Category: Uncategorized (Page 27 of 34)

Vice-Chancellors from 13 Swedish seats of learning and 4 research funders have visited 7 universities in 2 countries over the course of 5 days. There is a lot to process from this intense Vice-Chancellor visit to South Africa and Botswana arranged by STINT and UKÄ. University Chancellor Harriet Wallberg, who headed our delegation, pointed out on several occasions that this was among the largest delegations of Vice-Chancellors travelling together in this manner to her knowledge. State Secretary Karin Röding also participated in the first leg of the trip. Aside from visits to the universities, a workshop was also held with invited Vice-Chancellors to discuss various forms of partnerships and cooperation within the context of STIAS.

Uppsala University is involved with all the universities we visited, and we have MoUs and exchange agreements with the majority. Although I had some prior knowledge, several of the visits gave me a chance to learn of collaborations that were unfamiliar to me. It is quite inspiring to see how much activity there is going on, and how extensive the international engagement is at our University.

There are many joint Swedish-South African research ventures, significantly more than I expected. Yet the student mobility is less than I would have thought. Of all the African students that come to Sweden, only a few are South-African, both in regard to exchanges and those who arrive as free movers. Likewise, few Swedish students go on exchange to South Africa. There is room from improvement here. One of the obstacles for mobility raised during the trip was the lack of scholarships, both for study fees and accommodation. The South African rand has dropped quite a large amount in the last few years, which makes Sweden an expensive destination. Furthermore, differing semester divisions is also a frequently cited issue. It was clear that exchanges and collaboration are most requested at the Master and PhD studies level, as well as courses in the summer and winter. Several people also called for various forms of joint/double degrees.

Naturally, the student protests in South Africa and #feesmustfall were discussed. There was no sign of unrest during our visits, yet it was clear that these have affected the universities deeply. There was a widespread understanding of the students’ reaction to raised fees, but less of their methods and tactics. Several seats of learning are reconsidering their approaches to strategy and will opt to involve students in the process to a greater degree in the future as a result of what has transpired.

Vice-Chancellor Adam Habib

We are one of the founders of SANORD, and I now had the chance to visit several of our partners in that network as part of this trip. The next SANORD meeting and conference will be held in Uppsala on 7-9 September this year.

I found the visit instructive, not only for the chance to experience South Africa and Botswana, but also for the process of internationalisation at the other Swedish seats of learning. I am convinced that Swedish universities could stand to collaborate more internationally than they currently are. And above all, Sweden must have more scholarships to offer international students. I should like to remind you of our words in the input on the research bill:

Uppsala University proposes that the government initiate a dynamic and long-term scholarship programme – perhaps one related to Raoul Wallenberg or Dag Hammarskjöld – in order to provide students from currently tuition fee-paying parts of the world with the opportunity to educate themselves in Sweden. Such a programme would benefit Sweden and the world in several ways. Not the least, it would enable Sweden to create an important network of global leaders in the long term.

We visited:

University of Johannesburg

University of Pretoria

University of Witwatersrand

University of Botswana

University of Cape Town

University of Stellenbosch

University of Western Cape

Scholars At Risk (SAR) is an international network of universities and individuals who work together to harbour threatened academics, avert attacks and safeguard academic freedom and related values. Uppsala University has been a member of SAR for some time, and earlier this month, SAR – Sweden was launched at a seminar in Gothenburg. So far, the network consists of 11 seats of learning, but more will follow.

Ola Larsmo of PEN gave an appreciated lecture where he related his experiences as a writer-in-residence. He praised Uppsala University for harbouring a blogger from Bangladesh facing death threats. Amidst increasing global unrest, with difficult conflicts that threaten to encroach upon freedom of speech and academic autonomy, these questions are made all the more important. One way of shouldering our responsibility is to actively participate in SAR, but also to cooperate with PEN and other like-minded organisations.

Founding Statement

Launch of Scholars at Risk – Sweden Section

On behalf of the Swedish members of the Scholars at Risk Network, we declare the official launch of Scholars at Risk– Sweden Section, this March 9, 2016 at the University of Gothenburg. Scholars at Risk– Sweden Section is a partnership between Swedish higher education institutions and Scholars at Risk (SAR), an international network of higher education institutions dedicated to promoting academic freedom and defending the human rights of scholars worldwide.  In joining Scholars at Risk, Swedish academic leadership, faculty, students and staff send a strong message of solidarity with scholars and universities in situations where academic freedom is restricted and research, publication, teaching and learning are repressed. Together with Scholars at Risk members at more than 400 institutions in 40 countries around the world, we hope to make a difference.

This autumn, the University Board ratified the Programme for Sustainable Development. In the interest of strengthening collaboration and improving the exchange of experience within our University, I have appointed Anna Rutgersson as an adviser to the Vice-Chancellor for sustainability issues, starting 1 March. Anna is a professor of meteorology at the Disciplinary Domain of Science and Technology. With a dedicated adviser for these important issues, it is my hope that the new Programme and Action Plan for Sustainable Development will receive the attention they deserve.

This Tuesday, we held a well-attended management meeting to discuss the Management Evaluation that was recently referred to us for consideration. The theme of the dean meeting was: how well does formal and informal management on the level of the departments work at Uppsala University? Kåre Bremer of the Management Evaluation opened the management meeting by outlining the most important issues. The resulting discussions were rewarding, and it is great that Kåre was able to participate and clarify certain parts of the evaluation.

The week concluded with me and the chairman of Uppsala Municipality signing a declaration of intent for a strategic partnership. In the press release, I state: ‘The Municipality is an important collaborative partner on many levels; in education, research, culture and much else. Cross-border collaborations often produce new knowledge that can contribute to solutions to the challenges of society. We also have a strong common interest in developing the region and increasing the attraction of the city’. It is good to see us expanding the collaboration between Uppsala University and the Municipality further, and focusing on specific areas of intervention.

Anders spent the end of the week in London. The stay included meetings at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the Swedish Chamber of Commerce for the UK, and the Anglo-Swedish Society. A much appreciated visit at the Linnean Society and a chance to see the collections was also on the programme.

The main event, however, was an alumni dinner bringing together some 60 guests at the Oxford and Cambridge Club in London on Thursday evening. In addition to our own Uppsala alumni, the dinner party included no less than nine UK based Uppsala honorary doctors, as well as representatives from the Linnean Society of London and the Swedish Chamber of Commerce for the UK. We were also honoured that Her Excellency Ambassador Nicola Clase and a number of her colleagues from the Swedish Embassy joined us.
With lots of singing, the dinner party did indeed bring a touch and feel of Uppsala and its unique student life to London!

To build and develop strong relations with our alumni, more than 800 reside in the greater London area alone, is one important part of Uppsala University’s external relations. Openness towards industry and society is important for securing the long-term relevance and impact of our research and education.

To all Uppsala alumni residing in the UK, please continue to keep in touch with us and also help us to stay in touch with you! Please register with your UK contact details: www.uu.se/en/alumni or send an email toUKalumni@uadm.uu.se

I would like to express my sincere thanks to our UK alumni chapter for organizing the event. Its Chair Mr. Peter Lindqvist and the hostess for the evening Ms. Marina Mitrevski deserve special mention, for working hard to establish a social platform for alumni and friends in the UK. I also extend my thanks to the people from our own external relations office for assisting with the event, and not least to university guide Mikael Norrby who gave a much appreciated presentation (under demanding technological circumstances) at the event.

This Monday, the Vice-Chancellor’s Management Council met for the second time on Campus Gotland, we will soon have established an annual tradition if this keeps up. The University Management (the Vice-Chancellor, the Deputy Vice-Chancellor and the University Director) left for Visby in the early morning for a meeting with the entire staff. Developments since last year, current events, and the status of Haikola’s Gotland evaluation following the referral and Q&R17 were among the topics addressed at the staff meeting. Imagine if we could hold meetings involving the entire staff in Uppsala as well.

After lunch, the vice-rectors and student representatives arrived. Naturally, issues pertaining to Campus Gotland figured heavily on the agenda – how to proceed with proposals and recommendations for Haikola’s evaluation, and input on the drafting of a new Mission and Core Values document for Campus Gotland. Lars Geschwind from KTH, who conducts follow-up research on the merging process, reported on his progress, particularly of the survey recently conducted among the employees of Campus Gotland. Peter Larsson, the government’s assessor of the private sector and labour market development on Gotland, joined up later in the afternoon to present his findings thus far. The evaluation will be completed on 20 June. It was a rewarding and interesting day, and it is clear that we are now entering a new phase with Campus Gotland. The merger has generally gone very well, with some necessary adjustments that are currently being made, and certain new initiatives that will be required in the future.

Last week began with a meeting with the University Board. As the University Main Building is currently under renovation, the Board instead came together in the Gustavianum, the oldest University building still in use, which over the years has served as everything from student accommodation, University library and the seat of various departments to the museums of today. Museum Gustavianum is an asset to education and research, as well as a meeting place between society, art and science. Last year, there were more than 80 000 visitors. Our sincere thanks to University curator Mikael Ahlund for a fantastic presentation!

The February meeting is always brimming with formal matters: annual report, budget figures, internal governance and control, and planning for the internal audit.

The annual report for 2015 tells of yet another good year for Uppsala University. We are attracting more research funding, reaching our goals for the proportion of women among the new professors (36%), the demand for our educational offerings is still high, and although our total number of enrolments has continued to decline slightly, the number of campus students on Gotland keeps increasing.

However, we refuse to grow complacent, instead pressing on with further development work – on research, education and collaboration. Some of our planned activities for the future are presented in the budget figures we submit to the government. Several of the items on this year’s version are familiar from the input on the upcoming research bill we submitted back in autumn. Increased dimensioning is a quality issue. A broad, full-scale university requires a certain volume of students if it is to retain the quality of its breadth. Increased direct funding for research is another core issue.

As last Monday was the deadline to submit the annual report and budget figures to the government, a group of couriers left for the Ministry of Education and Research in Stockholm immediately following the meeting to personally deliver the documents. Producing annual reports and budget figures is an ambitious undertaking involving many people within the University, within the Departments, within the Faculties, in Faculty Offices and within the University Administration, often under challenging time constraints. I would like to thank everyone for their good work and good cooperation.

At Uppsala University, we have a tradition of strong student representation and active student participation. The question of the standing of the students’ unions was decided on 23 February. The outcome means that the University will have six students’ unions for the coming three years. This places great demands on the coordination and cooperation of the unions. Of course, we hope and believe that our talented and hard-working students will handle it brilliantly. For our part, we shall do everything we can to make things easier for them.

Many of the University’s issues of development are connected to the academic management. The evaluation Utvecklad ledning av universitet och högskolor (approx. ‘Developed governance of universities and university colleges’) was first addressed by the University Board as early as December last year, for information and initial discussions. The evaluation has since been referred for consideration internally within the University. At the meeting, the University Board ratified the University’s statement re: the final statement of the Management Evaluation. The important discussion of leadership and governance is already ongoing within the University, and is sure to continue for some time. This week, the assessor Kåre Bremer visited the management meeting, and the management evaluation will also be one of the issues discussed at the dean meeting this spring.

Together with Professor Maria Strömme of Uppsala University, I (Eva) spent much of last week on a RTM (Royal Technology Mission) to Japan. The RTM involved a delegation of 30 people headed by His Majesty Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden and the praeses of IVA, Leif Johansson. The delegation consisted of representatives of the private sector, the public sector, and the University. The group was a diverse mix of people, and interesting conversations abounded. Every year, the Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences (IVA) organises a trip abroad, but over the last few years, there have also been RTM trips within Sweden. The next domestic RTM is set to visit Gotland in autumn 2016.

The trip included a visit to the university, that is, Tokyo University and Tokyo Women’s Medical University. Furthermore, several renowned Japanese companies like Hitachi, Mitsubishi, Toyota, Canon, Fuji were gracious enough to receive our RTM delegation. We also toured the future museum Miraikan, Buddhist temples, and the 600 meter tall TV tower Sky Tree. In all, we had a rewarding few days, made particularly informative by lectures held by delegates during the bus rides leading up to every visit, and corresponding summaries afterwards. As you might have gleaned, they were also quite intense days, with a busy but well-planned schedule that was carried out with impressive precision down to the minute, almost to the second.

Matariki (‘The Seven Sisters’) is a network of seven universities gathered around the vision of ‘partnering for a better world’. The initiative was taken by the University of Otaga, New Zeeland, and after a careful selection process, six additional seats of learning were tied to the network: Dartmouth, Queens, Durham, Tübingen, Uppsala and Western Australia.

The Matariki network was founded in 2011, and as the Executive Board met at Otago University, a new MoU was signed. The meeting also saw future strategies and priorities discussed. The presentation shows that we are a strong, vital network with many activities within shared research areas, and seven different workshops are already being planned for 2016.

Uppsala University has through Isak Stoddard and in cooperation with Otago taken an appreciated initiative for ‘Global Citizenship Programme’, and there will be a workshop on this theme held in Uppsala in April. Our initiative of the Matariki Fellows is particularly popular, and several of the other universities are set to follow. In 2016, six researchers/lecturers from UU will visit a partner university for 3-6 months. A new Vice Chairman was appointed, Philip Hanlon from Dartmouth. As Chairperson, I am grateful to have an engaged Vice Chairman to cooperate with.

The Matariki network arranged a joint Auckland alumni function before the meeting in Dunedin. It was highly appreciated by our alumni, who also appreciated the opportunity to get in touch with alumni from other Matariki Universities, yet another example of how we can synergise with one another.

It will be a while before we, the Vice-Chancellors, meet again in this constellation. The next meet will take place in autumn 2017 in Dartmouth, but we hold video and telephone conferences every semester to continuously develop our cooperation. When working with groups spread all over the globe, it is important to make use of technology in order to cut down on international flights. After our merger with Gotland, we are considerably more well-equipped and experienced in the use of video equipment for remote meetings.

The journey home was a long trip with ample time for reflections and planning the coming week. This week will involve a meeting with the unions, discussions with the senate about the University Management evaluation, and a meeting with Ann Fust to discuss the career investigation. Aside from regular weekly meetings with the Management Council, we are also meeting with the Humanities and Social Sciences deans and I hope to be able to make it to the 10 year anniversary of the new medicine program.

I have been thinking quite a bit about the recent writings in the press lately on about quality in education, dimensioning and exam resits. My fellow Vice-Chancellors, Astrid Söderbergh Widding (Stockholm University) and Torbjörn von Schantz (Lund University) have written good posts about this on their blogs. I fully agree that active student participation and strong student influence is no threat to the quality of the education, but actually contributes to strengthening it! Exam resits, proportioning and the allocation of resources are questions that can be discussed for a long time. We and several others have highlighted the weaknesses of the resource allocation system that exists today and that has existed since the early 90’s. The old system hasn’t yielded any dramatic changes in quality lately, but there are other good reasons for a thorough overhaul, as we have stated many times before. And the main issue is not the demand for throughput, but the long-term devaluation of price tags.

More or fewer students? Who should have the right to higher education in society? Uppsala University has been reducing the amount of students for several years now. The reduction is partially masked by the addition of Gotland’s students when looking at the total figures. The reductions will continue in the future as we have seen our task reduced over the last few years and still maintain a certain amount of overproduction, that is, we educate more students than are being replaced within the framework number established by the state. We can already hear strong claims from within the University that the cutbacks are having negative effects. Freestanding courses grow fewer, our educational offerings more limited, and lifelong learning is threatened. Within the Disciplinary Domain of Science and Technology, there is both the desire and the capacity to create new educational programmes requested by students and employers.

Uppsala is and shall remain a research university – today, research corresponds to about 70 % of our budget. At the same time, I am a strong supporter of our Mission and Core Values, which are further asserted in the Magna Charta. Education and research go together, they are fundamental parts of the definition of a University to me. With several years of reduced admissions, and so many motivated students that are unable to secure a spot at out University, my conclusion is this: we need more, not fewer students.

The Winter Conferment Ceremony was held last Friday. 76 new PhDs and 18 honorary doctors were bestowed wreaths and hats, and nine additional awardees received medals and honours.

The Vice-Chancellor, Eva Åkesson, held a speech in the Grand Auditorium in front of an audience that among others included Helene Hellmark Knutsson, the Swedish Minister for Research and Higher Education. Eva Åkesson took the opportunity to announce Uppsala University’s expectations and demands for the upcoming research bill. Read the Vice-Chancellor’s speech here (mostly in Swedish). A video of the entire Conferment Ceremony is also available to view.

Furthermore, the former Deputy Vice-Chancellor Lena Marcusson held a highly appreciated speech at the Conferment Banquet, where she, as one of the recipients of the Rudbeck Medal, spoke on behalf of all the awardees.

The Conferment Ceremony was the last formal event to be held in the University Main Building for some time. Now, an extensive but careful renovation process begins. The Main Building is set to open again in autumn 2017.

At the start of every semester, the Vice-Chancellor’s Management Council gathers for a seminar lunch to lunch. It is an opportunity to have in-depth discussions and together reflect on pressing questions of future strategic importance.

We began by discussing Campus Gotland. About a year ago, the Management Council held a meeting in Visby. That meeting resulted in the decision to move the evaluation of the merger ahead of schedule – the evaluation that Lars Haikola and Lars Burstedt would subsequently deliver in December 2015, which is currently referred to the disciplinary domains and faculties for consideration. The amount of campus students on Gotland has grown from 715 to 935 in two years. This is a good result, but we still have some ways left to the target of 1,500 students in Visby. The discussion revolved around how Uppsala University will make the goals and visions for Campus Gotland a reality, and how the recommendations of the evaluation are to be put into practice in the Action Plan of 2017.

Afterwards, we had a session with Peter Honeth, who was state secretary of the Swedish Ministry of Education and Research for the eight years of Alliance governance. Prior to that, Peter was the University Director of Lund University for many years. His broad experience of research and university issues is unique. For around two hours, he generously shared his experiences from his time in the Swedish Government Offices. It was both interesting and instructive to hear about the political process behind research and education policies, the negotiations between departments, the relationship between politicians and civil servants. The entire Management Council was granted more insight into the conditions of politics. Naturally, there was also some discussion about, for instance, the question of autonomy during the session.

During dinner and the rest of the evening we also delved into the new proposed regional division set to be presented by the evaluator appointed by the government, Barbro Holmberg. This is a multifaceted issue. A particularly important aspect to us is the consequences for the Uppsala University Hospital, and the research and education conducted at our Faculty of Medicine. The University maintains close ties to the Uppsala Regional Council, Uppsala University Hospital, the Uppsala County Council, and other involved actors.

The Tuesday was dedicated to two major questions: governance, on one hand, and recruitment of professors, on the other. It turned out to be a reflective discussion that mirrored the diversity that exists in the University, but also the universal and common questions. How do we prepare and decide on policies at different levels? What decisions are made where? Are there informal preparation forms in addition the formal ones? Is our governance system transparent and easy to grasp? How to ensure students and new members of staff are aware of their ability to influence our decision making? Is there cause to revise the rules of procedure? In parts of this discussion, Kåre Bremer’s evaluation can serve as a foundation. The discussions of both governance questions and recruitment will surely continue, most immediately in the Academic Senate, in management and dean meetings, etc. Both governance and recruitment are strategic processes meant to forge strong research environments, and will directly and indirectly be assessed in the new research evaluation, Q&R17.