Vice-Chancellor’s blog: a new year and brighter days ahead

As for the university, the unveiling of our research column series in the local newspaper, Nerikes Allehanda, is truly a delightful start to the new year. Ten of our researchers will take turns writing a column every Friday. And it is particularly pleasing that the columns will also be featured in some twenty newspapers around Sweden. This series is significant not only for the individual researchers but also for our visibility and positioning as a university. It could certainly boost our ability to recruit future students and employees.

Our researchers are receiving great support from the Communications Office in preparing their columns to reach the broader public. This may entail some trade-offs. Writing in such a way that knowledge is accessible to many is essential. Communicating the complexity of research is equally important, and the fact that it takes considerable effort and time to become truly knowledgeable in a field of research. Something that is especially important at a time when googling for 20 minutes seems to make anyone an expert on any subject.

This spring, the university is revising our current vision and strategy for 2018–2022. We will primarily review strategic objectives and development areas. The university’s overall vision, “A prominent university leading towards a knowledge-driven society”, has a broad acceptance and is likely to remain. You will all be invited to participate in this work. The process will be much the same as in 2017 but will not require as much effort.

During the first part of the spring, intensive efforts will also go into preparing for UKÄ’s review of our quality system for research and education. It is imperative that all our governance documents are aligned in a system that can withstand a demanding review. It is equally important that there is an active quality culture that permeates our day-to-day work. Collegial dialogue and review are crucial to being a prominent university, which applies not least to good research practice and ethics questions. This ongoing dialogue is particularly important for doctoral students and postdocs, especially in environments with researchers from many different research cultures.

In January, our multidisciplinary “Platform for a Sustainable Future” will begin its work in earnest. Our faculties are firmly committed to this initiative and have each appointed a representative to the operational steering group. Here, the collaboration between different scientific disciplines, preferably with external players, could make a considerable difference areas of concern for society.

We also need to develop our international collaborations. Currently, work is underway within NEOLAiA, an alliance of eight other higher education institutions with the aim of becoming a “European University” within the “European Universities” initiative. Collaboration has been initiated within several subjects with various NEOLAiA universities. The deadline for applications to the EU is in March, with an expected decision in July. Increased collaboration benefits both education and research and contributes to dialogue, understanding, and democracy’s development in Europe.

Speaking of democracy, Sweden is going to the polls this autumn. Politically informed individuals often say that “higher education policy statements don’t win elections”. Nevertheless, the university must do its utmost to ensure that our interests are not forgotten during the election campaign.

I wish you all a fantastic start to your new year!

Johan

Ps. When this blog was about to be published, new restrictions were announced. As far as the university is concerned, these are pretty similar to those we are already following, and the government has stressed that restrictions will be as short-lived as possible.

So, brighter days are ahead!