, and challenge each other across subject, faculty, and domain boundaries in terms of work to enhance the quality of our research and education.

Internationalisation. This is a matter of advancing our positions as a strategy for continuous renewal and development of research and education. As an internationally leading university, we will develop our collaboration and exchanges with leading universities in other countries and offer research and education environments that attract researchers, teachers, postdocs, doctoral students, and students from the entire world.

Ensuring our supply of competence. Perhaps the single most important factor for the University´s ability to fulfil its long-term goals involves how successful we are in recruiting, keeping, and developing qualified teachers and researchers, as well as employees in various support functions.

Infrastructure. Infrastructures for research and education comprise everything from major research facilities to such things as libraries, databases, IT systems, and premises. Housing also comes under this heading. Some of these infrastructures are international, others are national and local, but all of them will require long-term planning and well-considered funding strategies.

The year gone by

Looking back at the year gone by, we can see that these strategic priorities have in many ways already infused our work. One of the year´s major events, the government´s bill on research and innovation, clearly touches on all four issues. Besides raising government research funding and a number of focused research initiatives (national peer review as a basis for allocating government resources), internationalisation, and ensuring our supply of competence (special commitments to attract international elite researchers and to provide leading young researchers with good conditions) as well as infrastructure (investments to expand SciLifeLab, ESS, and MAX IV, all of key importance to Uppsala University).

In terms of education, the year has been dominated by discussions about dimensioning. In various contexts we have pointed out the poor timing of the government´s reduction of educational volumes at Uppsala University. We are being forced to cut the number of students by 10 % over just a couple of years, at the same time as the application pressure for our courses and study programmes is greater than ever. A large and research-intensive university like ours will undoubtedly be able to deal with this adjustment, but it is a pity that we will be forced to close the door to students wishing to pursue study programmes in areas where we have great competence and where society´s needs for a skilled workforce will be growing in years to come.

This mandated volume reduction has also been a reminder of the importance of discussions and planning when it comes to educational strategies. In times of declining volumes, it is especially vital that we pursue a nuanced discussion of how out educational offerings are to be developed. This is not a simple matter, and a number of dimensions need to be factored into the balance: student demand and the needs of the job market must be weighed against where we have competence, quality, and strong research profiles, as well as our identity as a full-scale university. This discussion will undoubtedly have to continue in coming years.

Regarding quality issues the year has been characterized by the National Agency for Higher Education evaluations of study programmes, KrUUt (Creative Developmental Work at UU), and ranking questions.

The evaluations by the National Agency for Higher Education have attracted a great deal of attention. The method has been heatedly discussed and questioned on many points. These evaluations have major consequences, with winners and losers, redistribution of resources, or withdrawn accreditation to issue degrees. Uppsala University has had a number of programmes called into question, which is something we cannot be happy about. At the same time we have been awarded top grades for many of our major programmes, which rendered us winners in the first year of allocation of extra quality funding. When it comes to the points where we were criticized, the evaluations have also led to intensified work to remedy deficiencies and develop forms of teaching, which is good.

The so-called KrUUt project is spurting down the home stretch. Activities that have been carried out within faculties and domains have submitted their reports and reviewed by an international panel whose conclusions and recommendations will be accounted for in the final report early in the new year.

University rankings are attracting ever-greater attention, whether we like them or not. In 2012 we at Uppsala University have been actively working to develop an approach to the phenomenon, which also includes a selection of which ranking lists are interesting to monitor. The outcomes of the major rankings in 2012 evince only minor changes compared with the previous year. With one exception, we have maintained our position as one of the world´s 100 foremost universities:

• Shanghai ranking (AWRU) 73
• QS World University Rankings 81
• Times Higher Education 106
• National Taiwan University Ranking 88

In December the Swedish Riksdag reached a decision entailing that operations at Gotland University College will become part of Uppsala University as of 1 July 2013. The point of departure for the multiyear integration process that led to this decision is closely linked to quality. By becoming a part of Uppsala University, operations in Visby will be better equipped to become a setting for full-fledged academic research and education of the highest quality. But the merger brings more benefits than that. Campus Gotland will in many ways contribute to the diversity and advancement of Uppsala University, with among other things liberal arts courses and study programmes and Net-based instruction.

Internationalisation work is being conducted on many fronts. We have a steady flow of international visitors coming to Uppsala to learn about our operations and forge contacts for future exchanges: ambassadors, politicians, and not least vice-chancellors from other universities. During the year we have received visitors from Brazil, Bulgaria, Chile, China, France, Lithuania, Malaysia, Portugal, Rwanda, and Uganda, to name just a few examples. Of course, Uppsala University has also hosted a large number of international conferences. It is good that so meetings of different sorts bring people from all over the world to visit us. Plans to establish a global meeting place in the field of health, ethics, and economics are continuing. In this a number of actors in the city are collaborating to create an Uppsala Health Summit.

Uppsala University participates in several different networks and associations of higher-education institutions from various countries.

We have taken part in meetings with our partners in the European University Centre at Peking University, U4, and Matariki. We are now planning coming visits to universities that we wish to learn from and/or strengthen our relations with. Next in line are Århus, Cambridge, Edinburgh, and University College London.

In the past year we have also had occasion to celebrate major advances made by Uppsala University within Erasmus Mundus.  We are now involved in as many as ten programmes, one of which we are coordinating ourselves. This is a good level. We should perhaps not try to do more but instead give priority to other regions, partners, and preferably coordinate a programme geared to southern Africa within SANORD.

Matters involving our supply of competence have also been central. We continue to recruit new associates at a rapid pace. We wish to extend a cordial welcome to all of the several hundred individuals who embarked upon their employment at Uppsala University during 2012! If we haven´t met yet, we look forward to meeting you at the next introductory day for new employees.

Our doctoral conferment ceremonies and inaugurations of professors are also powerful manifestations of our supply of competence. Of the 42 professors installed in November, 40 % are women, evidence that we are approaching a better balance also at this level. One thing we are extremely proud of is that we, as the first higher-education institution in the country, have put in place forms of employment enabling younger researchers to enhance their qualifications. As of November it is possible recruit assistant university lecturers and research assistants at Uppsala University, an opportunity that we hope will be put to extensive use of in 2013.

Infrastructure issues have occupied us a great deal. The single most important question has been to put in place the structure for SciLifeLab. This is a unique initiative in Sweden, where Uppsala University, together with universities in Stockholm, is now to create a national research infrastructure, Sweden SciLife. This is a major governmental commitment, a fantastic opportunity, and a daunting responsibility. At the Biomedical Centre, BMC, the so-called Hub is now under construction, as a meeting place in Uppsala for this initiative. Ground has also been broken for the so-called Freia Hall, where Uppsala University is to develop and construct accelerators and instruments for ESS in Scania, in southern Sweden.

Together with Akademiska hus we are planning new construction. The project to build a new administration building in the Nursery has sparked considerable debate, and this will no doubt continue to be discussed in coming years, as the planning process continues. The municipality is working hard, and ever more successfully, to address the housing issue, which is important for both students and new employees.

The serious incident that caused disruptions in the IT system for a couple of days in late May was a reminder of the importance of continuously developing hardware, software, and organization for this crucial infrastructure.

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And of course there are lots of fun and exciting things that happen at a large and broad university during a year.

We are working constantly to develop and deepen our relations to organizations and individuals who wish us well in various ways and want to support our operations. We continuously invite representatives from research financiers, business, and public authorities to visit us. The grants we receive from councils and foundations – all of them – are absolutely critical to how our research is able to advance. We are working ever more systematically with our alumni network. We benefit greatly from Uppsala universitets vänner, as well as the US-based foundation American Friends of Uppsala University. The University Board, led by its chairman, Hans Dahlborg, puts in a tremendous amount of work and engagement to help us move forward.

A number of annual lectures provide us with opportunities to invite world-leading researchers to Uppsala. Conferment ceremonies, inaugurations of professors, diploma ceremonies, banquets in honour of recent retirees, the Anders Wall lecture and Entrepreneurship Day, the November Fest, and the visits from the Nobel laureates in December are obvious highlights of the academic year in Uppsala. Our successful unit for innovation and collaboration, UU Innovation, garnered well-deserved acclaim on its fifth anniversary in September.

As leaders of a large and broad university with a decentralized organization, it is particularly challenging for us to develop channels for communication and exchange of information. Blogs, Facebook, and Twitter are all fine, but the visits we make to disciplinary domains and departments are, like our Senate meetings, unsurpassed when it comes to both getting a sense of the challenges and problems that occupy our operations and having a chance to discuss various strategic considerations and policies. During the year we have begun to develop forms of dialogue with the disciplinary domains. This spring the focus will be on the budget, and in the autumn it will be on quality and strategic challenges. We will continue to pay visits to departments in 2013. We will also be trying out pan-University seminars on topical issues, under the aegis of the newly established Quality Council.

Looking ahead

2013 will bring new challenges. Nothing seems to indicate that there will be less to do. We have research and education of the very highest quality, but we cannot rest on our laurels. The outside world is in flux, and the competition is stiffening. Securely anchored in our fundamental values and firm in our convictions about what our mission is, we stand ready to accept future challenges.

We do so together with representatives of our collegial bodies, and with you students, teachers, researchers, and other employees, along with all other friends and champions of Uppsala University. Together, we are – and are developing – Uppsala University.

Eva Åkesson and Anders Malmberg