Category: Uncategorized (Page 29 of 34)

‘Learning Together for Change’ is an ongoing conference in Arusha, Tanzania, at the Nelson Mandela African Institution of Science and Technology. Eva is attending the conference together with Daniel Stattin and Peter Sundin from Uppsala. 15 Swedish universities are represented, and there are participants from 14 different African countries, in total some 200 participants form three days. The conference is an initiative of the Association of Swedish Higher Education (SUHF) and the International Association of Universities (IAU) and is one way of contributing to UNESCO’s project ‘Education for all’. During the conference we discuss how we can work towards education being a right for all, with particular focus on teacher education. The official opening was grand, with Eva welcoming everyone on behalf of the SUHF. The Vice President of Tanzania, Mohamed Ghariv Bilal and the Minister for Communication, Science and Technology, Makame Mbarwa, both held opening talks. Sweden’s ambassador in Tanzania, Lennart Hjelmåker, gave an appreciated talk. This was followed by intense workshops in the following days, interesting discussions and exchange of ideas between participants. We learn a lot together. The conclusions from the conference are documented and will be forwarded to the UNESCO World Education Forum in Incheon, Korea. 19–22 May 2015.

The European University Association (EUA) took the initiative to hold a moment of silence at Europe’s universities on Monday 27 April, 12:00 noon. The moment of silence was held to condemn all forms of violence against schools and universities, and to honour the victims of the terror attack on Garissa University College in Kenya, 2 April, when 147 people were killed and 79 injured.

The EUA emphasizes that all forms of violence or attacks on educational institutions go against the universities’ fundamental values of freedom of thought and speech, tolerance and autonomy. It undermines young people’s ambitions and basic rights to education and being able to contribute to the development in their country, the greater society and the world. The EUA therefore encouraged all European universities as well as in other parts of the world to unite in condemning all forms of violence against education.

A moment of silence was held yesterday in several places at Uppsala University, as well as at the conference here in Arusha.

After Korea we travelled on to Hong Kong where Pirkko Tamsen and Kay Svensson were already waiting for us. In the Special Administrative Region of Hong Kong we had four educational and rewarding days with visits to universities, Science Parks, different organizations, alumni events and many meetings with creative exchange. We have had the opportunity to learn more about the development in a dynamic and interesting part of Asia. Hong Kong with its seven million inhabitants has three universities ranked among the top 50 in the world. Uppsala University has student exchanges and research cooperation with all three and with another two universities in Hong Kong. This is an impressively international environment with high ambitions, including interest in developing the cooperation with Uppsala in several areas including joint programmes. There is also great interest in innovation, and we sparked great curiosity when we talked about how the Swedish model works and how successful it is. Here too we saw opportunities for continued connections which can contribute to mutual development.

Our first day (Wednesday) started with a run through of the programme. Then we set off to the Department of Justice to learn about Hong Kong’s legal system – Basic Law. The next stop that day was the University of Hong Kong. We were well received and we have active student exchange since the nineties. We noticed a certain concern for the future roll of Hong Kong.

The next day began with a breakfast meeting together with the Swedish Chamber of Commerce. We had many questions we wanted to discuss so time passed (too) quickly. On to the Patent Office where we learned about intellectual property rights in Hong Kong. At our next stop we were introduced to Hong Kong’s innovation policy by Mr Tsang. Lunch was spent learning about foreign policy together with Mr Lo, deputy secretary for education, and Mr Lau, principal assistant secretary. Concerns over demography and decreasing student numbers possibly causing lowered quality popped up several times in our conversation. In the evening we met General Consul Jörgen Halldin and Amanda Weinstock. It was good to get an account from Swedes on location who know Hong Kong.

Friday morning was spent at Hong Kong Science Park, first at the Hong Kong Applied Science and Technology Research Institute (ASTRI) and then at the Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks (HKSTP). A great openness and will to cooperate characterized our meetings. Here there was great curiosity about Sweden and perhaps interesting opportunities for some of Uppsala’s many skilled researchers and innovators who would like to enter the Asian market. This is also where Karolinska Institutet will base their activities on regenerative medicine, funded by a large donation of SEK 350 million. Our hosts also invited Uppsala researchers to take part in collaborations. Another area that is being pushed is the development of robots for many different areas of application.

In the afternoon we learned about fighting corruption at a visit to the ICAC – the Independent Commission Against Corruption. They had a great display of all the most spectacular corruption cases they had managed to untangle. Everything from bribes to dodgy construction work and smuggling, Mrs Au Yeung proudly showed us around and told us about all those who had been caught. The day ended with a visit to the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) and a meeting with Vice-Chancellor Sung. Here we also have student exchange since the nineties, but the ambition is to increase the numbers travelling in both directions as well as organizing teacher exchanges.

All meetings contained great presentations and gave us many leads to follow up on, but the crescendo was of our own doing. On the Friday evening, Anna Reibring together with the Alumni Office in Uppsala had prepared a first meeting for alumni and friends of Uppsala University in Hong Kong. Lars Nittve talked about his exciting work of creating M+, a brand new museum in Hong Kong. The event was rounded off with a mini Walpurgis celebration, with cardboard student caps and student songs. Thomas Fredengren was also helping out on location. Next week there will be alumni events across the globe in connection with Walpurgis Eve. It is great to see our alumni activities really picking up some steam! It was great to meet our alumni as well as exchange students in Hong Kong and hearing about their experiences.

On the Saturday we had the privilege of attending the fourth Nobel Laureates Symposium on Global Sustainability. Some great lectures and there is hope for the future, but it requires both individuals and politicians to step up to the challenge going forward. The rest of the day was spent packing and preparing for the journey home (Pirkko and Kay). Eva will continue her travels and the next stop will be Arusha in Tanzania. More about that in an upcoming blog post.

The Swedish Academic Collaboration Forum (SACF) is an international cooperation project between six universities, namely Uppsala University, the Royal Institute of Technology KTH, Chalmers University of Technology, Lund University, Stockholm University and Linköping University. The goal of the project is to develop and strengthen existing research cooperation between researchers in Sweden and other parts of the world, and forge connections with business and industry. The project is funded by STINT, which we are grateful for. Together we will hold six ‘Excellence Seminars’, the first of which was held this week in Hanyang University in Seoul, Korea. Welcoming words were given by Urban Ahlin, speaker of the Swedish riksdag, and by Ambassador Lars Danielsson. I (Eva) gave an introductory keynote titled ‘Innovation and research – a local perspective on global challenges’. The first SACF seminar was a success with lively sessions and dedicated researchers. Representing Uppsala University were Kristina Edström, Mats Larhed, Marie Allen, Kersti Hermansson, Peter Lindblad and Börgvin Hjörvarsson, who all gave presentations in the sessions which were themed as follows:

• Creative economy/Innovative Business and Management
• Sustainable welfare for quality of life
• Functional materials
• Health challenges in a “silver” society
•  Towards a low carbon society
• University management

All in all, this was a very successful start for the SACF and I would like to thank everyone who in different ways have contributed to the 2015 Korea – Sweden Excellence Seminar. Cooperating internationally is important and gives us much greater impact. Upcoming seminars will be held in Singapore and China in November 2015, followed by seminars in Brazil and Indonesia in 2016. The final meeting will be held in Stockholm. If you would like to know more about the SACF or take part in an upcoming seminar? Speak to Ulrica Ouline.

On Monday, some of us visited the Medical Center at Hallym University. Uppsala University has since several years back cooperated with Hallym University, on initiative of my predecessor Anders Hallberg. Among other things we organize alternating symposia together, the last one in Uppsala. The next meeting – the seventh of its kind – will be held in Korea.

In connection with the 2015 Korea–Sweden Excellence Seminar, the Swedish Institute organized a combined alumni and pre-departure meeting for the participating Swedish universities. Some twenty Uppsala alumni came to the reception to mingle and share memories of Uppsala. It is always pleasing to see how our alumni truly are our ambassadors on location all over the world and I really encourage our teachers and employees to take the time to meet our alumni when travelling abroad.

On Monday and Tuesday the Vice-Chancellor’s Management Council visited Brussels. In two days we managed to fit in a dozen or so meetings, and on top of those an alumni reception.

In quick succession we met representatives of different EU bodies, as well as a number of the many organisations who aim to influence and monitor specific EU issues. Vinnova’s offices in Brussels generously provided us with venues for many of our meetings, and Dan Andrée and Sandra Oliviera gave us a valuable introduction to Vinnova’s own activities.

We were given an insight into the work with European Research Areas including the initiative to establish a European pensions fund to facilitate researcher movement. We also met Thomas Jorgensen of the European University Association, Christina Miller from the UK Research Office, Kurt Deketelaere from the League of European Research Universities and John Westensee who works with researcher support at Århus University. We also managed to fit in a visit to the European Parliament, the European Research Council and the Swedish EU representatives.

On Monday evening we hosted an alumni reception at Hotel Leopold. Some 50 people – former students, a few honorary doctors, and other friends of the university – gathered for a pleasant and relaxed event.

The trip gave us a concentrated insight into European research politics. The current discussion revolves not least around worries of the recently appointed Juncker administration’s relative disinterest in research issues and the controversial suggestion to finance the new European investment plan – The European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI) – to a significant degree by reducing the previously determined framework for Horizon 2020 by €2,7 billion.

We would like to thank all who so generously shared their time and knowledge, not least our own EU administrator Anders Jonsson who arranged the brilliant programme for our visit.

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

The second part of our trip to Australia focused on Sydney. An exciting city with several interesting universities and strong ties to Uppsala. Together with my colleagues Catharina Svensson, Kerstin Rydbeck, Erika Dabhilkar and Kay Svensson I visited the University of Sydney, Macquire University and the University of New South Wales. Our visit coincided with Orientation Week. It felt like in Uppsala in August–September – a great mixture of expectations, ambitions and curiosity. The difference however was in the number of international students. Here more than 25 per cent of the first-year students come from abroad!

On the Thursday evening we invited alumni, friends and exchange students to a reception like the one we had in Melbourne. And just like our first event it was a great success. Here too there was a large group of exchange students who had just arrived in Sydney. They have a whole year ahead of them in this fascinating environment. We wish them all the best of luck and hope they make the most of this opportunity. They seemed to be well on their way.

At Macquire we met an old friend from the Matariki Network, Jim Lee. He was recruited as Deputy Vice-Chancellor of international issues from Queens University in Canada, just over a year ago. We also got the chance to meet Folke Tersman from Uppsala. He has a research period at the University of Sydney and gave us an opportunity for deeper reflection on Australian education and research.

In medicine, Catharina Svensson discussed several interesting projects. Among other things we visited the Hearing Hub at Macquire University – a unique collaboration between health care, research, patient organisations and industry that can offer interesting possibilities in several areas. Kerstin Rydbeck (and the whole group) also got to see their newly built library which is fully automated. An interesting future scenario.

We also had time for an inspiring look at an ambitious project called PACE that works with internships, society and field work at Macquire University. It whet our appetite and was interesting input to our own thoughts about internships and volunteer work among our students.

During our visits we received greeting to Fred Nyberg and Peter Wallensteen from colleagues we met. We now head back home to Sweden with both bags and heads full of new impressions. There is much to learn from and be inspired of in Australia. And that feeling is mutual, there is a lot of interest in Uppsala. One result of this is the fact that Macquire University will be visiting Uppsala this month. A big thank you to Erika Dabhilkar who organised nearly all parts of this trip!

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.

2014 has been a very successful year for Uppsala University.

During the year Uppsala University climbed up the rankings and is now, according to all three leading global lists, among the 100 most distinguished universities worldwide. Uppsala is the higher education institution (HEI) in Sweden that receives the largest total sum in grants awarded by the Swedish Research Council, and we rank in the top for grants from the Wallenberg Foundation and the European Research Council as well.

In December the European Institute of Technology announced the winners of its 2014 Call for Knowledge and Innovation Communities (KICs) Proposals. Uppsala is part of both the two selected pan-European KIC consortia. One is InnoLife (which aims ‘to promote entrepreneurship and develop innovations in healthy living and active ageing’) and the other is RawMatTERS (where ‘TERS’ stands for ‘Tackling European Raw Materials Sustainability’).

Since the summer, Uppsala has also been coordinating two new Erasmus Mundus programmes, focusing on South Africa and Asia. Overall, application pressure to enrol on our study programmes is at a record high and the number of international students is steadily growing.

Major events

The year has meant welcoming numerous visitors to Uppsala. The first meeting of the Uppsala Health Summit was held in June. In September, Magna Charta Observatory held its annual conference in Uppsala, for the first time ever outside Bologna. And it has been a while since so many Nobel Prize laureates chose to come and lecture in Uppsala in December.

The new hub for SciLifeLab Uppsala, Navet, opened up in April. In October, the construction of the new Segerstedt Building, which will house university administration and student services, began. New agreements have been prepared for funding the next phase of the FREIA Hall (Facility for Research Instrumentation and Accelerator Development), where we are developing technology for the European Spallation Source (ESS) initiative.

We have embarked on development projects on e-learning, active student participation, and cultural heritage as an educational resource. We have also initiated a follow-up of the Quality and Renewal (KoF) 2007 and 2011, to obtain a point of departure for discussions of a possible forthcoming research evaluation in 2016.

Simultaneously, unrest in the national political leadership has affected us during the autumn. The abrupt disappearance of the special merger funding for Campus Gotland in the government budget proposals in October was surprising and disturbing. After successful political mobilisation, we were given guarantees that this mistake would be corrected, but the Government’s budget eventually failed to get parliamentary support. At the time of writing, we are therefore back where we started. The original merger funds will remain in 2015 and, it is hoped, 2016 as well. One positive side-effect of this budget chaos is the highly favourable publicity Campus Gotland has gained during the autumn. All those involved and concerned – the Ministry, the region and the sector – have commended the merger and underlined its beneficial effects to date.

Challenges

We are now preparing for 2015, and there is much to which we can look forward. A new national quality system for education is in the making. The investigator Harriet Wallberg, who is also Sweden’s University Chancellor, has proposed henceforth placing the HEIs in charge of shaping their own systems of educational evaluation. This change will be in line with what we have long wished for. It does not mean that the evaluation will be less stringent. On the contrary, establishing locally adapted systems that both control and develop the quality of our multifaceted range of study programmes will call for major efforts.

Other key issues that will occupy the leadership of the University and our faculties when we get together again after the holidays are:

• further planning for Ångström Phase IV
• conclusion of negotiations for a new regional Agreement concerning Cooperation on Medical Education and Research (‘ALF-avtalet’)
• monitoring and influencing the plans for a new national evaluation and resource distribution model for research
• paving the way for the continued development of our ‘strategic research areas’.

Implementation of the University’s new mission statement, ‘Goals and Strategies’, is another vital task. The key strategic discussions on the future challenges to our education research are being held – and will be held – in collegial forums in the various parts of the University. The goals and strategies simultaneously remind us that Uppsala University, in all its breadth and diversity, is one university with shared basic values and joint overall objectives.

This university’s successes are founded in excellent inputs on the part of all our highly competent and committed employees and students. Together with the broader university management team, prepared for the upcoming holidays in the picture below, we wish you all a joyful and refreshing break from work over Christmas and the New Year!

Eva Åkess​on
Vice-Chancellor

Anders Malmberg
Deputy Vice-Chancellor

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.