Author: Vice-Chancellor’s Blog (Page 16 of 24)

(Original Swedish post pubhlished 18 October.)

On Tuesday and Wednesday, the Vice-Chancellor, Deputy Vice-Chancellor, University Director, vice-rectors, deans, administrative heads and others gathered for the autumn semester deans’ meeting, this time at Lejondal Castle. The overnight format provides time for in-depth strategic discussions.

The Vice-Chancellor began with a report on ongoing developments at the University and more broadly. Otherwise, the main topic on the first day was how best to use and address the many recommendations emerging from the Quality and Renewal 2017 (Q&R17) research evaluation. With the final report on the way to the printers in a week or so, Deputy Vice-Chancellor Anders Malmgren and Head of Evaluation Åsa Kettis were able for the first time to give an overall presentation of the many observations, insights and proposals offered by the ample material in Q&R17. The ensuing discussion revolved around questions such as: Do we recognise ourselves in the descriptions and conclusions? What attitude should we take to the recommendations made by the international experts? What should we work on across the University and what is best dealt with by departments, faculties and disciplinary domains?

Several issues were identified that will have top priority for further action across the University. This applies in particular to career and recruitment issues, and how the role of heads of department can be strengthened. The discussion on how best to implement the findings of the Q&R project will continue in various forums and forms, most immediately in the University Board in connection with the presentation of the final report in mid-November.

The first day concluded with information about the government inquiry on governance and resources (STRUT), which concerns the principles and models to be applied by the government in governing and funding research and education at universities and other higher education institutions in Sweden. The inquiry focuses on three areas: principles of governance, range and scale of education provided, and allocation of resources. Anders Malmberg and Planning Director Daniel Gillberg went over the inquiry’s terms of reference and the position Uppsala University has so far taken on the various issues. It will be interesting to follow the inquiry’s progress when its preliminary proposals are revealed round about New Year, and next spring we will have a chance to discuss the issues and proposals directly with inquiry chair Pam Fredman.

On the second day, Daniel Gillberg and HR Director Eliane Forsse gave a progress report on the ongoing work on the skills supply programme, which generally speaking has turned out very well and become a valuable initiative for encouraging strategic thinking on recruitment issues at different levels in the University. We also had a briefing on the new EU data protection regulation that enters into force in May 2018, and finally, Academy Treasurer Kent Berg gave a much-appreciated overview of the activities of Uppsala University Foundations Management of Estates and Funds.

(Original Swedish post)

Last week (2–3 October), representatives of seven Swedish and 22 South African universities met at the University of Pretoria in South Africa to plan the contents of the internationalisation project South Africa–Sweden University Forum. This forum is coordinated by Uppsala University and is a cooperation project that will bring together researchers and other actors from Sweden and South Africa through activities in both countries from 2018 to 2020. The project has a budget of approximately SEK 18 million, with the funding coming from both countries via STINT (the Swedish Foundation for International Cooperation in Research and Higher Education), the participating Swedish universities and the National Research Foundation and Department of Higher Education and Training in South Africa. Apart from Uppsala University, the Swedish universities participating are Lund University, the University of Gothenburg, Karlstad University, Umeå University, Malmö University and University West.

During the meeting, the participants formulated research challenges that are common to both countries in preparation for the South Africa–Sweden Research & Innovation Week that will take place in Pretoria on 14–18 May 2018. The meeting was opened by Karin Hernmarck Ahliny, Deputy Head of Mission at the Embassy of Sweden in Pretoria. The participants in the discussions were deputy vice-chancellors, researchers and internationalisation officers from universities in both countries. During the Research & Innovation Week in May 2018, Swedish and South African researchers, research funding bodies, business representatives and senior university officers will meet in research seminars, guest lectures, workshops and network meetings with other actors in society.

Researchers at Uppsala University will be able to seek funding to participate in the various activities under the following six challenges:

•  Climate change, natural resources and sustainability
• Transforming higher education curricula: the nexus between academia and society
• Social transformation through change: knowledge and social development strategies for society
• Understanding the burden of disease in Sweden and South Africa and its impact on the health systems of the two countries in future
• Urbanisation and cities in the 21st Century
• Digital technologies, big data and cybersecurity

The participants from Uppsala University were Adviser to the Vice-Chancellor for Internationalisation Leif Kirsebom, Ashleigh Harris from the Department of English, and Erika Dabhilkar, Gustaf Cars and Erika Andersson from the International Office. For more information about the project and cooperation with South Africa, please contact Project Manager Gustaf Cars at the International Office, Gustaf.cars@uadm.uu.se.

There are a lot of celebrations just now. The University’s 540th birthday is being celebrated with a two-day party, which also marks the re-opening of the University Main Building after extensive renovation. At the festivities on Friday afternoon, Vice-Chancellor Eva Åkesson symbolically received the keys to the building from Birgitta Böhlin of the National Property Board. The Royal Academic Orchestra played, the choir Allmänna Sången sang, and so did soloists Alexandra Büchel, soprano, and Fredrik Zetterström, baritone. Carl Frängsmyr gave a splendid lecture on the role played by the University Main Building, and in particular the Grand Auditorium, in the course of its 130-year history, as a meeting place for knowledge, culture and critical dialogue, both within the University and in society at large.

In addition, the Alumnus of the Year Award was presented to Anita Falkenek. She is CEO of KRAV and has long worked with environment and sustainability issues, after studying ecotoxicology and biology at Uppsala University.

On Saturday, the celebrations continued in the University Main Building, with an open house, lectures and concerts. And as if this weren’t enough, on Saturday evening Eva Åkesson is taking part in the doctoral degree conferment ceremony at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, which coincides with our dear neighbour’s 40th anniversary. Many congratulations! Meanwhile, Deputy Vice-Chancellor Anders Malmberg is off to Västgöta nation student association, where the week’s celebration of Gunnar Wennerberg’s bicentenary will culminate with a seminar and a Wennerberg gasque.*

* Gunnar Wennerberg (1817–1901) was a Swedish composer, poet and politician who wrote many songs about student life in Uppsala, some of which are still traditionally sung at student dinners (gasques).

(Original Swedish post published 3 October.)

Today we heard from the Swedish Higher Education Authority (link in Swedish) that Uppsala University has well-developed procedures for its work on sustainable development in education. This is the first thematic evaluation in the quality assurance system for the period 2017–2022. The Authority’s report reveals that only 12 of the 47 higher education institutions evaluated receive the assessment “The higher education institution has a well-developed procedure for its work on sustainable development in education”, i.e., a passing grade, in all three of the evaluation’s aspect areas. The other 35 higher education institutions receive the assessment “The higher education institution’s procedure for its work on sustainable development is in need of development”. Naturally we take pride in this positive assessment and are happy at the recognition of these efforts, to which so many have contributed. Well done! This will energise and inspire us in our ongoing work.

(Original Swedish post published 2 October.)

The Management Council has spent a very busy day visiting Durham University and now we’re on our way home to Uppsala.  Durham and Uppsala already cooperate in several areas and forums, and we are both members of the Matariki and Coimbra university networks.  Staff can travel to Durham as Matariki Fellows.

Durham University has taken stock of its cooperative arrangements around the world and has then chosen a few universities in Europe and a total of ten worldwide that they want to enter into strategic partnerships with. Uppsala University is one of the higher education institutions they have asked to be a strategic partner. We do not have such a clear strategy when it comes to choosing who to cooperate with and how, but there are a number of universities that we can identify relatively easily as prioritised or strategic partners with whom we cooperate extensively across all three disciplinary domains. The Advisory Board for Internationalisation is making a survey of the cooperative arrangements prioritised by the disciplinary domains. The idea is to obtain a clearer picture of our map of the world based on this.

Durham University has recently produced a strategy for the period 2017–2027 that includes their work at local and global levels, education, research and the ‘wider student experience’. We particularly noted how clearly they have laid out a roadmap for the period with well-defined milestones, and also how they have set out criteria for success in terms of international students, ranking, percentage of women, income and contactable alumni. On the way home we discussed how our Mission and Core Values function, with the structure of programmes and action plans. Perhaps the next version of the Mission and Core Values should include the programmes to create a better whole. To sum up, it was an instructive visit and we intend to draw up an agreement that builds on existing cooperation but also shows that we want to develop more joint summer schools, programmes and various types of exchanges, including the students’ unions. The fact that students are represented in the Management Council at Uppsala University made a big impression – it’s a palpable expression of the strength of student influence here.

(Original Swedish post published 30 September.)

I’m penning these lines in Tartu, where I’ve been a member of the council of the university since the spring, which means being in Estonia a couple of times each semester. Apart from the council meeting, we had a joint meeting with the senate. Under the university’s rules of procedure, the council and senate must have at least one joint meeting per semester. Our own Academic Senate has held the first meeting of its new term of office and selected a new presidium: Charlotte Platzer Björkman, Jenny Eriksson Lundström and Josef Dahlberg. We look forward to many exciting and interesting debates in the Senate in the time ahead.

Charlotte Platzer Björkman, Jenny Eriksson Lundström, Josef Dahlberg

The University of Tartu was the second university in Sweden, as I’m sure you know, and Johan Skytte was its first vice-chancellor. Tomorrow the Johann Skytte Prize will be presented to Professor Amartya Sen. Don’t miss his lecture on “New Dangers for Democracy” at 17:30 on Saturday in the University Main Building.

The big event on Wednesday was the inauguration of Upptech (Uppsala University School of Technology), which has been established by the Disciplinary Domain of Science and Technology to raise the visibility, profile and strength of the University’s research and education in technology. World-changing tech takes more than just Tech – a good slogan that emphasises the importance of breadth.

Director Mikael Jonsson

A delegation of around 25 people from China and Kangmei Pharmaceuticals visited the Disciplinary Domain of Medicine and Pharmacy on Thursday to discuss future initiatives. At the same time, the management of Glasgow University was here for a study visit to compare ways of working on various strategic issues. Glasgow was one of the co-founders of the Guild of European Research-Intensive Universities, so this is an example of how the network draws us closer to other universities in Europe.

We started the week with an enlarged Management Council meeting, at which we carried out the annual university-wide risk analysis. It’s interesting to conduct this analysis together and to draw on everyone’s combined wisdom to try to identify and evaluate risks so that we can achieve the goals we have set ourselves as well as possible. The risk analysis made it clear that infrastructure is an emerging issue. The week ended with the Vice-Chancellor’s Management Council travelling to the UK on Sunday to visit Durham University to discuss strategic partnership and exchange of experience on Monday.

Reception for international researchers at Gustavianum

(Original Swedish post published 23 September.) 

Last week the government presented its budget bill for 2018. As usual, government ministers were deployed across the country to present the bill locally. Minister for Defence Peter Hultqvist was on Gotland to talk about defence investments but also about a commitment to research at Campus Gotland worth SEK 40 million (SEK 8 million per year for five years). This is a welcome commitment that will strengthen the framework for realising Uppsala University’s programme for Campus Gotland, which the University Board adopted the week before. It is also an acknowledgement on the part of the government that the merger has been a success and that we as a university are able to take responsibility for the advancement of knowledge in the region.

Uppsala University will receive an increase of SEK 29 million in its basic funding for research. This is thanks to quality-based allocations, as Uppsala comes out on top in terms of citations and is also a leader in obtaining external funding. As part of the implementation of last autumn’s research bill, the research councils will receive funds to distribute to research on antibiotic resistance, the challenge of digitalisation in society, and migration and integration. These are areas in which Uppsala University has strong research and should be able to contribute. 

In the area of education, Uppsala University will receive an additional sum of just over SEK 24 million, on top of previously known targeted investments in certain educational programmes, such as teacher, nurse and doctor education. This means we can educate more students, which is positive. Our students have been waiting a long time for the increase in the grant component of financial support for studies that has now been announced.

Otherwise, there was little news, most of the measures in the budget bill had been presented earlier during the late summer and early autumn.

(Original Swedish post published 19 September.)

Right now I am on my way to Uppsala from a meeting of the Principals’ Council in Stockholm. Trips to Stockholm are frequent and I am among those who can’t wait for the future four-track rail link. The meeting today was about national research infrastructure and its future funding and priorities. Other topics discussed included the current government inquiries on wider participation in higher education and the size of university boards. The EU’s ninth research framework programme (FP9) came up and I described the work of the Guild of European Research-Intensive Universities on the Lamy report (the report of the High Level Group on maximising the impact of EU Research and Innovation Programmes) and Brexit. We heard a presentation on Sweden’s application for the European Medicines Agency (EMA) – 19 countries are vying to host the EMA and the EU Member States will decide the issue in a vote later this autumn. The Principals’ Council, which consists of the heads of the 12 largest universities, is linked to one of our largest financiers, the Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation (KAW). KAW is celebrating its centenary this year with six symposia on different themes and in different locations in Sweden. The symposium here in Uppsala is entitled: “Human Progress in the 21st Century – Bright and Dark Sides of Democratization”.

At the Management Council meeting yesterday, we discussed support for collaboration, sustainable development initiatives, the inquiry on governance and resources, and rankings. We have received a report on rankings and Uppsala University, describing our position in the latest rankings and giving advice and recommendations for the future. In a few weeks we will have an action plan ready for further discussion and for the Management Council to take a position on. Regardless of what we think about the ranking lists, it is of the greatest importance that we report our data correctly so that Uppsala University shows to full advantage in these connections.

As you are no doubt aware, we are in the midst of choosing a vice-chancellor at the moment. I am one of the three candidates and look forward to meeting the consultative assembly on Thursday to show what I have achieved during the last six years, together with the other senior university officers, and to look ahead to how we want to tackle future challenges.

Don’t miss Friday’s lecture on “Human Rights in a Time of Global Insecurity” by Jan Eliasson, chair of the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) and former Swedish foreign minister, chair of the UN General Assembly and Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations. Jan Eliasson is appearing in the University’s series of lectures on human rights in memory of former Vice-Chancellor Martin Henriksson Holmdahl (1923–2015).

(Original Swedish post published 11 September.)

Yesterday we wrote in the local newspaper UNT about itchy-fingered interference. Read the article in UNT or read it below.

A new semester has started and we have welcomed our expectant new students to the University and to an education that will give them the skills and independence they need to meet their future labour market and the challenges of tomorrow’s society.

The government’s proposal this summer on widening participation has rightly provoked debate. The government’s message was that the Higher Education Ordinance would be amended to introduce tougher measures against social imbalances in student recruitment. Minister for Higher Education and Research Helene Hellmark Knutsson announced that higher education institutions must “work more broadly than previously to counter disparities in access to higher education between people from different social backgrounds, and to ensure that higher education is available throughout the country.”

It is very important that we have students from different social backgrounds and with differing experience – important for the educational environment and for quality. We are happy to open the door to more people and work continuously on new educational approaches, individual adaptation and other measures to give all our students the best chances of achieving their goals and dreams. It is natural for a university to try out and evaluate new paths to knowledge, both in research and in education. The quest for knowledge means constantly being on the move. We have no need of political lectures on this score.

But what is happening here is that a legislative amendment is being proposed, whose consequences have not been analysed, without prior discussion. The proposal circulated for consultation states that the wording should take account of the efforts to widen participation that are already in progress at higher education institutions. So why introduce legislation at all? Formalising multiple initiatives in law requires clarity, to begin with. What does ‘wider participation’ mean, legally speaking, and how is it to be monitored? Moreover: ‘wider’ efforts naturally require resources and a legal requirement will then govern higher education institutions’ choices when considering how to allocate funds for education. Priorities should build on knowledge and proven experience. Research shows that providing all students with good educational quality and teaching benefits those who are in greatest need of help.

The proposal, which has now been circulated for comment, is just one in a series of worrying political interventions since 2009, when the ‘autonomy reform’ was introduced. http://www.regeringen.se/rattsdokument/proposition/2010/03/prop.-200910149/. Under the previous government, a system for evaluating educational quality was forced through that was criticised by the higher education institutions and blasted by international reviewers of quality schemes. It is a serious matter that politicians have begun to repeatedly interfere in how higher education institutions conduct their own internal quality assurance of education and research. Earlier this year, Dalarna University and Blekinge Institute of Technology were forced to take decisions contrary to their own quality priorities. This is really going too far. It should go without saying that the choices made to best promote quality and knowledge development must be based on institutions’ own priorities and situations.

Spreading resources geographically will not solve the problem of social imbalance. Dividing resources between many small locations weakens the quality of instruction and makes it more difficult to achieve the goals that the government is aiming for. Moreover, the way in which the Minister points out that teaching needs to be adapted and higher education institutions need to devote more effort to reforming traditional teaching methods is not just pushing at an open door, it shows ignorance and a failure to understand the role of a government minister. The higher education sector must not become a cookie jar into which politicians dip their itchy fingers for short-term political gain. New proposals must be discussed broadly, with the higher education institutions and in parliament, before changing the law.

In the prevailing political climate, with growing populism in many countries, it is more important than ever to prevent a tendency towards increased political control of academia. It is time to ensure that higher education and research are given constitutional protection against short-term political influence. Naturally, as the entity responsible for and main financier of the education and research conducted at our higher education institutions, the state must set ambitious targets, but the institutions themselves must have a mandate to choose how to work towards these goals. The challenge facing the inquiry on governance and resources that the government appointed this spring appears ever greater and more important in retrospect. We need a discussion on the governance of higher education that is rooted in principles, that increases genuine autonomy and gives the higher education institutions greater authority over their own affairs. It’s quite all right to make high demands on our activities in terms of quality and relevance, but that aside, it’s time to put the lid on the higher education policy cookie jar.

 

Eva Åkesson, Vice-Chancellor

Anders Malmberg, Deputy Vice-Chancellor

Torsten Svensson, Vice-Rector for Humanities and Social Sciences

Stellan Sandler, Vice-Rector for Medicine and Pharmacy

Johan Tysk, Vice-Rector for Science and Technology

(Original Swedish post published 10 September.)

On 4–6 September the Foundation for Collaboration between the Universities in Uppsala, Business, and the Public Sector (STUNS) made a study visit to Berlin. The delegation was made up of 18 people from the STUNS Governing Board and Planning Group, led by County Governor Göran Enander. Uppsala University was represented by Deputy Vice-Chancellor Anders Malmberg, blogging here, along with University Director Katarina Bjelke and Jenny Nordquist, acting head of Uppsala University Innovation.

The programme focused on three topics: how a city like Berlin goes about marketing itself, what is being done to encourage start-ups, and how the transition to renewable energy is progressing. As is well known, Germany has committed itself to achieving the climate objectives while fast-tracking its nuclear power phase-out.

On Monday afternoon we visited the Brain City Berlin campaign hosted by Berlin Partner, the city’s organisation for trade development and promotion, which engages in highly successful ‘location marketing’ to attract businesses and research institutes. We also managed to fit in a regular board meeting before dinner with Sweden’s ambassador Per Thöresson at the residence, where we were briefed on the situation in Germany ahead of the election at the end of the month and in relation to Brexit, etc.

On Tuesday we saw a number of examples of what Berlin is doing to encourage and attract start-ups. We visited Ahoy Berlin, which is one of more than 120 innovation labs, incubators and co-working spaces in Berlin today. While there, we saw a hilarious YouTube video of the best sales pitch anyone has made for Berlin as a global start-up centre. Watch the video here!

Tuesday was a very busy day. We also visited Technische Universität Berlin (TU Berlin), where the Centre for Entrepreneurship presents an interesting combination of entrepreneurship research and education and incubator activities. And then we carried on to Adlershof, an enormous business and science park venture in the old East Berlin. The Humboldt University has placed six departments there, numerous companies have established themselves and student housing is being built on a large scale.

Before travelling home on Wednesday afternoon we had time to visit the EUREF Campus, where a private entrepreneur and property owner is developing what they describe as a future home base for companies and research institutes in the fields of energy, sustainability and mobility. Here, start-ups exist side-by-side with medium-sized companies, R&D divisions from major companies and researchers from TU Berlin. We received a detailed introduction to Mobility2Grid (pdf) (a research project cum test and reference district for sustainable urban development, with a focus on decentralised electricity and heating supply and transport), and the company Green City Solutions (intelligent moss-covered air filters for cities).

During our two busy days in Berlin, we benefited from the expert guidance of Anne Geitmann from the German–Swedish chamber of commerce, who also helped put the programme together. Many thanks to all the organisers and companions on the trip for an instructive and enjoyable visit.