This week Per is in Taiwan and yesterday he visited the Ministry of Education in Taipei. Per told Minister for Education Wei-Ling Chiang about LU’s innovation climate and the Swedish law on intellectual property rights of academic staff. This interested the minister so much that he invited himself, his family and a delegation of vice-chancellors to visit us in Sweden – probably as early as the autumn!

Energy is a hot topic in Taiwan and discussions are currently underway on the possible construction of a fourth nuclear power station. The minister also said that Taiwan is following developments in nanotechnology, biotechnology and IT closely.

During the day visits were also made to semiconductor company TSMC and LED manufacturer Epistar, which both have their origins in the Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI). The companies are based at Hsinchu Science Park, which is generally regarded as Taiwan’s equivalent of Silicon Valley. The science park is adjacent to two of Taiwan’s leading universities, NCTU and NTHU, and the technology companies it is home to employ over 100 000 people.

This week Per is visiting Taiwan with a delegation of LU researchers. The purpose of the visit is to increase collaboration and exchange with the Republic in both education and research. The invitation for the trip came from the Taiwanese Ministry of Education and the delegation includes Lars Samuelson (nanotechnology), Per Tunestål (combustion engineering) and Anders Robertsson (automatic control).

On the programme are visits to some of Taiwan’s leading universities, including the National Taiwan University, National Chiao Tung University and National Tsing Hua University. Visits will also be made to the world’s largest semiconductor company TSMC and Taiwan’s leading LED manufacturer Epistar.

Lund University already has collaborations with institutions and companies in Taiwan, but the plan is to develop these further – partly as a complement to the collaboration that LU currently has on the mainland with the People’s Republic of China. Today an idea came up for leading universities here to arrange a day in which a larger group from Lund University would be given the opportunity to present research and education and discuss possible future collaboration. We will be considering this idea over the coming days.

Here is a message from Per in Taiwan (in Swedish):

Last week a meeting was held of vice-rector’s for teaching and learning within LERU (League of European Research Intensive Universities). It was a very inspiring meeting. A clear ambition was expressed from Europe’s research-intensive universities to tackle the rapid development that is now taking place in education together – the way we educate, the demands and expectations of teachers, students and society, etc. – not least in terms of quality assurance of any involvement in online open access courses, or MOOCs. A ‘position paper’ will be drawn up.

At LU we need to sustain the continual process of improving the quality of education. EQ11 gave us good experience and the discussions that have taken place since, as well as international developments, have shown that we have a good chance of staying ahead if we coordinate the University’s vast resources in teaching and learning: the Humanities Laboratory, the subjects of education science and education, teacher training, etc.

Ahead of the next meeting of the Education Board, Student Affairs is to present a proposal for an inquiry into the University’s handling of e-learning, OER, distance learning and the digital tools that are used in education. In addition, I have assigned Head of CED Åsa Lindberg-Sand to coordinate the forthcoming work on inventories and brainstorming to develop a proposal for possible MOOCs at LU. The idea is to put together a coherent document with a scientific foundation that takes advantage of the skills across the University.

/Eva

Last week I visited the University of Nottingham with staff from the faculties of Law, Science, Engineering (LTH), Social Sciences and Humanities and Theology. Nottingham University also visited Lund in the autumn and came very well prepared. They knew which fields of research and education were of most interest to them and met representatives of the faculties mentioned, as well as the Faculty of Medicine.

Anne Messeter from External Relations, Dr Richard Masterman, who heads the work on internationalisation in Nottingham, and Katja Durkin, Anne’s counterpart in Nottingham

During the visit, Nottingham Vice-Chancellor Professor David Greenaway and I signed a Memorandum of Understanding. David Greenaway is a frequent guest at Lund’s School of Economics and Management and he said how pleased he was that we were visiting his university. Nottingham is a member of the U21 network and is therefore an important partner for us. They now want to deepen and expand the collaboration we have.

Topics of discussion during the visit were research collaborations, student exchanges, joint Master’s and PhD programmes, conferences, etc. Nottingham also has campuses in Ningbo, China, and in Malaysia, where there are activities of interest to us.

Representatives of cancer research at the Faculty of Medicine will be visiting Nottingham later in February.

It is so rewarding to travel with representatives of different operations at our university. We will have to see what collaborations are reinforced or initiated in law, biology, chemistry, building technology and sustainable construction, food technology, political science, education, archaeology and medicine. I also had the opportunity to discuss research on bilingualism and second language learning, especially of English, with representatives of linguistics and psychology. Nottingham are very interested in our Humanities Laboratory, as we saw when they visited us in October.

The visit was reported in the Nottingham Post, as were our plans for collaboration.

In addition, the delegation visited the University of Birmingham. This visit took place on the way back to Lund. Pro Vice-Chancellor for Education Karen O’Brien welcomed us together with Professor Jeff Bale. We discussed basically the same questions as in Nottingham. My focus was on the teacher training programme and the possibility of exchanges for our students. This is particularly relevant as the University of Birmingham is starting a secondary school and sixth form on its campus.

***

On Friday, the management of Aarhus University visited us. We exchanged experiences and discussed possible further collaboration with Vice-Chancellor Lauritz B. Holm-Nielsen, Pro Vice-Chancellor Søren Frandsen, University Director Jørgen Jørgensen and other members of Aarhus management. We can learn from how Aarhus University has been organised since 2010, including how it has organised its library operations, in comparison with our own organisation. University Librarian at LU Jette Guldborg-Petersen gave a presentation of our library operations and Kristina Josefson presented our Track-It project.

***

Lund University remains the most popular Swedish university for international students. It is great that so many international students want to study here.

***

The latest vice-chancellor’s assembly was attended exclusively by women – see picture. Next week we will no doubt see a better gender balance…!

/Eva

A consultation paper on greater rights for doctoral students has been sent out by the Ministry for Education. The document proposes that doctoral students should be employed on studentships, insurance should increase their sense of security and doctoral students who fall ill or take parental leave should have greater rights. We welcome these proposals.
The vice-chancellor signed a decision in June 2011 to entirely abolish study grants for our doctoral students from 1 January 2013. This applies throughout third-cycle studies and we have thus gone a step further than the Government’s proposal. The Government proposes that those on a doctoral grant should be given a studentship within the first year of the four-year programme.
At LU, doctoral grants are being phased out during 2012. They will be replaced with doctoral studentships or scholarships from 2013. At LU we also took a decision a couple of years ago to improve the social safety net for doctoral students on scholarships.
Job security and good terms of employment are a must if we are to recruit and retain the best doctoral students. We will now also review how we could further improve the situation of our doctoral students on scholarships. They have a poor safety net while they are funded by scholarships, even with the insurance policies we take out.

Margot Wallström chaired our board meeting on 20 April and received a warm reception. Items on the agenda included appointing Eva Wiberg as pro vice-chancellor to succeed Ingalill Rahm Hallberg. In conjunction with the board meeting, Margot has also had a number of induction days and met many representatives of the faculties.
Read an interview with Margot Wallström and watch a film clip of her talking about her new post

We are looking forward to the Universitas 21 annual meeting, which will be held here in Lund on 7–11 May. The meeting will gather university management, researchers and students from the 15 member countries to discuss common challenges for the future.

The Planet Lund sustainability festival will be held on 12–26 May. For two weeks, Lund will show off its commitment to sustainable development. The festival is being organised by Utmaning hållbart Lund, a joint sustainable development platform for Lund University and Lund Municipality.
For more information, see the festival website

Batons are being handed over in the management group this week. Eva Wiberg will be taking over from Pro Vice-Chancellor Ingalill Rahm Hallberg. Eva Wiberg remains responsible for education matters as she has been as assistant vice-chancellor.
Nils Danielsen, professor at the Department of Experimental Medical Sciences and at the Neuronano Research Centre, will become the new assistant vice-chancellor and take over the portfolio Ingalill had as assistant vice-chancellor, with responsibility for leader, teacher and employee excellence.

Application statistics have come in and the number of applications to Lund University continues to rise. Applications for the autumn semester have risen by 12 per cent from 58 251 last year to 65 258 this year. The number of applicants who put Lund University as their first choice has also increased by 14 per cent on last year. This year, 29 518 people applied to Lund as their first choice compared with 25 842 last year. This puts Lund University in third place for number of applicants, both in total and for first choice applications. The University of Gothenburg received the most applications, followed by Stockholm. We are pleased at the increase in the number of applicants to Lund University and that there is high demand for our programmes and courses. The funding cap needs to be raised and we have requested an increase of almost 2 000 full-time equivalent students.
More information about applications on the Swedish Agency for Higher Education Services website

Researchers at the Faculty of Medicine Alejandra Vasquez and Tobias Olofsson have achieved some very exciting findings in their research carried out with colleagues at SLU and KI. They have seen that the stomachs of wild honey bees are full of healthy lactic acid bacteria that are able to fight bacterial infections in both bees and humans. The results, which have been published in PLoS ONE, could form a step in the work to combat the problems of both bee death and antibiotic resistance. If it works, there is great potential for the field.

Positioning ahead of the autumn’s research and innovation bill is in full swing with a number of meetings in Stockholm. In the past week, Per has had the opportunity to present and discuss our input to the bill at a meeting of state secretaries from the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Enterprise, Energy and Communications, as well as at meetings of the chairs of the Committees on Education and on Industry and Trade. One of the issues discussed was the investments in strong environments versus investments in individuals. We came to the conclusion that both are needed, or, as we say in Lund, AD UTRUMQUE.

The implementation, financing and use of MAX IV and ESS were also discussed. Recruitment of leading international researchers was another issue raised and supported. Anders Flodström’s report on quality-based (re-)allocation of direct government funding was discussed at a seminar on research and innovation policy. Besides Anders, Pär Omling from Lund and Pontus de Laval from SAAB (the defence company) participated. There was a very lively and constructive discussion. A good meeting was also held with a couple of people from the Ministry of Finance at our embassy in Stockholm. (However, they did not agree with our proposal for the future of Akademiska Hus.)

We are very grateful to all those who put forward Lund University’s various proposals in our input to the research and innovation bill in your arenas, for example at national seminars, discussion forums and personal meetings with politicians and other individuals or groups who can influence the design of the bill. Much of the focus of the bill will be decided during the spring. A bet is that there will be greater opportunities to finance recruitment of leading international researchers.

Read Lund University’s input here (in Swedish)

A conference on “Housing First – what happened next?” will be held in Lund on 30 March in the main assembly hall in Universitetshuset. There are 300 people registered to attend. It is very pleasing to see that interest in this project is growing and that the Faculty of Social Sciences at our university is the driving force.
More information about the Housing First conference (in Swedish)

A new study by Olof Ejermo from CIRCLE shows that Lund University has by far the most patent applications of all Swedish universities, with a strong upward trend since the year 2000. We are responsible for 22 per cent of all Swedish patents held by university employees, followed by KI with 14 per cent, Uppsala with 13 per cent, KTH with 12 per cent, Linköping with 9 per cent and Gothenburg with 8 per cent (2005–2007). Lund University stands out for productivity in patenting among both staff and alumni. Another very clear result in the article is that the old universities dominate strongly for patenting by both employees and former students.
The article will be presented in the next issue of Ekonomisk Debatt (no 3/2012). It will be interesting to follow future studies on innovation and patents carried out at CIRCLE with grants from the Swedish Research Council and Formas.

Margot Wallström is proposed as the new chair of the Board from 1 April and we recently sent the formal proposal to the Ministry of Education. We see great strength in having Margot Wallström as Chair of the Board because of her wide experience of successful international work in the fields of the environment, human rights and communication. These areas are very important to Lund University.

An inauguration of professors will be held tomorrow, 16 March, when 25 new professors will be inaugurated in a ceremony in the main assembly hall in Universitetshuset. The inauguration lecture will be delivered by Leif Stenberg, Professor of Islamic Studies. This year’s teaching awards will also be presented at the ceremony. The students’ award goes to Bernt Nilsson of the Department of Chemical Engineering and Andreas Bergh of the Department of Economics and the university award goes to Professor Nils Danielsen of the Department of Experimental Medical Science. This year’s Peter Honeth Administrative Prize is awarded to Andreas Andersson of the Department of Clinical Sciences in Malmö and recruitment coordinator Eva Nilsson of External Relations and LTH. Many congratulations to the new professors and the prizewinners!
More information about the inauguration of professors (PDF, opens in new window)

A midway evaluation of the 2006 Linnaeus environments is taking place. The Swedish Research Council visited Lund University on 9–10 and 13 February to evaluate the Linnaeus environments at the halfway stage. Five international panels – one general panel and one for each of the fields of medicine, science, engineering and humanities/social sciences/education science – are evaluating the research quality of the environments as well as the added value and dynamics created by them. The international panels of experts have met coordinators, researchers and doctoral students from each environment, the vice-chancellor and the assistant vice-chancellor for research.

Lund University has been extremely successful in obtaining Linnaeus environments, winning eight in 2006. It will be interesting to read the evaluations later in the spring. The impression we received was that the evaluators are pleased and in a number of cases impressed by what has been achieved. This is great to hear and the environments have the wholehearted support of the university management. They are flagships for the University of which we should be very proud. They have good leadership and serve as positive influences within LU, with cross-boundary, dynamic and rejuvenating research activities that also contribute a lot to education and innovation.
More information about the Linnaeus environments at Lund University (in Swedish)

We had a site visit on 8 February from a delegation from the European University Association (EUA). They are mapping how we follow up students and alumni and how we use the results of the follow-up in strategic development, quality enhancement, marketing and information to prospective students, and to support students during their studies. They met members of university management, deans, lecturers, students and administrative staff in their search for best practice.

A questionnaire about working at LU will be sent to all employees by email at the end of the month. The questions are about working conditions, the work situation, stress, leadership, etc. The questionnaire has been drawn up as part of the PUPA project (Personal Development and Professional Working Conditions) and the results will form the basis for our future work on human resources policy. More information about the survey and how the results will be used and reported will be sent out beforehand. In order to ensure the results are reliable, it is important that as many people as possible take part, so please take the time to respond. It is an opportunity to contribute to the design of our human resources policy.

Congratulations to all those who were presented with the medal for zealous and devoted service of the Realm on Wednesday, 9 February, followed by a dinner at AF. The event was to recognise all those who have worked for the State for 25–30 years and this year some 70 LU employees received the award. Many thanks for all your contributions to the University over such a long time!
Read about the ceremony and see the list of this year’s medal recipients (in Swedish)

The University Board meets today, 16 February, when we will take a decision on the renewed strategic plan for 2012–2016, the annual report, the total budget for 2012 and the proposed budget for 2013–2015.
By raising our level of activity we have turned the financial surplus of recent years into a deficit of SEK 9 million for 2011. The deficit is divided into a deficit of SEK 104 million in education and a surplus of SEK 95 million in research.
The successes of recent years in competing for grants and external funding have caused a large increase in income. Our costs have not risen at the same rate, primarily because it takes time to recruit staff. The increased income is also used for investments, the cost of which is spread over a number of years by means of depreciation.

During 2011, a large number of measures have been taken to raise the level of activity at the University. In education, strategic investments such as the expansion of programmes and courses at Campus Helsingborg and the secondary teacher training programme have been made. Various measures have also been taken to raise quality, in particular recruitment and improved study environments. Within research, the level of activity has primarily been raised through recruitment. Converted into full-time equivalents, the number of employees has increased by 471 in 2011! The increase in 2010 was 330.

The public agency capital at the close of 2011 was SEK 1 678 million and the University also reported unused grants of SEK 2 714 million. The University thus has a reserve that will be used over the next few years to finance a higher level of activity through further planned deficits.

In the proposal for a total budget for 2012 we will have a planned budget deficit of SEK 190 million divided into SEK 110 million in education and SEK 80 million in research. We have now raised our level of activity considerably and believe that the years of large surpluses are over.

Human resources costs have increased by SEK 229 million and operating costs by SEK 82 million. The costs of premises have also increased, with more space at Arkivcentrum Syd, among others. Over the next few years, our aim is to further raise the level of activity and thus reduce the public agency capital, which means that we underbalance the budget for the next few years. Our goal after that is a balanced budget with public agency capital of around 7 per cent of our costs. At the same time, we want to ensure that we give the faculties good opportunities to plan for the long term so that we can avoid large negative economic fluctuations.

A hearing on student housing was held on Friday at the Ministry of Health and Social Affairs. As a result of the inquiry now being carried out into the issue of student housing, commissioned by Minister for Housing Stefan Attefall, we are calling on the Government to change the remit of Akademiska Hus. It should release land for student housing when requested to do so by the universities. We also need to hear as soon as possible whether we are to receive permanent permission to let accommodation to both international and domestic students.

The five-year temporary exemption that we have been granted is not sufficient to get construction started, because this is a long process. We also want to be given the right to rent to tenants who are not students when we have vacancies, for example over the summer.
Per Eriksson, Mats Paulsson and Mats Helmfrid write about this today, 15 February, in an article in Dagens Industri.

The news that Astra Zeneca is to axe 1 200 jobs in Södertälje has shaken Sweden. It is interesting that when Astra Zeneca decided to move its operations from Lund, the Government regarded it as a local matter for the market and stakeholders to resolve. The Minister for Research telephoned the vice-chancellor once. We are very grateful, however, to those who have pulled together in the region to ensure that something good came out of the premises that Astra Zeneca left in Lund. Medicon Village is a good example of what can be achieved. We are communicating this to Stockholm and encouraging the involvement of different parties in the action the Government is considering following the closure in Södertälje.

Medicon Village is now entering the next stage, i.e. planning the move and starting operations on the site left by Astra Zeneca.
More information about LU’s plans for the relocation and start of operations at Medicon Village on the website

Utbildningsradion, UR, will be filming 20-minute lectures by 23 Lund researchers on a wide range of topics. The lectures will be filmed on 29 February and 1 March in the lecture theatre at the Pufendorf Institute and will be broadcast on Kunskapskanalen. Please come along to play the audience for the recordings and take the chance to get an overview of different research fields at LU. First come, first served!
See the complete programme (PDF)

We are starting the spring’s vice-chancellor’s seminars, but in a new guise. As before, there will be discussions and lectures on current topics of interest, but this semester the seminars will be scheduled at lunchtime. The next one will be on 5 March, 11:30–13:00, starting with lunch before the seminar. The venue will be room 206 in Universitetshuset as usual. The vice-chancellor’s seminar on 5 March will be about the next important steps in the work on LU’s human resources policy. The seminar will be lead by Ingalill Rahm Hallberg. Register now: gerd.hawaleska@rektor.lu.se. We look forward to seeing you there!

Programme for seminar, 5 March
Lund University human resources policy – a future challenge?
11:45–12:00 Vice-Chancellor Per Eriksson opens the seminar
12:00–13:15 Pro Vice-Chancellor Ingalill Rahm Hallberg: What have we done so far and what are the important next steps for Lund University’s human resources policy? (Discussions in groups and in plenary)
VENUE: Room 206, Universitetshuset
TIME: Refreshments 11:15–11:45, followed by seminar 11:45–13:15
REGISTRATION: Register to gerd.hawaleska@rektor.lu.se by 29 February 2012

Uppsala’s winter inauguration of professors followed by dinner at the castle was held on 27 January, hosted by Vice-Chancellor Eva Åkesson. It was an elegant and rewarding occasion and it was great to meet Eva in her new role.

Minister for Migration Tobias Billström visited us on 17 January and we discussed Lund University’s development, the upcoming Research and Innovation Bill, the problem of tuition fees for Swedish students studying courses in Denmark and migration issues, including the problem of processing times at the Migration Board for the renewal of international doctoral students’ residence permits.

The Sten K. Johnson Centre for Entrepreneurship at the School of Economics and Management has been inaugurated and a remarkable number of people turned out to listen to interesting lectures, not least from Sten K. Johnson himself, who is a brilliant and interesting speaker and thinker.
More about the inauguration (in Swedish)

On 30 January talks were held with the leaders of Helsingborg Municipality where we discussed the development of Campus Helsingborg and the developments at Lund University with regard to the need for additional study places and research expansion ahead of the Research and Innovation Bill in the autumn.

The HSV meeting of vice-chancellors was held on 24–25 January. Minister for Education Jan Björklund talked about the upcoming Research and Innovation Bill. He discussed continued redistribution of direct government funding based on quality and competitiveness following Anders Flodström’s inquiry, attractive terms for recruitment and career progression for researchers, investments in young researchers, the need for staff mobility between institutions and between higher education and industry, clinical research, the EU’s Horizon 2020 programme and the possibility of some higher education institutions becoming foundations to increase autonomy. His presentation was followed by a lively discussion.

HSV reported on its work and its plans for the future, including evaluation of degree awarding powers, quality assessments and streamlining of its activities.

On 27 January, the management and deans of Leiden University came to Lund to exchange experiences and ideas with our management and deans. Leiden is also a member of LERU and is roughly the same size as LU (apart from lacking a school of management and faculty of engineering). It was a very interesting day.
We are going to enhance our cooperation in education, among other areas; we discussed exchanges, increased student mobility and higher degree completion rates. A number of collaborations were initiated at faculty level which will result in joint activities in the future. The humanities and theology faculties at the two universities are going to meet in Leiden in March.

Other topics that we discussed were ranking and how we can work with this in our marketing internally and externally. Leiden is interested in university mergers, as they are planning to collaborate with other institutions. We talked about the Öresund University and the discussions on mergers in Sweden, especially the Government’s tendency to stifle growth for HE institutions which do not maintain adequate research quality.

Leiden is strong in health and life sciences and bioscience and they were very interested in ESS, MAX IV and Ideon Medicon Village. We look forward to further discussions and meetings with Leiden!

Linus Wiebe has been appointed new director of innovation. He has worked at LUIS, Lund University Innovation System, since March last year and has held the post of acting director of innovation since last summer. He takes up his new post today, 1 February, and we look forward to continuing to work with him to take the University’s innovation activities to new heights.

On 16 January, Minister for Public Administration and Housing Stefan Attefall opened the new student accommodation at Nya Magasinet. Nya Magasinet, which was built for AF Bostäder, comprises 77 new student flats with space for 160 students. The majority of the flats are suitable for flat-sharing and the building is the first of its kind in Lund and possibly in the whole of Sweden. The building is also unique in other ways because the space has been used efficiently and there has been a strong focus on costs, which has resulted in newly built student accommodation with reasonable rents. In conjunction with the opening, the Minister was invited to a meeting at AF with stakeholders to discuss the student housing situation in Lund and what is being done and could be done. Per, Annette Stambolovski and Mats Paulsson were among those attending.

Minister for Migration Tobias Billström will also be in Lund this week to find out about developments at Lund University.

In our response to the Government on the upcoming Research and Innovation Bill, we have prioritised a number of points:

1. Earmark one per cent of GDP to civilian research and development in order for Sweden to remain an internationally competitive nation as research plays an increasingly important role in achieving sustainable development.

2. Harness the potential of the new research facilities. Sweden is in a unique position to establish a cluster of world-leading research centres in materials science and life science with the construction of MAX IV and the European agreement to locate ESS in Lund. In order to take advantage of the potential of the new facilities, incentives are needed for research collaborations in Sweden, for example in life science and resources to work with the best universities and research groups in and outside Europe.

3. Interaction between humanities and social sciences research and medical, engineering and science research. In order to solve the major challenges facing society, cross-disciplinary research and more effective interaction between the humanities/social sciences and medicine/engineering/science are required. The social sciences/humanities need to be given a new role in the major development issues and the large, full-scale universities are in the best position to take the lead in developing cross-disciplinary research.

4. Long-term investments in strong research environments. When research policy is to both ensure international competitiveness and help make research findings come to use, continued investment in strong research environments is necessary. It would be appropriate for this to be done in accordance with international patterns, which means that the national funding bodies earmark around 10 per cent of the available research funding to this type of long-term investment. At the same time, strong support is needed to promote knowledge transfer to the business sector and entrepreneurship.

5. Highest quality in research. Lund University supports the proposal from the national research funding bodies for a new system of resource allocation with the aim of advancing quality and improving the opportunities for long-term planning.

Read the response in full here (in Swedish)

A Life Science Foresight Institute under the authority of Lund University will be moving into Medicon Village. The director of the institute is Paula Zeilon. The institute has received funding from the European Regional Development Fund and will have two focuses: research on megatrends in life science and service to companies in the form of business analysis to support decision-making.

On 10 January AstraZeneca’s premises were taken over by Medicon Village AB, the company wholly owned by the Mats Paulsson Foundation. We attended together with representatives of the region, the municipality and the business sector. We will see exciting developments in the future and it is a unique opportunity which Mats Paulsson has given the region with his private donation of SEK 100 million. AstraZeneca has also played a major part in ensuring the success of the venture by selling the site for SEK 450 million when its real value was closer to SEK 1.5 billion.
The rents are at market rates and in a few years’ time there will be a surplus from the rent that we and other tenants pay to the property company, which will be reinvested in research through a transparent process. We will try to disseminate the business model drawn up with this donation to other parts of our campus and the higher education sector.

The profits of the foundation that are to be used for research should, in the long term, provide at least SEK 25 million and possibly as much as SEK 50 million a year. We are by far the largest research institution in Skåne and estimate that in open competitions we will be able to obtain at least SEK 20 million and possibly up to SEK 40 million a year. This therefore represents a very large indirect donation and resource to Lund University. Work is now well underway to settle all the details for the research groups which have registered an interest in moving to Medicon Village during the year.

Today, 16 December, I (Per) have signed an agreement to rent premises at Medicon Village. The contract is for three years.

Lund University will gain access to the premises during 2012. In spring 2011, an inventory of premises and research groups at the University was carried out. We saw then that there was both the space and the opportunity to create a unique cancer centre at Medicon Village.

Around 200 people at Lund University have registered an interest in moving to Medicon Village. These are cancer researchers in both Lund and Malmö, for example research groups within CREATE Health and BioCARE. The move will take place in stages over the course of 2012, as alterations to the premises and detailed needs analyses are completed.

For Lund University’s expanding cancer research, which has outgrown its current site, the premises at Medicon Village are excellent. The site is close to Ideon, MAX-lab and the future MAX IV and ESS. In addition, the size of the premises and the facilities available, including modern laboratories, mean that research groups, research institutes and businesses can be based under one roof.

Medicon Village came about when AstraZeneca sold its research facility to a foundation. The founder is Mats Paulsson, who donated starting capital of SEK 100 million from his own private funds. Through the foundation, a property company has been formed, Medicon Village AB. The business model ensures that all the profits from the property management are reinvested in research in a completely transparent process, with open calls for proposals and scientific evaluation of applications. I am convinced that Medicon Village will become a world-class life science facility, especially in cancer research, and it goes without saying that Lund University wants to be involved in this development.

More information about Lund University’s plans to move some research to Medicon Village and the removal process at: www.lu.se/mediconvillage

Thank you and goodbye!
When one chapter closes and another opens, many thoughts and memories are awakened, especially at this time of year. Now that I (Eva) am moving on to Uppsala, I can safely say that I have had a fantastic time and almost 16 wonderful years at Lund University. I have had the opportunity to work as a researcher, lecturer, director of studies and assistant vice-chancellor, then for the past three years I have had the privilege of being pro vice-chancellor and sharing the management of the University with Per. It has been an enjoyable and inspiring time. I have had so many chances to develop and I am very grateful to all of you who have given me different opportunities and allowed me to try out so many things.

A lot has happened over the years and it isn’t possible to mention everything. To take a few examples, widening participation and diversity have been placed on the agenda. The Bologna Process and the 2007 higher education reform transformed higher education in Sweden. The abolition of mandatory students’ union membership in 2010 put strong student influence to the test. Degree-awarding powers for teacher training have been assessed and we have started a new teacher training programme with Kristianstad University. Evaluation systems have come and gone, and another new national evaluation system has been introduced. EQ10, which the students put on their wishlist to the vice-chancellor, became EQ11 and our international advisers visited in May this year.

Our Scientific Advisory Board became the University Advisory Board to more clearly emphasise the importance of all our activities: education, research and innovation. We have raised our international profile and have been called champions of Erasmus Mundus. The introduction of tuition fees for non-European students this autumn presented us with a challenge to maintain internationalisation. The reform to bring greater freedom to the universities, which became Fronesis at LU, has involved many of us over the past year, with six sub-projects. At the libraries, a project has been carried out to draw up a vision for the future and the new organisational structure will be launched in the new year.
A lot of my work has been done in different teams. I appreciate the discussions and exchanges of experiences, with everything that you have so generously shared and all the wisdom you have demonstrated in leading our University in the Management Group, Recruitment Council, Quality and Development Council, Interpol, the Bologna Group, the strategy group for the introduction of tuition fees and all the steering groups and project groups.

Over the years there have been many trips to destinations both near and far. Those that stand out in my mind are the trips I have made with groups to India, China, the Middle East and most recently to South Africa. I have been pleased and proud to be able to represent Lund University together with a number of you. I have also represented LU in LERU and U21, and it has been a fantastic learning experience to gain a broader perspective on what we do.
The world has been close at hand through all our international students and visiting staff from different parts of the world. However, there has also been concern for students, employees, colleagues and friends, for example in Japan after the earthquake and during the unrest in the Middle East. This work has made me realise that LU is everywhere.
The number of students applying to Lund will remain stable for the near future. Quality and development work is currently underway that will secure our future. EQ11, validation and barometers provide tools for development. The initiatives that have been taken in conjunction with the introduction of tuition fees, on marketing and managing of student recruitment, strengthened LU’s position on the international stage. With good planning and continued evaluation of programmes and courses, LU will be well equipped to face the fall in student numbers that is set to occur in a few years’ time. With teacher training and pharmacy and clearer investment in the second cycle, there will be an attractive range of courses and programmes. Lund University is well equipped for the future.

Of course it is difficult to leave LU, but at the same time it is time to move on after nine years in management. I feel confident handing over my responsibility for education to Eva Wiberg, who will become assistant vice-chancellor in the new year. There are many experiences and much that I have learnt from you that I am now taking with me to my new post as vice-chancellor of Uppsala University. There are so many people I would like to thank; the simplest would be to thank you all. So thank you!
Now it’s time for me to head to the airport to travel to Uppsala University. This evening there will be a dress rehearsal and I must admit that I am a bit nervous about the handover ceremony tomorrow.

Best wishes,

Eva Åkesson

Per attended a seminar on 30 November at the Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences and listened to a presentation of Anders Flodström’s inquiry by Max Kesselberg on how research funding could be allocated on the basis of quality. It was very interesting. According to the inquiry, peer review is not a viable means of deciding on resource allocation. On the other hand, they have found good ways of measuring quality and competitiveness on the basis of quality indicators, including third-stream activities. The proposal received a very positive response and is expected to be sent out for consultation before Christmas.

Per attended a Futures Forum last week (25 November) at Campus Helsingborg, where representatives of higher education, Folkuniversitetet, the business sector and municipalities met for panel discussions and discussions with the audience on what can be done to increase the level of education in north-western Skåne. In several municipalities in the region, the level of education is below the national average, which is problematic because the global knowledge economy increasingly requires a well-educated labour force.
Lund University has long wanted to expand its activities at Campus Helsingborg, preferably by 1 000 student places, but this will require the Government to raise the ceiling figure for education at the University. Unfortunately, the Government has instead chosen to reduce the number of study places in the country from next year to address the shrinking cohorts of young people in the future. This is regrettable when competition for our programmes and courses, including those at Campus Helsingborg, is now at record levels and it will still be several years before the number of young people will fall. A lot is happening at Campus Helsingborg, the new teacher training programme has started and we are also planning to strengthen logistics research with a new research group, to name a few examples.

Find out more about the Futures Forum (in Swedish)

LTH, which is celebrating its 50th anniversary, held a very enjoyable party on 17 November with a good programme and a present from the business sector in the form of the financing of a Jubilee Chair in Industrial Economics. This chair is an excellent example of fundraising and we will keep this method of working in mind ahead of the University’s 350^th anniversary.

The Sustainable Lund Challenge aims to show how the University and the Municipality cooperate for sustainable development. The project also aims to facilitate and develop more collaborations for a sustainable Lund. As a step in this, the University and the Municipality are holding a joint knowledge and experience day on the role of lighting on 15 December in Stadshallen in Lund. Researchers from the Pufendorf Institute, the Nanometre Structure Consortium, the departments of Environmental Psychology and Design and Architecture, the Faculty of Medicine and the TEM Foundation. The physics laser show at the Department of Physics will also participate. This is a splendid example of how the University’s research comes out into society and comes to direct use.
More information about the Sustainable Lund Challenge (in Swedish)

The fourth AKKA (Akademiska kollegors ansvar) programme had a final meeting on 22–23 November in Båstad, which Per attended. Thirty lecturers and researchers with PhDs, half men and half women, have for the past year undertaken a management training programme with an integrated gender perspective. At the meeting, the participants presented their projects. “Is there a gender perspective in the Fronesis project?” and “how high is awareness of our gender equality and equal opportunities policy?” were two of the questions considered in the projects. The reports will be compiled into a book and sent to the funders of AKKA IV, the Swedish National Agency for Higher Education and the Government. In total, 120 people have now attended the AKKA programme at our university and the management programme is very important for the development of our organisation.
Per presented ideas on the University’s development for the future linked to the work on the renewed strategic plan. Views of leadership, experience and strategies were also discussed.

At the LERU Rectors’ Assembly in Amsterdam on 18–19 November, views on the EU’s upcoming framework programme Horizon 2020 were discussed. LERU has without doubt succeeded in influencing and monitoring the development of the programme. Various international strategies were discussed and presented. In addition, political developments for universities in Europe were discussed – an increasing number of countries are going in for mergers to fewer but larger universities. We are also seeing this trend in Sweden.

Today an event was held to conclude Sweden’s celebrations of the International Year of Chemistry 2011 at the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in Stockholm. Eva opened and closed the day. Many fantastic activities with links to chemistry have been held throughout the year around Sweden, arranged by universities and other higher education institutions, companies, organisations and science centres. At the concluding event there was an exhibition of what has been done. I (Eva) was impressed by the breadth and diversity. Cecilia von Arnold from the Department of Chemistry presented what had taken place in Lund, including an art exhibition at the start of the year and “Food and Molecules”, a food and health fair with a chemistry perspective that was held recently. Anna Gunnarsson and Berta the dragon received the teaching prize and the Chemistry Calendar was voted the most innovative and effective activity during the year. It was an inspiring day on the theme of Fun, Future and Sustainability!

For more information about Sweden’s activities for the International Year of Chemistry, see http://www.kemi2011.se/.

Professor Stefan Lindgren of the Faculty of Medicine will lead the Government’s inquiry to review the new Swedish medical degrees. The aim of the review is to give medical training up to qualification a clear, coherent organisation that is better suited to the needs of the health service.
Find out more about the inquiry that Stefan Lindgren will be leading

The zoological collections can continue to be displayed thanks to a donation from the Crafoord Foundation. A zoological exhibition room is being created on the third floor of the Historical Museum, where parts of the zoological collections can be shown in special themed exhibitions. Many thanks to the Crafoord Foundation!
More information about the donation to the zoological collections

A Christmas concert for Lund University staff will be held on Friday, 9 December 17:00–18:00 in Universitetshusets aula. The Vice-Chancellor invites all staff to attend. The Lund University Academic Orchestra and the Lund Academic Choir, conducted by Director of Music Patrik Andersson, will perform seasonal music and song for Christmas. Glögg and cake will be served in the atrium from 16:30 before the concert. No registration is required, but the number of seats is limited.

Skåne Day is being organised by Region Skåne on 22 November at Kulturhuset in Stockholm; Lund University will participate in the event, which has become a very good tradition.

Per is on the way to the LERU Rectors’ Assembly, which is being held this time in Amsterdam on 18–19 November. On the agenda at the meeting will be some important issues for the future, including LERU’s positioning and issues concerning the new EU framework programme Horizon 2020, the European Research Council (ERC), the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT) and the rules for membership of LERU. In addition, LERU’s response to the public consultation on the European Research Area will be discussed, as well as gender equality issues and a modernisation agenda for the European higher education system.

On 11.11.11, the rules of procedure were adopted by the Lund University Board – although not quite at 11:11! The decision was called ‘historic’ by Chair Allan Larsson. A few minor changes were made to the wording in the part on chairs of faculty boards. With regard to the electoral college, the task of appointing external members to the board was cut. With regard to the library board, it was added that there are to be three student representatives. This should have been included from the start. The rules of procedure will be followed up in a year’s time.
We began the work on the rules of procedure about 16 months ago. A lot of work has been invested by a lot of people and I want to thank all those in Fronesis and especially in sub-project 1 for all their commitment and hard work.

The Fronesis project will continue until the new year. Some sub-projects are continuing their work, such as sub-project 4, which is working on the regulations for the application of course and programme syllabi and on some issues concerning third-cycle education. These will most likely be sent out for consultation in early December.

Today was the last meeting of the Recruitment Council. In the new year, the new Education Board will replace a number of university-wide groups, including the Recruitment Council, the Development Council and Interpol. 

Emma Jungmark gave a presentation of the students’ unions’ work on widening participation. Karin Gréen and Paula Langö-Eliasson talked about the newly formed Taman Student Association in Lund (TSiL), which works with diversity, integration and combating racism in Lund’s student life. Their enthusiasm was infectious! Leif Bryngfors was a guest at the meeting and talked about perspectives and projects on widening participation at LTH, including the Vattenhallen Science Centre. Vattenhallen has already had over 30 000 visitors this year and there is a long waiting list of school classes that want to visit – great work and a great success! 

Eva Wiberg, who will become Assistant Vice-Chancellor next year and who will chair the new Education Board, attended the meeting to listen to the views of the Council members on how the work on widening participation should be continued. Exchanges of experience were mentioned by many. There are a lot of good activities being carried out at different faculties, but we are often unaware of what others are doing. In this context, the Recruitment Council has played a major role in helping us learn from one another. We also want to remind you about the inspiration day being organised by the Recruitment Council on 15 December.

I (Eva) would like to thank all those who have contributed to the work of the Recruitment Council in one way or another, both current members and all former members. It has been fun and inspiring to work with you. Widening participation and diversity are important questions of quality for our university.

Today we had the opportunity for an exchange of experiences with Professor Londa Schiebinger from Stanford University. Professor Schiebinger opened the afternoon with a presentation on gendered innovation in science, medicine and engineering. Eva and Ingalill were there from the university management.  

Gendered innovations employ sex and gender analysis as a resource to create new knowledge and technology.
The Gendered Innovations project:
1) develops methods of sex and gender analysis for scientists and engineers;
2) provides case studies as concrete illustrations of how sex and gender analysis leads to innovation.

Visit the project website for more information:
http://genderedinnovations.stanford.edu/index.html 

After this, Tomas Brage gave a status report on the gender certification project that is underway at Lund University. The Hedda Andersson Chair was also discussed. We spent the remaining time discussing possible future projects.
Londa Schiebinger is the author of books including Has Feminism Changed Science?.

A vice-chancellor’s seminar on the renewed strategic plan will be held on 3 November, 17:30–19:00 (refreshments served from 17:00). Lund University is to become “a world-class university that takes on the challenges of the future with its diversity and cross-boundary cooperation”. Assistant Vice-Chancellor Sven Strömqvist will talk about the work on the renewed strategic plan and we want your views on the content and wording. The vice-chancellor’s seminar will take place in Universitetshuset. All are welcome to come and discuss and ask questions.

More information about the vice-chancellor’s seminar and registration (in Swedish)

Forskningens dag (Research Day) is currently taking place in Lund and Malmö on the theme of Andningen och livet – från första till sista andetaget (the Breath and the Life – from first to final breath). Tomorrow, after the lectures in Lund, the Eric K. Fernström Nordic Prize will be presented to Professor Anders Björklund of the Faculty of Medicine.
More information about Forskningens dag (in Swedish)

Per attended the Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences (IVA) annual meeting last week. President Björn Nilsson gave an excellent presentation of progress and news from science and engineering. The King and Queen graced the Academy with their presence.

Housing first in Helsingborg reported the results from its first trial year on 21 October. After a year, 80 per cent of those who had received housing were still living there and had coped well – a successful outcome in yet another city. Now we hope that more municipalities will follow this example.

Industrifonden held its annual meeting in Stockholm on 19 October. The investment in QlickTech from Lund is the fund’s best ever investment. Professor Maria Strömme from Uppsala talked about nano-research and spoke very highly of the nano-research at Lund University.

Yiddish at Lund University should receive extra funding to strengthen the minority languages and develop teacher training. This is according to the Swedish National Agency for Higher Education (HSV) in a report submitted to the Government. Since 2007, Lund University has had national responsibility for developing education in Yiddish and maintaining expertise in the field. Education is offered in both the Yiddish language and Yiddish culture, and the Bachelor’s degree is now being validated. In the work on the minority languages, HSV points out that Lund University stands out from the other six institutions that have responsibility for a minority language and emphasises the University’s foresight and cooperation with other institutions. Lund has a full-time senior lecturer in Yiddish, Jan Schwarz, and collaborations have been initiated with other institutions abroad which conduct research and teaching in Yiddish.

More information about the proposed extra funding for Yiddish and other minority languages (in Swedish)

A lot of input is now being given to the upcoming 2012 R&I bill. Recently, the proposals from the state funding bodies came in and they seem quite good for Lund University, even if we would have liked to see the need for research infrastructure more explicitly stated. This is some information about this on page 21, but there is no mention of the largest ventures, MAX IV and ESS. It does say, however, that they will return to the question as they have a special government remit for the prioritisation of research infrastructure. We therefore look forward to this and input from a large number of other stakeholders. We will discuss our input at the next University Board meeting on 11 November. From experience we know that the initiatives which are supported by the majority of stakeholders have the greatest chance of being included in the bill, which is why alliances are particularly important.

Read a summary of the proposal on the Swedish Research Council website (in Swedish, opens in new window)

Read the proposal in full (PDF, in Swedish, opens in new window)

Yesterday we had a meeting of heads of department. There was rather too much on the agenda with too much information and not enough interaction and discussion with our heads of department – something to bear in mind for the next meeting. Among the issues raised were: Fronesis, the libraries, Ideon Medicon Village, EQ11, the teacher training programme, the research and innovation bill, Akademiska Hus, the budget bill.

We have regular meetings with the management of Uppsala University; alternate online and face-to-face meetings. On the agenda today were current topics of interest for each institution; we discussed KIC (knowledge and innovation communities) and the article by Jan Björklund in DN on university mergers. How can we collaborate more on internationalisation? The upcoming Erasmus Mundus application to coordinate the India lot was discussed. China, South Africa and Brazil were other countries that we talked about. Both universities are members of Sanord and Eva will be going to South Africa to attend a meeting at the end of November; she will take the opportunity to visit some of our partner universities in conjunction with this. MAX IV and ESS were other important topics of conversation during the meeting. The next meeting will be in Uppsala on 21 May 2012.

We would also like to take the opportunity to congratulate Head of Administration Marianne Granfelt, who is to be the new Secretary-General of SUHF. Per Eriksson says:
“Marianne Granfelt has been a great asset to Lund University and it is therefore a loss to our university to see her go. However, in her new post she will serve as an excellent resource for the whole of Swedish higher education. We will begin the process of recruiting a new University Director as soon as possible.”

We have had a very good two days away with the deans on Thursday–Friday with many constructive and inspiring discussions.

We began by reflecting on the situation for planning for 2013–2014 with regard to education resources. Since there were such major changes in the budget bill earlier in the autumn, the Board did not take a decision as planned, because we needed more time to discuss consequences and changes with the deans. At the away days we agreed on a proposal for how we will deal with the lowering of the ceiling figure for students who take no credits and the increase in funding for Humanities, Theology, Social Sciences and Law. The University Board is expected to make a decision on the conditions for planning for 2013–2014 on 11 November.

How should we deal with social media? We are constantly encountering new situations and different social media with which we need to be able to deal wisely.

Per led a discussion on our input to the upcoming research and innovation bill. All the faculties were encouraged to send in more comments to Klas Malmqvist by the end of next week at the latest. The away days rounded off with a fruitful discussion with many good ideas on how the RQ13 evaluation should be carried out.

Have a good weekend!

Yesterday the Fronesis steering group met. Project manager Thomas Achen reported that the project is running to schedule and that the University Board will take a decision on the rules of procedure on 11 November as planned. Eva Wiberg and Sven Strömqvist presented their thoughts on the new boards; the education board and the research board. The message from the steering group was to give particular consideration to internationalisation. This is an important strategy and success factor for LU and must not be overlooked in the new structure. In addition, the importance of keeping together education issues was emphasised, including third-cycle education. Administrative support for the boards and the focus SP6 should have from now on were raised. The steering group also discussed how new delegation rules are to be drawn up and how the rules of procedure are to be implemented. At the end of the meeting we had an initial discussion on how and on what issues the Vice-Chancellor’s Management Council will work in the new year. The next (and final) meeting of the steering group will be on 1 December.

The theme of the annual conference was “How is high-quality research created?”. Attending from Lund were Eva and Per, Marianne Granfelt and Ann-Katrin Bäcklund. Minister for Education Jan Björklund opened with a presentation entitled “Quality before Quantity”. He discussed the shrinking cohorts of young people and mergers between institutions. When it came to research, he said that there will be less focus on research environments and more focus on the individual. Per raised this issue in the question time with Jan Björklund, calling attention to the importance of the environment and management. On the whole, the presentations were good – we particularly appreciated the one by Vice-Chancellor of Mid-Sweden University Anders Söderholm. The day concluded with a panel discussion on how research funding bodies could support a favourable climate for research. Anna Ledin from Formas wanted to see the higher education institutions review applications before submission so that fewer would be sent in.

During the day, Eva managed to sneak away to a KrUUt seminar entitled “How can active student participation be implemented?”. Leif Bryngfors of LTH was an invited guest, speaking about Supplemental Instruction at LU.

Today it was the SUHF general assembly, where LU was represented by Eva and Susanne Kristensson. The meeting opened with two preparatory seminars: one entitled “Gotland University: merger or independence?” and one on the inquiry on the new structure for the three government agencies HSV, VHS and IPK. From the latter, the only clear information from the leader of the inquiry was that there will be no consultation round and that the director-general of HSV (or whatever it will be called) should not be the University Chancellor.
Anders Flodström was invited to speak about performance-based resource allocation for research. The inquiry has been delivered to the Ministry of Education, but it has not yet been made public. Professor Flodström made clear that he does not recommend peer review in the national system. It may work well in the evaluations by individual institutions, but on national level it would be too expensive and there would not be enough evaluators. The proposals are a national database, Swepub, choosing ‘impact factor’ ahead of citation index, and measuring excellence in ERC and Swedish Research Council grants.
The final report from the expert panel on quality assurance was presented, with a number of proposals, all of which were approved. In other matters, SUHF is going to look at the consequences of the abolition of mandatory students’ union membership. At the end of the meeting, SUHF’s input to the research and innovation bill was discussed.

The Association of Swedish Higher Education (SUHF) annual conference is around the corner and this year it is in Uppsala where we will discuss how to achieve high-quality research.

Find out more about SUHF (opens in new window)

The Pharmacy programme which was planned for autumn 2012 will not be starting as planned. The reason is that Lund has seen a reduction in its ceiling figure and must reduce the number of students. Starting the Pharmacy programme next autumn would mean cuts in other programmes at the faculties of Medicine and Science. We will now have to investigate the possibilities of starting the programme at a later date.

The Government’s investigator for the regulations on student housing, Lennart Sjögren, visited us and the local government commissioner for students on 4 October. We had very rewarding discussions and hope to see an improved regulatory framework which encourages the construction of student housing.

The inauguration of professors on Friday was a grand occasion; thank you to all those who made the event such a success and to Eva Ryrstedt, Professor of Civil Law, who held the inaugural lecture and to Students’ Unions President Simon Wetterling who held a brilliant speech to the new professors. A total of 26 new professors were inaugurated – many congratulations to you all and to the three winners of the teaching prizes. The University’s teaching prize for outstanding contributions to education goes to Professor Johanna Esseveld of the Department of Sociology and Professor Knut Deppert of the Division of Solid State Physics. The students’ prize for outstanding contributions to teaching goes to Cajsa Sjöberg, senior lecturer in Latin.

More information about the inauguration of professors (PDF, in Swedish, opens in new window)

We have just returned from an intensive two days away with the university management on Thursday–Friday. Ingalill opened with an update and status report on PUPA (personal development and professional working conditions). Power, responsibility and knowledge were discussed. Ingalill also raised areas of action for the future, including support for international teaching and research staff and their accompanying families. From now on we will have academic qualification portfolios with different sections for research, teaching, management and innovation. Stein Kleppestø presented the skills development programme for 2012–2015 which has been out for consultation. Eva W and Sven S led a discussion on the new boards, their remits, boundaries and the administrative support that will be needed. We will continue this discussion at the Fronesis steering group meeting next week. We also had time yesterday for the status of Ideon Medicon Village, LUIS and management and development programmes. This morning the students’ wishlist and list of rights were top of the agenda. We will work with the universities of Gothenburg and Uppsala to consider the list of rights, exchange experiences and learn from one another. RQ13 and the renewed strategic plan took up the rest of the morning.

Jesper Falkheimer, Vice-Chancellor of Campus Helsingborg, welcomed us and gave a presentation of Campus Helsingborg – Lund University in a young, cross-boundary and dynamic environment.
The Vice-Chancellor and Pro Vice-Chancellor’s report covered ongoing measures in the risk areas prioritised by the Board for 2011. The risk areas are:

• Student recruitment
• Sustainable finances
• Human resources and skills development
• Competition and visibility
• Work environment/safety

Marianne Granfelt gave the Board a summary of the outcome of the budget bill. As we have written previously on the blog, there are both pros and cons for LU. The investment in humanities, theology, social sciences and law is good, but it is a shame that it is being funded through cuts in places. The Board asked for an overview at the next meeting of the national consequences in an international context of the 5–10% cut in the number of higher education places over the coming years.

The Board was given status reports on priority areas for 2011: strategy, organisation and the renewed strategic plan. Ideas for RQ13 were also discussed with the Board. Per Omling will be project manager.
The lunch had been put together under the instruction of Inger Björck, head of the Antidiabetic Food Centre – guaranteed healthy and tasty!

The major item on today’s agenda was a decision on resource allocation for 2012 and the resource allocation plan for the period 2013–2015. The proposal was passed with the granting of a motion from the students to add that the faculties should pay special attention to contact time between students and teaching staff when reporting the effects of quality development in education.

This morning I (Eva) and Assistant Vice-Chancellor Sven Strömqvist visited the Division of Combustion Physics. It is an exciting and cross-disciplinary field in many ways, with clear links to both basic research and applications in collaboration with industry. Ninety per cent of the research is externally financed with funding from STEM, VR, MISTRA, Wallenberg, SSF and industry. There are also many EU projects at the department. We were given presentations of exciting and interesting research and we visited a number of the labs. These visits are very rewarding for us and we will be continuing with more department visits during the autumn.

Professor Marcus Aldén is travelling to China today to be appointed honorary professor at Tianjin University. Congratulations on the well-deserved appointment!

Today we had a further discussion with the Faculty of Social Sciences on development and quality assurance. The discussions seem to be appreciated by all those involved, and have been really enjoyable and fruitful.

The meeting of the Development Council opened with an inspiring presentation on the SI activities at LTH. Hanne Smidt was a guest at the meeting. Hanne was previously project manager of the Master’s project which we carried out with Uppsala and Gothenburg universities. Hanne gave a status report for ‘Trackit – Tracking Learners’ and Graduates’ Progression Paths’. This is an EU/EUA project in which LU is a partner. If you are curious about the project you can find out more here:
http://www5.lu.se/images/Projektkontoret/smaprojekt/20501_beslut_pplan.pdf

LTH and the Faculty of Science gave a report on the measures they plan to take as a result of their latest student barometers. We received a status report on the ongoing HSV evaluations and approved the follow-up of the three risk areas for which the Development Council is the reference group. These areas are: student recruitment, education funding and quality in education. We also had time for a short discussion of the consequences of the budget bill.

Today, Minister for Education Jan Björklund presented new admission rules for higher education. One change is that students with qualifications from abroad will no longer form a separate quota group, but rather will be compared with Swedish qualifications. The field-specific weighted courses are abolished and credit increments are only given for English, modern languages and maths. Another new aspect is that pupils who have taken a vocational programme at upper secondary school and then supplemented their qualifications at Komvux apply in the same group as pupils who have not studied at Komvux. It is good that the quota group for foreign qualifications has been removed, as it had unfortunate consequences in a number of cases. However, the question is whether the admissions system shouldn’t be properly reviewed rather than just being patched up.

For more information, see the government website (in Swedish)

Yesterday, State Secretary Peter Honeth presented the budget bill. We were already aware of a lot of the coming changes and we have written about them on the blog, including the investment of SEK 400 million in humanities, theology, social sciences and law and the cut of SEK 440 million for students who achieve no credits. One piece of news was that Lund University gets an extra 50 places for engineering students. We think this is rather low compared with Chalmers and KTH, which get 150 places each. And why no investment in places for science? This was a question that Anders Axelsson, dean of LTH, put to Peter Honeth after the presentation. There were both good and bad points, and overall the good outweighed the bad.
Eva has written more about the bill on Newsmill (in Swedish)

Yesterday, Eva visited the Art Academy in Malmö. Its activities are exciting and interesting, with the students really in focus. Our department visits are important to us and we are continuing with more visits over the autumn.

Yesterday afternoon the university management visited the Faculty of Science. First we met the faculty management, and then all the heads of department. The effects of the budget bill were one topic of conversation and with the heads of department we discussed the upcoming research and innovation bill.

Today the Library Board met. Items on the agenda included risk evaluation, six month accounts and cultural heritage issues. We were all curious to hear the responses to the consultation on the vision inquiry. The responses are being compiled and will be discussed in various groups. A new university librarian is being recruited and, if all goes according to plan, will be finalised by the new year.

EAIE (the European Association for International Education) is holding its annual conference and fair in Copenhagen this week with between 3 000 and 4 000 delegates. As we have written before, we have had many visitors to Lund University this week in connection with the conference. The U21 partners were here on Sunday, then we had a Partner Day on Monday and a Visitors’ Day on Tuesday. At the conference in Copenhagen we have had a number of discussions with representatives of various higher education institutions around the world. We presented Lund University at the SI (Swedish Institute) “Study in Sweden” stand. Eva participated in a panel discussion on “Creating a global environment for international higher education” to present the viewpoint of institutions. LU is participating in a number of events and workshops; our staff are knowledgeable and professional in these contexts.

A network conference on education sciences research is currently taking place at Campus Helsingborg. Many people are here and almost all faculties are represented. Eva welcomed participants and gave a short account of the journey to the joint teacher training programme with Kristianstad University and the ideas for a teaching KIC (Knowledge and Innovation Community). Sven Strömqvist is working on this issue in LERU. In addition, the university management intends to earmark SEK 20 million for a graduate school in subject didactics.
Roger Johansson and Anders Persson talked about education sciences research. “The desire to understand” was the title of a presentation by Peter Gärdenfors. Then there were a number of exciting parallel seminars. In the afternoon, one of the topics we discussed was third-cycle education. There was a packed programme with exciting presentations. It is clear that there is great interest in and enthusiasm for education sciences at Lund University and a lot of good research is conducted in the field.

A budget breakfast with State Secretary Peter Honeth will be held on 20 September 7:45–8:30 in Pelarsalen, Universitetshuset. Come along to listen and ask questions!
We know already that the teacher training programme is being expanded “where the quality is good”, as the Ministry of Education puts it. This is a consequence of the review of the entitlement to award the degrees, and some institutions see a reduction in the number of places while others see expansion. Lund University is among those who are allowed to expand – by 16 places – but we had hoped for even more. Minister for Education Jan Björklund has also announced that the number of places for medicine and nursing will be increased. The expansion will be gradual and by 2017, 300 new doctors and 700 new nurses will be trained each year in Sweden. In this autumn’s budget, the Government proposes 50 new places in medicine, 60 in nursing and 100 in specialist nursing from next year. For us this will mean 10 new places for medicine in 2012 (all other institutions except Umeå gain 6 places) and 20 new places for specialist nursing. There will be no new funding for the places; rather they will be funded through redistribution within the sector.
In addition, SEK 440 million will be cut from our sector in 2013 for students who are inactive or who achieve no credits (the Ministry had difficulty differentiating these) and SEK 400 million will be used for extra funding for education in Humanities, Theology, Social Sciences and Law. As you can see, there are both pros and cons. We will receive more details and exact figures, as well as information on how this affects Lund University, on 20 September. The plan is for the Board to take a decision on the budget at its meeting on 7 October. This may sound early, given that the budget bill will be presented on 20 September, but it is important that a decision is taken as soon as possible to give everyone the best possible opportunities to plan.

The new external website is beginning to take shape and on Tuesday a presentation was held with a proposal for what it could look like and how it could function. If you weren’t there, you can still follow how the work is progressing on the project blog: http://externwebb.blogg.lu.se/

Universitetsplatsen is currently occupied by the Innovation in Mind conference, and this evening, 15 September at 20:00, it will be followed by Debatt i Lund (café opens half an hour before start). The marquee will also be used for events during Kulturnatten (Culture Night) on Saturday, 17 September, with a presentation of Ideon Medicon Village 13:00–14:00 and Science Slam 16:00–18:00 (in Swedish) and 18:00–20:00 (in English). Lund University is also arranging a number of other events for Kulturnatten, with everything from shows and exhibitions to seminars and experiment stations. This is an excellent way to incorporate third-stream activities!

More information about Lund University’s events on Kulturnatten (in Swedish)
More information about Debatt i Lund (in Swedish)

Tobias Krantz, former Minister for Higher Education and Research, is now head of research and innovation at the Confederation of Swedish Enterprise. He visited Per recently and we primarily discussed issues ahead of the research and innovation bill in 2012. We also discussed the role of the higher education property company Akademiska Hus and how we ensure that the need for buildings is met more efficiently and cheaply, and especially how we could accept generous donations to Lund University through ownership of property.

LTH is 50 this year and the celebrations are culminating in the autumn with loads of activities, including ‘spex’ theatre, an exhibition, shows, seminars, guided tours and a jubilee book. The new School of Architecture will be opened and on 23 September alumni will invade LTH’s campus. It is especially pleasing that 1 700 alumni have registered for the event, which has had to be moved from Gasquesal at Kårhuset to Victoriastadion owing to lack of space!

Find out more about the events for LTH’s 50th anniversary at http://www.lth.se/jubileum/.

Congratulations to Professor Anders Björklund, who has been awarded the Fernström Foundation’s Nordic Prize, with prize money of SEK 1 million. MAX-lab chief designer Mikael Eriksson has also recently been awarded SEK 1 million as the recipient of KTH’s Great Prize.

More information about Anders Björklund (in Swedish)
More information about Mikael Eriksson (in Swedish)

Many of our partners in Universitas 21 are visiting Lund University today. After a welcome and presentation of LU by Eva, Kjell Nilsson presented examples of how U21 works. During the afternoon we had group discussions on the following topics:
* Staff and student mobility
* Raising awareness of U21 on your campus
* Joint PhDs
* Teaching and learning developments

Marianne Granfelt, who was the moderator for the day, summed up and then Tomas Tägil gave our visitors a guided tour. The evening concluded with a buffet dinner at Gamla Biskopshuset hosted by Per Eriksson.

Tomorrow is Partner Day and we are expecting many visitors from different universities. In the morning there will be a joint programme in Universitetsaulan and in the afternoon there will be visits to various faculties. The reason for all the visitors at the moment is that EAIE (the European Association for International Education) is holding its annual conference in Copenhagen. Since many of our partners are coming to that, we are taking the opportunity to invite them to come and see Lund University during the week.

Today, Eva attended an information meeting on the upcoming budget bill. Minister for Education Jan Björklund had invited the country’s vice-chancellors to Stockholm. One item of news that you may already have seen in the media is that the teacher training programme is being expanded where the quality is good. This is a consequence of the review of the entitlement to award the degree, and some institutions see a reduction in the number of places while others see expansion. Lund University is among those who are allowed to expand, but we had hoped for even more expansion. In addition, SEK 440 million will be cut in 2013 for students who are inactive or who achieve no credits (it was difficult to differentiate these) and SEK 400 million will be used for extra funding for education in Humanities, Theology, Social Sciences and Law. As you see, there are both pros and cons. We will receive more details and exact figures, as well as information on how this affects Lund University, on 20 September.

Thursdays are our meeting day. In the morning is the vice-chancellor’s assembly; from this semester we are taking it in turns, attending alternate weeks. This week it was Per’s turn. In the afternoon there is a meeting of either the University Management Group or the Council of Deans. Every Thursday at 15:30, Sfinxens are on AF radio, often with someone from the university management who talks about what’s going on. Around once a month there is a vice-chancellor’s seminar from 17:00–19:00 on Thursdays. From next week we also have aerobics on the calendar for Thursday mornings!

At the Council of Deans we spent a lot of the time discussing the latest changes to the resource allocation decision. The plan is for the Board to take a decision at its meeting on 7 October. This may sound early, given that the budget bill will be presented on 20 September, but it is important that a decision is taken as soon as possible to give everyone the best possible opportunities to plan. On 20 September, State Secretary Peter Honeth will be coming to Lund University to give the traditional presentation of the budget bill in Pelarsalen. Eva is on the way to Stockholm for an information meeting with Jan Björklund on the budget bill with the vice-chancellors of the country’s universities. It is rumoured that there will be a reform concerning students who achieve no credits.

The Fronesis steering group also had a meeting. All the sub-projects gave status reports, and it was good to hear that they were all within both budget and timeframe. Sub-project 1 talked about its faculty visits, which have now been completed. The general impression is that they were appreciated. This is something to consider for major consultation rounds in the future. Sub-project 3 (student influence) will soon be sending out a proposal for a Board decision on student influence at Lund University for consultation. Once the rules of procedure are in place, there will be a lot of decisions and revisions that must be made as a result. These include the revision of the rules on delegation and mandates for the boards. The rules of procedure are the backbone of management and governance, but this also has to be built on. The steering group discussed the ongoing work and implementation and gave the vice-chancellor their views on how this work should be carried out in the future. The next meeting will be on 20 October, when the rules of procedure will be on the table before going to the Board in November. SP 6 will present proposals for the organisation of administrative support for the proposed new boards.

Today a workshop was held on strategies. What headings and sections should be included in the renewed strategic plan? All the proposed sections were more or less equally important. With regard to whether the text should have a swanky marketing tone or a dry academic one, the majority veered towards dry and academic. But most people stressed the academic ahead of the dry. We went through the texts on Lund University’s role in society and the core values in groups. There were lively discussions and many suggestions for the group led by Sven Strömqvist to take on board in the continued work on the plan.

Follow the project on its blog (in Swedish):
http://strategiskplan.blogg.lu.se/

Today’s vice-chancellor’s seminar was about Fronesis and the proposed new rules of procedure for Lund University, which are out for consultation until 16 September. Among other things, the rules of procedure regulate how the University is to be organised and governed and the procedures for elections on different levels. The evening’s seminar offered an opportunity to discuss the proposals made together with university management and colleagues. After an opening presentation by project manager Thomas Achen, group discussions were held on some key issues. The issues raised were the role and responsibilities of the boards, the definition of external members, and teachers versus staff. One question asked was whether the proposal aimed to centralise the University, and a clear answer was given: no.

Put the dates of the upcoming vice-chancellor’s seminars in your diary now. The seminars will be held from 17:00 to 19:00 on the following dates. Keep an eye out for the programme:
29 September 2011 (EU issues)
3 November 2011
8 December 2011

The interim accounts show that the investments we planned for and have now begun are having a financial impact. As we increase the volume of activity (more employees and improved infrastructure, for example) the large surplus that we have had over the past few years is reduced. Lund University shows a deficit of SEK 77 million for the first half of this year. For the whole of 2011, a surplus of SEK 90 million is expected. We are on the right track even though we need to increase the volume of activity even further in order to balance the budget and reduce our agency capital (in 2010 it was about SEK 1.7 billion). The board has decided that the agency capital is to amount to seven per cent of yearly expenditure, which means about SEK 500 million.

Read more about the interim accounts for 2011 (in Swedish)

Debatt i Lund will take place on 15 September at 20:00, on the theme of “Can research be trusted?” The panel will include journalist Inger Atterstam, research policy expert Mats Benner, neurology researcher Patrik Brundin and the head of Ideon, Hans Möller. The debate will be held in the marquee on Universitetsplatsen, in direct connection to Innovation in Mind.

Read more about Debatt i Lund
http://www.lu.se/forskning/debatt-i-lund (in Swedish)

Innovation in Mind, the year’s big innovation event, is being held on 14–15 September. The theme, “Is innovation what you think it is?”, leaves room for both questioning and new perspectives. Several international big names are among the speakers, such as Jonathan D. Gosier. He started Appfrica Labs, a technology incubator in Uganda which works to promote the development of IT in Africa. Other names include researcher and author Tracy Brandenburg and Charles Leadbeater, who was Tony Blair’s advisor on innovation, among other things. Don’t miss this conference which will be held in a large marquee on Universitetsplatsen!

An information meeting on the vision work for the libraries was held today. Jan Nilsson from Malmö University, one of the authors of the final report, which was submitted to the vice-chancellor in June, gave a presentation of the report. Chapter 5 of the report has been sent out for consultation within the organisation and the deadline for responses is 15 September. There was strong interest, with over 70 people attending to listen, discuss and ask questions.
Something we will take with us in the ongoing work is to ensure that the librarians’ close cooperation with the faculties is not lost in a new organisation, a risk which some people pointed out. Another view was that the libraries should only be financed from central university funds, and not both centrally and by the faculties, as is proposed. Another interesting idea was that the University should develop a combined post for librarians who want to work both as a librarian and as a researcher. Thank you for all the points raised!

On Friday, the management of the Swedish Research Council visited us; Chair Lars Anell, Director General Mille Millnert and Executive Director Marianne Samuelsson. Eva gave a general presentation of Lund University’s activities. Mille Millnert talked about what is going on at the Research Council with the harmonisation of its work and equality observers. Per raised the issues which we are pursuing ahead of the Research and Innovation Bill in 2012. Sven Strömqvist gave a presentation of our strong research environments and Carl Borrebaeck talked about innovations and the innovation system. It was a rewarding meeting and the discussions were appreciated by both parties.

Each year the LERU Bright Student Conference is held at one of the LERU member universities. This year it is Lund’s turn to host. The conference is taking place at Campus Helsingborg and this year’s theme is “Equal and Sustainable Infrastructures”. This evening, Eva had the pleasure of welcoming just over 100 students in Pelarsalen in Universitetshuset. Enthusiastic students from LERU universities in Europe have gathered to discuss important issues and challenges for the future. We are pleased and proud to host this LERU conference and it was a pleasure to be able to mingle with all the enthusiastic conference delegates. Many thanks to all those who have helped to make this year’s LERU Bright Student Conference a success!

We hope you have all had a pleasant summer with time to relax.

A new semester is here, with expectant students arriving at Lund University. The housing situation is once again problematic at this time of year and we appeal to you to help if you are able. If you have a bed, sofa or guest room to let, please contact Bopoolen. You can call them on 046 211 42 05 or email bopoolen@lus.lu.se. For more information, see www.bopoolen.nu. An email will be sent out to all employees. Today is Arrival Day and students from all over the world are coming to Lund University, either as exchange students for a semester or two, or to study an entire programme. The AF building was filled with newly arriving students today, who were welcomed by mentors in blue t-shirts who explained things and showed them the way. Many thanks to all those who have worked hard on this.

We have an exciting year ahead and there are many important issues to tackle. In the immediate future, Per will be prioritising the upcoming Research and Innovation Bill. Other projects underway include Fronesis: the rules of procedure will soon be sent out for consultation and we look forward to your input. The plan is that a decision will be taken by the University Board at its meeting on 11 November. Another important consultation round for which we are awaiting your responses is on the vision work for the libraries.

The plagiarism policy and the language policy will soon be ready for a decision. Both are important for our future work. As you may have read in the press, an increasing number of cases are being brought before the Disciplinary Board and this is a trend which we must break.

The planning of RQ13 will also get started in earnest during the autumn.

On Thursday, the management group will meet to plan its work for the autumn. We particularly welcome the new president and vice-president of LUS, Emma Ljungmark and Simon Wetterling, to the management group. We are spoilt with capable students who take a lot of responsibility for our university. Eva Wiberg will also attend the management group’s meetings during the autumn as part of her preparations for the role of assistant vice-chancellor.

We will continue with our department visits. It is important for us to get to meet you and have time to see and hear about your activities. Please get in touch if you would like to receive a visit. The vice-chancellor’s seminars will also continue and will be held on Thursdays roughly once a month – keep an eye out for them. The next vice-chancellor’s seminar is planned for 1 September. 

Once again, welcome back to a new semester!

It is with sorrow and alarm that we have learnt of the tragedy in Oslo and on Utöya. We wish to express our sincere condolences. Our thoughts are with the families and friends of the victims and the politically active young people committed to our democratic values.
Lund University will be flying the flag at half mast on Monday, 25 July as a mark of respect.

Vice-Chancellor Per Eriksson and Pro Vice-Chancellor Eva Åkesson

We would like to extend our thanks for an exciting semester and we look forward to seeing you all again after the well-deserved summer break. Events over the summer include Almedalen Week next week where the University will be holding seminars on Ideon Medicon Village and the new teacher training programme, as well as Science Slam. A summer school will also be held next week, at which 100 European doctoral students in nursing sciences will gather to gain an insight into modern research perspectives. The European Academy of Nursing Science (EANS) has arranged the summer school. At the end of the summer, 24–26 August, Lund University will be hosting the LERU Bright Student Conference, which brings together students from the member institutions to discuss Europe’s social, political and economic future. This year’s theme is “Equal and Sustainable Infrastructures”.

Best wishes for a pleasant summer,

Per Eriksson and Eva Åkesson

Michael von Cotta-Schönberg, University of Copenhagen, and Jan Nilsson, Malmö University, have delivered their final report on the vision work for the libraries at Lund University. We would like to thank them for all their hard work! The final report, which was delivered on 15 June, includes the analysis of the current situation which formed part one of the report, as well as a strategy for 2011–2015 and an action plan for 2011–2012.

The Council of Deans discussed the report on 23 June and agreed that the various parts of the action plan (chapter 6 of the final report) form an important foundation for improvements to the library activities and that they should be carried out. The action plan includes the following sections:
–  replacement of critical library systems
–  a new organisation
–  the drawing up of a strategy, policy and quality goals
–  integrated faculty libraries 

The strategy for 2011–2015 (chapter 5 of the report) includes a number of components:
–  an overall vision
–  the digital library
–  reorganisation
–  the study environment
–  personal service
–  the new research publication system
–  national and international cooperation
–  skills

The Council of Deans is in agreement that these components form important parts of a strategy for the library activities at Lund University. The proposals in chapter 5 for each of the components will go out for consultation. The consultation paper will be sent out shortly and responses are to be submitted by 15 September. A hearing on the proposals is planned for late August. Take the opportunity to offer constructive comments so that we can further develop our library activities in the best way possible to meet future challenges.

Now that the deadline for payments has passed, we know that just over 210 non-European, paying, students will be coming to Lund University to begin their studies in September. Around 70 of these have full or partial scholarships. Despite a reduction in the number of non-European students as a result of the introduction of tuition fees, LU has done very well with recruitment and the major investment in marketing that has been made. Compared with last year, LU has increased its market share nationally from 7% to around 18%. In addition, 40 of the roughly 150 programmes in Sweden with selective admission are at LU (27%), a sign of LU’s strong focus on quality. A number of challenges remain for the continued internationalisation and recruitment work, including the level of the application fee, the design of the application process, the residence permit application process, the possibility for students to stay and work after graduation and the management of Erasmus Mundus.

The University Board had an extended meeting on Friday and Saturday at Bäckaskogs slott. Friday was devoted to general strategic discussions in seminars, and on Saturday the Board meeting took place. Friday opened with a status report from Per and presentation of the challenges we are facing. There was a lively discussion with the Board. This formed the starting point for the discussion led by Assistant Vice-Chancellor Sven Strömqvist on a renewed strategic plan. In addition, the Board had group discussions on Fronesis and went through the draft rules of procedure that have been drawn up. On the whole, the Board was pleased with the proposal, but had a number of views on how the faculty boards should be appointed. In the evening Merle Jacobs joined the meeting and we had an interesting debate on the new research and innovation bill.
On Saturday, discussions addressed research infrastructure and the principles for resource allocation for 2012. The risk evaluation was adopted and the risk areas we will be focusing on in 2012 are sustainable finances, management processes, research studies, staff and skills development and research infrastructure. The Board also took a decision on new appointment rules. A key question has been whether promotion should be a right or an opportunity. The decision means that it becomes an opportunity.

The University Advisory Board (UAB) visited in May and their report has now arrived. It is available on the website:
http://www.lu.se/om-lunds-universitet/organisation/university-advisory-board

The members of the UAB are Provost Judyth Sachs, Macquarie University in Sydney, Dr John Hood from the Robertson Foundation, USA, and Professor Jan-Anders Månsson from École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne. The UAB’s next visit is planned for May 2012. We are grateful for the good advice we receive from our advisers. At the next Council of Deans we will discuss the report with the deans.

The external advisers’ report has arrived!
In the report, the EQ11 external advisers give their views and recommendations for the development of education quality at Lund University. They point out challenges facing the University and strengths to build on and disseminate within the University, as well as areas for improvement.
The basis of the report is the faculty self-reflections, reports from the working groups and the discussions the advisers had with the university management, management of the faculties, students, doctoral students, teaching staff and many other members of staff during their visit in the first week of May.
Read the external advisers’ report here

Almedalen Week is on 4–10 July and Lund University will be present in various ways. Many researchers and students from Lund will be participating in different events. Lund University will also be hosting a few events of its own: a panel discussion on the new teacher training programme, Science Slam (where six exciting researchers compete on who can give the best presentation) and discussions on Ideon Medicon Village.
Find out more about Lund University in Almedalen
http://www.lu.se/samhaelle-naeringsliv/almedalsveckan (in Swedish)

A vice-chancellor’s seminar will be held tomorrow, 16 June, in Universitetshuset, room 206. The seminar will be about our strategy and our input for the upcoming Research and Innovation Bill in autumn 2012. Professor Merle Jacob and Assistant Vice-Chancellor Sven Strömqvist will give a presentation on the bill and this will be followed by a discussion. Refreshments will be served from 17:00 to 17:30, and the seminar will run from 17:30–19:00.
Registration to Gerd Hawaleska, gerd.hawaleska@rektor.lu.se

For more information about the vice-chancellor’s seminars and points for discussion in connection with the Research and Innovation Bill
http://www.lu.se/om-lunds-universitet/rektor-och-universitetsledning/rektorsseminarium (in Swedish)

Eva is on the way to the University of Oslo together with Malin Irhammar to attend a meeting of the “Network for enhancing teaching and learning in research-intensive environments” from 15 to 17 June. At the meeting we will give presentations on EQ11 and “Sharing Teaching and Learning Change Models”. The members of the network are MIT and the universities of Copenhagen, Oslo, Helsinki, Utrecht, Sydney, Leuven, Edinburgh, Oxford, Stanford, Hong Kong and Singapore.

Last week we had a feedback meeting on EQ11 at which the faculties shared their experiences of the EQ11 process so far, especially focusing on the visit of the external advisers. Representatives of the faculties and the student organisations gave oral summaries of their main impressions and the important conclusions that should be included in the continued work on the project. It is clear that many faculties have taken on board the EQ11 process and are in full swing with development work.

Innovation in Mind, the major innovation event of the year, will be held on 14–15 September. This year’s theme is “Is innovation what you think it is?” and leaves scope for both questioning and new perspectives: do innovation systems create the conditions for the unexpected and amazing, or are we throwing money away? Does real innovation mean developing technology, or is it more about creating sharp models so that knowledge can reach out and come to use? Do we put too much energy into solving yesterday’s problems while tomorrow’s remain unsolved? The event will be held in a marquee on Universitetsplatsen. 

Find out more and register now
http://www.innovationinmind.se/

A renewed strategic plan is being drawn up. A workshop open to all staff will be held, with a focus on strategic issues for the future: what are the greatest challenges facing LU? What are our shared values? How should we relate to the world around us? The workshop will conclude with lunch. The workshop will be held on Tuesday, 14 June, 9:00–13:00 in Universitetshuset. Registration to: strategiskplan@lu.se 

For more information about the renewed strategic plan project, see the project blog:
www.strategiskplan.blogg.lu.se

The Young Academy of Sweden has now been started on the initiative of the Swedish Research Council. This is an interdisciplinary forum and a research policy platform for the best young researchers in all disciplines in Sweden. Behind the initiative is the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences (KVA), which hopes that by gathering a selection of young researchers with high academic excellence it can help to create greater dynamism in Swedish research.
Congratulations to those from Lund University who have been appointed members of the academy: Emma Sparr, Physical Chemistry, Jonas Larsson, Molecular Medicine, Marie Dacke Functional Zoology. The Young Academy of Sweden has an initial 22 members, to be expanded to 40 in total, who will sit for five years.

Find out more about the Young Academy of Sweden on the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences website
http://www.kva.se/Om-akademien/Sveriges-unga-akademi/

We presented certificates for excellent work to students active in the students’ unions at a ceremony yesterday. It was fantastic to be able to highlight the important role played by students in the unions. The work done by these students forms a major part of what attracts students to Lund University. Many thanks to all of you!

On Monday evening LU held an alumni and networking event in Vancouver. Around thirty alumni and future exchange and Master’s students gathered to meet one another and LU representatives. It was a successful event which was appreciated by all those who attended. Old friends met, new contacts were established and there was an opportunity to get answers to questions about studying in Lund. Many thanks to Megan Grindlay for a successful event.

The doctoral degree ceremony, the year’s major academic celebration, was held on Friday. The new paving outside the Cathedral was finished just in time so that the procession could pass by. Thanks to all the new doctors, jubilee doctors, honorary doctors and friends of Lund University for your efforts, and also thanks to the Ceremonies Office headed by Master of Ceremonies Carin Brenner for organising the event.
Margot Wallström, who is expected to be the next chair of the Lund University Board from 2012, was also in Lund, first for an appearance at Studentafton on Thursday and then at the doctoral degree ceremony. During the dinner, Per did a much appreciated duet with Linda Lampenius.

On Monday and Tuesday, a conference was held in Beijing on cooperation between European and Chinese higher education institutions. The initiative was from the Erasmus Mundus programmes in China and Asia that we coordinate. The conference was organised by Peking University, Lund University and the European University Centre, and was supported by the European Commission.
After a welcome and opening address by President of Peking University Zhou Qifeng and Eva Åkesson, the conference opened with a session on global trends in higher education. Then there was a presentation on joint programmes, with interesting examples from Peking University. In the afternoon we listened to “good practice in international networks”. On day two, several reports and studies on mobility were discussed. Indicators for internationalisation was an interesting project that LU’s international policy group should take a closer look at and consider whether we might find it useful. I (Eva) presented our work on internationalisation at LU. A recurring theme that came up in the discussion was how we can gain balance in our cooperation – how European students can travel to China and not only Chinese students to Europe. The two days concluded with parallel workshops.
There was a packed programme and good presentations on both days. The conference was well organised and Elisabeth Axell, Katarina Wingkvist and Gunilla Carlecrantz received much praise from delegates. Lund University was well represented at the conference, including a delegation from the Faculty of Law, led by Dean Christina Moell.

The week began in Perth with a visit to Curtin University, where my first doctoral student, Sven Nordholm, is a research professor. We also visited the University of Western Australia, where he has also been professor. We even found time to visit the company that Sven founded, SensEar, where algorithms are used for hearing protection. It seems to be doing well, with 40 employees and plans to double production.

Now Ulrika Qvist Mathiesen and I have had a day in Melbourne with two visits. The first was to the RMIT (Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology) with which we have an exchange agreement; we exchange roughly four students a year. We met the acting Vice-Chancellor and observed that everything was going well and we would be interested in possibly expanding our cooperation, possibly to include third-cycle studies. A similar meeting followed with one of the U21 universities, the University of Melbourne, where we signed a renewed cooperation agreement. Then we flew to Sydney and tomorrow we will visit Macquarie University, where Professor Judyth Sachs is Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Provost; she is known to us as the chair of our external advisers for EQ11 and as one of the three members of the University Advisory Board.

Best wishes from Sydney,

Per Eriksson

On Monday and Tuesday, the University Advisory Board (UAB) visited Lund University. The board is made up of Provost Judyth Sachs, Macquarie University, Sydney, Dr John Hood from the Robertson Foundation, USA, and Professor Jan-Anders Månsson from École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne. Judyth Sachs is also the chair of the EQ11 advisory group. 

On the agenda were fundraising, increased efficiency of administration, EQ11, Fronesis, a renewed strategic plan and resources issues. We had intensive and productive discussions over the two days.

Some general feedback from the UAB:
* Views and input of the panel are taken seriously
* These discussions are part of a bigger process of transformation
* The organisation is more accepting of change and has bought in to the change agenda
* Confidence in what the future holds
* Deans are more included – but more collective meetings, formal and informal, with them. 

Under the heading “big issues”, the following points were raised:
* Need to build a common mission.
* “Connected University” (which came up during EQ11).
* Careful phasing of administrative changes – focus on process and area: Make priorities – can’t do it all at the same time
* Governance and committees: Need committees to create policy, agree strategy, make recommendations for governing decisions and quality assurance
* Can’t build great research out of concrete: Need to ensure that there is a rigorous and purposeful plan to build an organisation of the highest international quality so that Lund optimises, directly and indirectly, the opportunity of the establishment of MAX IV, ESS, etc. 

The proposal for a fundraising campaign was applauded, but we were warned to be wary of underfinancing. A clear message was to work with alumni.
The balance between education and research was raised, as well as cross-boundary activities.

A concluding comment and challenge to us was “not to be held captive to rankings and to be confident in our own standing”. The next meeting with the UAB will be in a year’s time. They have great commitment to Lund University and we appreciate Judyth, John and Jan-Anders’ work as Lund University’s ‘critical friends’.

There was a large audience at the open meeting with our national and international advisers on Friday. The advisers opened by stressing their task, which is to give recommendations for the future and not to evaluate. In general, the tone was positive and forward-looking. 

The general observations emphasised in the advisers’ presentation:
• Many exciting and positive things happening
• Great deal of energy
• EQ11 was constructive – created creative dialogue
• Tension between teaching and research
• Different views on PhD studies
• “One University” vs. Faculties
• Presentism
• Faculty-centred thinking
• Diversity in practices
• Focus on internationalisation
• Student involvement
• Tactical rather than strategic thinking

“A connected university” was presented as a common theme and vision for the whole university;
society, students, faculties and departments, international, roots and history, and the future.
“The world is knowledge-intensive, fast-changing, complex, global . . . and requires a connected university across fields of study to develop new knowledge and skills suited to understanding and acting in such a world.”
These are definitely ideas to incorporate in the work on a renewed strategic plan.  

Good practice from all the faculties was presented, such as teaching academies, SI, MedCul, study environments. More are presented in the report. Strong student influence was also mentioned.

The advisers made clear that work needs to be done on doctoral studies at Lund University and that we must improve the way we manage the balance between education and research, improve career prospects for teaching staff, be more strategic rather than tactical, provide better support to cross-disciplinary education, and institute teaching academies across the entire university.

A few of the recommendations:
• Move to a student centred environment; “students as change agents”
• Incentive systems and “seed money” for cross-institutional collaborations
• Build on individual faculty strengths in teaching and learning through networks and seminars to communicate best practice
• Recognise and reward teaching – “teaching counts”
• Implement systematic QA in PhD education
• Put structures in place to support PhD students
• Align plans across the university to ensure consistency and coherence – cost benefit

The next presentation covered:
Basis for recommendations
 – External factors, quality and relevance
 – Internal factors, Connected University and faculty diversity respected

Balance of education and research
 – Faculty strategy based on EQ11 and new incentives
 – Make sure education is rewarded in merits

Basic principles
 – Employability, civic engagement and critical academic thinking

Bank of ideas
 – Best practice and incentives – sharing and seed money
 – Barriers for cross-boundary activities – suggestions on how to overcome

Better processes
 – Use of ICT, QA of PhD education

The open seminar will be published on the website.

Lund students on exchange in Syria are being encouraged to come home. The Ministry for Foreign Affairs has tightened up its travel advice and we are acting in accordance with its recommendations.
More information: http://www5.lu.se/o.o.i.s?id=2258&news_item=6712

Next week, 9–10 May, our critical friends on the University Advisory Board (Provost Judyth Sachs, Macquarie University in Sydney, Dr John Hood from the Robertson Foundation, USA, and Professor Jan-Anders Månsson from École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne) will be paying us another visit. The meeting will partly address feedback from the last meeting in the autumn, and partly focus on fundraising, effective administrative support and important strategic issues for the University, such as a new strategic plan, Fronesis and resource and financial governance.

Music biennial “Musik i Lundagård” will take place this coming weekend, 7–8 May; don’t miss it! All the University’s musical units will be participating and concerts will be interwoven with lectures across the weekend. There will be a brass quintet, choir, symphony orchestra, vocal ensemble, jazz, and others, and entry is free all weekend.

For more information about Musik i Lundagård and the programme for both days
http://www.odeum.lu.se/o.o.i.s/28055

We handed over the remains of three Maori to New Zealand at a solemn ceremony on Friday attended by representatives of the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, New Zealand Ambassador Barbara Bridge and Eino Örnfeldt from the Ministry of Education. This is the third time we have returned remains that we have had in our collections.
More information about the handover of the Maori remains
http://www.lu.se/o.o.i.s?id=708&news_item=6723

The May Day celebrations were held in accordance with tradition this weekend. LUS President Christoffer Ivarsson and Vice-President Henrik Jonsson held an inspiring speech to the university management on the steps of Universitetshuset. Many thanks for all the efforts students put in to improving and developing the University within the students’ unions, nations and Academic Society.

Read the students’ speech and our response here.

Lund University has submitted an application for the Diploma Supplement (DS) Label, a hallmark of quality which guarantees that the DS issued together with our degree certificates follow the model drawn up by the European Commission, the Council of Europe and UNESCO-CEPES.
The application has been sent to the International Programme Office, where it will go through an initial assessment before being sent on to the European Commission, which makes the final decision in consultation with the Education, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA). The results will be announced in December 2011.

The Council of Deans yesterday was about the research and innovation bill. What should we emphasise? All the faculties will carry out an analysis by August. Sven Strömqvist and Klas Malmqvist will send out further instructions to the faculties.
In addition, there were discussions on ranking and risk analysis. The method we use for risk analysis needs to be modified to be used at university-wide level. Elisabet Månsson will draw up a proposal which we can discuss at a future meeting.
The consequences of the abolition of doctoral grants were also discussed, as well as resource and financial management. Then there were a number of information items on Hedda, the University Board, EQ11, application statistics, the situation in Syria and the recommendation to students to leave the country, and the recruitment of a new assistant vice-chancellor.

The position of assistant vice-chancellor with responsibility for education matters is now being advertised. Ingalill Rahm Hallberg will be retiring this year and in conjunction with this we are having a reshuffle in the management group. The new assistant vice-chancellor will have particular responsibility for first-, second- and third-cycle education.
The post is 25 per cent from 1 September to 31 December 2011 and then 50 per cent from 1 January 2012 to 31 December 2014.

Our external advisers for EQ11, Education Quality 2011, will arrive on Sunday, 1 May. Over the coming week, the 16 advisers from Sweden, Denmark, Germany the Netherlands, the US, India and Australia will visit our faculties and help us to look to the future. The chair of the advisory group is Provost Judyth Sachs, who is also one of our ‘critical friends’ on the University Advisory Board.

On Friday, an open meeting will be held, attended by our external advisers. All are welcome to come and listen and discuss. The meeting will take place on 6 May, 14:15–16:00 in the main hall (aula) at Kårhuset, LTH.

EQ11 will utilise the University’s entire bank of skills and experience to raise the quality of all education from undergraduate to doctoral level, as well as lifelong learning. Good practice at the University will be highlighted, reinforced and spread. EQ11’s watchwords are “simple, clear and useful”. We want to get a clear answer to the question of what the learning experience at Lund University is. The report will be delivered in October and we are very much looking forward to that.

For more information about EQ11, visit the website
http://www.lu.se/eq11

We have today met Hallands nation’s qurator and inspector in connection with the incident at Hallands nation, where students at a dinner held a mock slave auction.

Lund University’s core values uphold equality and ethnic and social diversity. Discrimination and unfair treatment are not acceptable. Respect, tolerance and consideration shall be shown to all, and there shall be shared responsibility and loyalty to the University’s core values, duties and aims.

Following the core values should be a matter of course for all employees, students, unions and nations. There must be no doubt that we have zero tolerance for racism and discrimination.

Besides the meeting with Hallands nation, we will use future meetings with the students’ unions and nations to ensure that Lund University’s core values are also followed in the activities of the unions and nations.

The management of Uppsala University visited us on Friday. We discussed the strategic research areas and the upcoming research and innovation bill. We also compared our work on Fronesis with Uppsala’s work on its reform, Increased Freedom. We were able to observe many similarities. In the afternoon we devoted some of the time to discussions on quality assurance work – Uppsala is currently working on KoF11, its follow-up to KoF07. We are planning for RIQ13 as a follow-up to RQ08. We have existing cooperation on education and quality assurance, the Master’s project and EQ11-KrUUt. HSV’s new quality assurance system was also discussed.

We have a lot in common when it comes to internationalisation. We are both involved in the Nordic centres in India and at Fudan University, Uppsala has recently joined the European University Centre at Peking University in Beijing and we are members of Sanord (Africa). We are co-applicants in three upcoming Erasmus Mundus lots. We discussed how we can add more substance to our existing areas of cooperation and develop them further. The day concluded with a visit to MAX-lab.

Today, the Development Council held a meeting at Kemicentrum, hosted by the Faculty of Science. Olle Söderman and Ina Alexandersson gave a presentation of the Science Faculty’s undergraduate handbook, which is constructed in SharePoint. There were many positive comments from members of the Development Council. Fronesis sub-projects III and IV gave status reports. Head of Evaluation Tina Josefsson talked about Högskoleverket’s kick-off meeting ahead of the quality evaluations in 2011. There was a lot of discussion on how the goals for the evaluation are selected and how they are specified. The structure of quality dialogues was also presented. We tested these with some faculties last autumn, with good results, and now we will have quality dialogues with all faculties this autumn.

Experiences from barometers at the Faculty of Science and the alumni report from the Faculty of Fine and Performing Arts were presented by the respective faculty representatives. Head of Planning Susanne Wallmark went through resource allocation ahead of the upcoming budget discussions with the faculties; a new aspect is that we are trying to include planning for the coming years rather than only focusing on next year.

A consultation paper on the National Qualifications Framework (NQF) is currently with the faculties. It is important that Lund responds to this consultation in a good and well thought-out manner. I would like to encourage everyone to read the consultation paper carefully, discuss it and send the faculties’ responses to Tarmo Haavisto. Eva Wiberg from the Faculties of Humanities and Theology has worked on the issue as a national Bologna expert and will be helping us in the handling of the consultation.

Håkan Sandgren, programme manager for our new joint teacher training programme with Kristianstad University College, opened the Council of Deans meeting with a presentation. He stressed that teacher training is something that interests everyone “from ministers to mothers”.
We went through upcoming University Board decisions on resource and financial governance; a discussion on the matter will be held on Tuesday once Per is back from Korea. With the introduction of tuition fees, the funding cap will be lowered by SEK 41 million in 2013. The Council of Deans discussed the principles for how this reduction will be managed. In addition, local admissions were discussed; the question will be discussed again at the next meeting, once the deans have had chance to discuss this strategically important issue with their faculties.
The latter part of the meeting addressed information on a joint research database (to be discussed at the next meeting), donated property, the ongoing consultation round on the appointments process and promotion, a new discussion on Hedda and visiting chairs, the India trip and the vision work for the library, which will also be discussed at the next Council of Deans.
At the end of the meeting we reviewed previous agendas to see if the right items are being raised in the right way, to ensure that the time is used in the best way. Most of the items on the recent agendas were approved.

Sverker Svensson is leaving his position as head of department at the Academy of Music. He has worked there since the 1970s as a lecturer, faculty programme director, programme manager and, for the past 11 years, head of department.
A reception was held yesterday to thank Sverker Svensson for his time at the Academy of Music. Marianne and Eva were among the many people who wanted to thank Sverker.

We received a warm welcome here, even if it was slightly unusual to be welcomed at the airport as Ms Per Eriksson and Ms Ingemar Carlstedt. See the photographic evidence below. The others in the LU delegation are Professors Thomas Laurell, Rolf Johansson, Bengt Johansson, Mats Alaküla and Mats Johnsson, and Johan Gunnarsson, who has arranged the trip together with Invest in Skåne. On Monday we visited the Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology and LG Electronics together with three representatives from Invest in Skåne and one from a Swedish biotech company. The purpose of the trip is to pave the way for in-depth cooperation with Korean universities within research, education and student exchange, as well as working with Invest in Skåne to encourage Korean companies to establish offices in Skåne.

After a meeting and dinner at the Swedish Embassy, today we have visited both Seoul National University and Korea University. We have been extremely well received and have been given presentations of very interesting activities and beautiful campuses, where private donations from companies such as Samsung and LG play a major role. The magnolias are just coming out at Korea University, as can be seen on the photograph below. The classical style of the buildings can also be seen on the photograph from our tour of the campus. We also had the pleasure of meeting a Korean student who has applied for a Master’s programme at the School of Economics and Management in Lund. It is great that students are aware of us, despite the fact that we haven’t done any special marketing for students in Korea.



On the final day of the Lund delegation’s visit to India, some of the group visited IIT Bombay. IIT Bombay was established in 1958 and is one of the oldest of the 15 IITs in India. It is a research-intensive institute with a focus on Master’s and PhD degrees. We gave presentations of our respective institutions and discussed future cooperation possibilities. They are keen to be involved in an Erasmus Mundus application if Brussels announces a new Indian lot. There is a wish for us to have some form of workshop together on a few research topics, preferably together with IIS, which some of us visited yesterday.

 The Faculty of Law representatives visited the Government Law College, formed in 1855 by the East India Company. It is India’s oldest law school, in stark contrast to the visit to the National Law University, which was established in 2008. Education is currently offered at undergraduate and Master’s level, with major contributions from practitioners from Mumbai.

The day concluded with a guided tour of the slums, and we all found our impression of India as a country of contrasts reinforced.
Now we are packing our bags and will return home with many impressions and experiences that will contribute to LU’s future India strategy.

Travel report from Anders Axelsson:
After a stressful journey from Delhi to Bangalore, we were able to visit the Indian Institute of Science (IIS), a research centre with an almost 100-year history, which could be seen from the ‘British’ university buildings. Professor Balaram, the director of IIS, was our host and found the discussion so interesting that he stayed for an hour longer than planned. MAX IV and ESS aroused a lot of interest, as did the Bioimaging Centre that is being developed at the Faculty of Medicine. In general, we saw parallels and connections to all the strong research fields that we presented within science and engineering, e.g. nanotechnology and biotechnology. IIS is keen to receive researchers for shorter or longer periods, and they believe their research is on such a high level that both parties can get a lot out of researcher exchanges. In order to establish good points of contact and create networks, a joint research workshop was proposed, where around six research fields meet for a few days to find research links that can benefit both parties. The visit also showed how productive it is to have researchers with established contacts within the research community involved in the planning of cooperation. In this case, for example, Bo Mattiasson and Rajni Hatti-Kaul at the Department of Biotechnology have played a very important role. In Professor Balaram’s view, once contacts have been established, it is easy to sign MoUs at management level. The visit was a great success and worth all the trouble with cancelled flights and general confusion at the airport.

Today the Faculty of Law representatives have visited the National Law School of India University on the outskirts of Bangalore. The University offers high class undergraduate and postgraduate education and has research within a large number of centres. The vice-chancellor, who was visiting Delhi at the time, rang to welcome us to “the cream of India”. The students, who study law at undergraduate level for five years, live at the School in separate houses for men and women.

It is not always necessary to have computers to keep track of the number of students on each programme. The first picture shows a board with removable numbers showing the number of students on each programme; the second picture shows some of the centres at the University.

Eva, Anna Lindberg and Ann-Katrin Bäcklund visited the TATA Institute of Social Science (TISS) in Mumbai. TISS was established in 1936 and has a clear focus on sustainable development, equality and participatory development, social welfare and justice.
TISS is a partner in Erasmus Mundus Action 2 and a number of students and staff have received scholarships to Lund and to TISS. We met EMEWC scholar Victoria Moreno Manrique from Lund, who is doing a Master’s degree at TISS. There are already a number of established links between our institutions. In the discussions, more new projects and opportunities came up; it was a very positive and constructive meeting. During the visit, Eva signed a MoU together with the vice-chancellor of TISS.
This evening the rest of the delegation, who have spent the day in Bangalore, will join us. 

Today was our last day in Delhi. In the morning we split up for three different visits. One group visited the Department of Biotechnology (DBT) at the Ministry of Science and Technology, which wants to introduce targeted stipends for postdoctoral fellowships at certain leading universities, of which Lund would be one. It was a constructive meeting and if things go according to plan, the positions will be advertised in the summer and the first Indian researchers could arrive in the autumn.

Christina Moell and Katarina Olsson visited the National Law University Delhi and a third group went to the National Campaign on Dalit Human Rights (NCDHR).

In the afternoon, we all came together at Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) to meet the vice-chancellor and representatives of the various faculties. If the discussions result in practical cooperation then we will sign a memorandum of understanding.

After the visit to JNU we all travelled to the airport. Some of us are going to Mumbai, others are taking a detour via Bangalore and will arrive in Mumbai tomorrow evening.

Today the whole group visited IIT Delhi. First there was a presentation of each institution. After this we divided into small groups to discuss more concrete cooperation. Ann-Katrin Bäcklund and Anna Lindberg had more than 20 eager potential partners who wanted to discuss possible cooperation!

In the afternoon we split into three groups. One group visited the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research. The Council has 37 research institutes and is going to receive the power to award PhDs. We visited two of the institutes during the afternoon.

The Law Faculty representatives visited the Indian Law Institute and had a good meeting with the vice-chancellor. The third group went to the Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU), the world’s largest university with four million students. We should make clear that the majority are distance-learning students! It has been an intensive day with a lot of interesting meetings.

We opened the day with a presentation on India by Andreas Muranyi, science and technology attaché. It was useful to go over India, its development and its education system.

Then we all travelled to the University of Delhi. The University has 300 000 students and 80 colleges. The previous vice-chancellor introduced a semester system with exams every semester instead of large annual exams. This reform has led to a lot of discussion and protests from lecturers who want the old system back. LU has a memorandum of understanding with Delhi University and they are also members of U21 and involved in the Erasmus Mundus programmes that Lund University coordinates for the region. We began by giving a presentation of Lund University and then we visited the different faculties. The evening was spent at the Swedish Embassy, where Mattias Lentz had arranged a reception for the delegation from Lund.

Most of our party have now arrived in Delhi, India. We are waiting for Anders Axelsson (LTH) to arrive tomorrow morning. Some of those who visited IIT Kanpur to discuss the upcoming joint quality assurance conference are going home today. Over the coming week we will visit a number of universities in Delhi, then on Wednesday we will move on to Bangalore and Mumbai. It is a packed programme for the next few days.

To get into the spirit of things, we went out to take part in the celebrations for Holi. Holi is the festival of colour and the customs include throwing paint at one another. Some of us were decidedly more colourful when we got back to the hotel.

This evening we are going to visit the Nordic Centre in India (NCI) and meet the director, Mirja Juntunen. The NCI is a consortium of universities in Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Iceland and Norway. It was established in 2001 to promote cooperation between the Nordic countries and India. 

For more information about the Nordic Centre in India, visit:
http://www.nci.uu.se/ 

The delegation for the trip comprises Eva Åkesson, Anna Lindberg (SASNET), Ann-Katrin Bäcklund (S), Olle Söderman (N), Anders Axelsson (LTH), Bo Mattiasson (LTH), Christina Moell (J), Katarina Olsson (J), Henrik Hovendahl (IR), David Edgerton (EHL), Mattias Alveteg (LTH) and Thomas Olsson (LTH).

Japan has been hard hit by an earthquake and tsunami. However, all those connected to LU who are in Japan are reported to be unharmed.

The Faculties of Humanities and Theology held a meeting for Japanese students at the weekend at SOL. The students were given refreshments and the opportunity to talk to one another. A minute’s silence was also held for those affected. Assistance is being offered to our students if they want to cut short their study abroad and to staff if they want to come home. Thanks to all those who have worked hard to monitor the developments in Japan and support our students and staff.
Japanese students in Lund have taken the initiative to help by translating current information, news, recommendations from the authorities, etc. from Japanese to English to help Swedish students in Japan. Our thoughts are with all those affected by the disaster.

For more information about Japan and the initiatives from students (in Swedish):
http://www.lu.se/o.o.i.s?id=1187&news_item=6470

There was a packed agenda at Interpol’s meeting yesterday (8 March) in the AF building, hosted by LUS. Anna Block gave a presentation of the work on internationalisation within LUS. Katarina Widell reported on the inventory of research databases.

Lars-Olof Delsing presented the draft language policy. The draft will be sent out to the faculties and divisions of the central administration for consultation, so look out for it and give your views. It is an important document and must gain broad support. We thanked Lars-Olof Delsing for his excellent work on the policy!

A status report on tuition fees is a standing item on the agenda. A questionnaire has been sent to the applicants who have not paid the application fee. It is clear that the Swedish application fee of SEK 900 is an obstacle and should be lowered to a reasonable level by international comparison. More information about the questionnaire will be coming soon on the blog.

In addition, we received a status report on Erasmus Mundus applications; we are going to apply to coordinate three regions in which we are already active. We are a partner in the others.

The final part of the meeting was devoted to a discussion of how to proceed with the proposals that emerged from the dynamic working groups and priorities for 2011 based on the action plan.

Universities and university colleges are encouraged to join forces and cooperate to utilise their resources better. Yet Högskoleverket rejects teacher training programmes that build on the collective subject and education expertise at two different institutions, write Eva Åkesson, Olle Söderman, Jonas Granfeldt and Lars Carlsson as representatives of Lund University and Kristianstad University College.

Swedish school pupils’ results are deteriorating, according to a number of reports. At the same time, research shows that the teachers’ training is a decisive factor. The teachers must both be good at teaching and have in-depth, up-to-date knowledge of their subjects. The Swedish Government therefore decided last year to introduce a new teacher training programme, where sound subject knowledge and teaching skills are key.

Lund University and Kristianstad University College took on the challenge. Together we have created an entirely new secondary teacher training programme for years 7–9 and for upper secondary school. The plan was for the programme to start in the autumn. The aim is to train Sweden’s best teachers, providing them with skills that equip them to work internationally as well.

Read the article in full in today’s Sydsvenskan (in Swedish)

There were many items on the agenda at Thursday’s Council of Deans. The meeting opened with a presentation by the new vice-chancellor of Campus Helsingborg, Jesper Falkheimer. Welcome back to Lund University, Jesper!
Then Ann-Katrin Bäcklund led a discussion on the development of Debatt i Lund, which will next be held this coming Tuesday, 8 March. We discussed the structure of the upcoming faculty visits and agreed to be more flexible in the style of the meetings, according to the faculties’ needs. The Faculty of Fine and Performing Arts wants to be able to recruit a dean externally. This was supported and a proposal will be brought at the next University Board meeting to allow this possibility for the Faculty. Marianne Granfelt gave a presentation on “discussions on ongoing university-wide projects and university-wide costs with potential savings”. Anna Johansson presented the media analysis for the fourth quarter of 2010. To our great surprise it was not Per Eriksson who had most media coverage, but rather Wilhelm Agrell. Linda Larsson gave a good presentation on the appointment process for teaching posts. How long does it take to recruit a senior lecturer or professor? How long are the active and inactive periods? Who does what? At the end of the meeting we talked about the upcoming deans’ planning days on 16–17 March.

An LU-wide human resources policy is being formed under the leadership of Assistant Vice-Chancellor Ingalill Rahm-Hallberg. As a step in this process, a number of seminars are being held during the year – one on 4 May and three more in the autumn. The seminar on 4 May is about academic freedom and loyalty. The University Management will be in attendance on all four days to listen and report on the issues and investments that are of particular importance to the University. By the time of the final seminar in the autumn, a more concrete draft of a human resources policy will be available for discussion. Registration is open now for the first event on 4 May.

For more information about the seminars
http://www5.lu.se/pupa

The Japan Agency for Science and Technology has undergone an international evaluation, in which Per participated. The closest Swedish equivalent to this funding body is the Strategic Research Foundation and VINNOVA. Of particular interest was their PRESTO programme for young researchers. This gives young, promising researchers opportunities for development.
The most interesting part was that the researchers were divided into three groups of roughly equal size:
- Princes (top researchers who are making good progress in their careers – few princesses, however, which we objected to),
- Rodeos (top researchers who go against the grain and are often critical of the prevailing ideas)
- Cinderellas (top researchers who, like Cinderella, do not come from environments or backgrounds one would expect but who have highly interesting research ideas).
Not least the two latter groups produced very good results. Perhaps this could be something for the Swedish funding bodies to learn from?

Over a few weeks in February and March, the University’s Evaluation Office is carrying out a needs analysis among library users. Around 2 500 students, doctoral students, lecturers and researchers will answer a questionnaire about their requirements for the libraries’ services and say how they expect these to develop over the next five years. The survey is being conducted within the context of the external project “Vision work for the libraries at Lund University”.

The connection to the external project means that the time frame for the survey is very tight. Everyone who receives the questionnaire is therefore requested to reply as soon as possible.

Last Thursday we received a visit from I-Graduate, who presented the results of the autumn’s International Student Barometer, in which Lund University and over 200 other universities in the world participated. Lund University generally did very well compared to other institutions, especially on ‘academic excellence’, teaching methods, English skills (8^th of 203 in the world) and student reception. At the same time, we received a lot of criticism for our admissions process, housing, the opportunities for students to work part-time alongside their studies, and some support services that do not reach our international students. In April we will get all the data and will then be able to analyse it before continuing our work to improve the service Lund University offers to its international students. We will participate in the survey for at least three years in order to gain a clear picture of our strengths and weaknesses in the international education arena.

We received Högskoleverket’s decision on degree awarding powers for the teacher training programme with mixed feelings.

Of the 46 degrees which Kristianstad and Lund universities applied to award, 25 have been granted. In summary, we can say that we were given the green light for music, Swedish, Swedish as a second language, English, other modern languages and the social sciences subjects. For the science subject combinations we have been given the right to award degrees in secondary teaching for all combinations for years 7–9 in the Swedish school system, but only partly for upper secondary school.

To quote from our press release:
“‘We are pleased about the degrees which we have been given the powers to award, but think it is unfortunate that the current regulations do not recognise cooperation between institutions. We want to work together because we complement one another. Now Lund has, in some cases, been turned down because we lack competence within pedagogy and Kristianstad has been turned down because it lacks research competence. Together we have all the skills that are needed’, says Pro Vice-Chancellor of Lund University Eva Åkesson.”

It is paradoxical that we have to have all the competence needed at each institution before we can begin to collaborate. We had expected HSV to encourage the collaboration and view the complete set of skills and resources to which the programme will have access. Now we have to analyse the situation and decide how we can move forward constructively.

Today a delegation from Lund visited Aarhus University. Besides Per and Eva, Marianne Granfelt, Thomas Achen (J), Ole Elgström (S) and Henrik Jonsson (LUS) went on the visit. As well as the usual presentations of the universities by their respective vice-chancellors, the change processes that are underway were discussed. Aarhus University has condensed its faculties down to four from nine and has reduced the number of departments to 27 (from around 55). The deans are a clear part of the university management and have responsibility both for their faculties and for university-wide issues. There is a lot of coordination within the university administration. Aarhus works actively on cross-boundary activities in an exciting way and has a clear international profile. The University identifies itself as a global university with a vision of belonging to the elite of universities and contributing to the development of national and global prosperity. They have gone from thinking in terms of a triple helix to a quadruple helix, with ‘talent development’ the fourth part.

It was a rewarding day with interesting discussions and a delegation from Aarhus is planning a visit to Lund in the early autumn so that we can continue with more practical discussions about potential cooperation.

Gunnar Gouras is to be Lund University’s first directly appointed professor. The possibility to ‘headhunt’ a professor became available from the new year. Professor Gouras currently works at Weill Cornell Medical College in New York, and will complement Lund University’s already strong neuroscience research. It is pleasing that Lund is the first university in Sweden to directly appoint a professor. This procedure will enable us to quickly recruit excellent professors and it is an important instrument to strengthen our international competitiveness. We hope that all faculties will take advantage of this opportunity and that more professors will be appointed in this way in 2011!

Per will be travelling to Japan this week to attend the International Advisory Committee for JST, the Japan Science and Technology Agency. There is a lot to learn from the way the Japanese work very systematically with their research and the interaction between the universities and the business sector.

The Foundation for Strategic Research has decided to award three major grants to the Faculty of Engineering at Lund University; within electrical and information engineering and computer science. The investment is to the sum of SEK 15 million a year for five years and also has a clear link to the ELLIIT strategic programme, in which we cooperate with Linköping University. Many congratulations!

The University Board is holding a meeting today, at which the end of year accounts are one of the items on the agenda. We are pleased that we now have a turnover of SEK 6.4 billion, making us Sweden’s strongest university. Our increasing income is due to the fact that Lund University has been very successful in competition for grants and external funding. We ended the year with a surplus of SEK 405 million. The surplus is divided into SEK 110 million in education and SEK 295 million in research – somewhat higher than we would have liked. The public agency capital amounts to just over SEK 1.6 billion and will be used to fund ESS, MAX IV, the pharmacy programme, the teacher training programme, the expansion of Campus Helsingborg and campus renewal in Lund.

In conjunction with today’s strategy meeting on tuition fees, the University Management put on a tapas lunch. Marianne and Eva thanked all those at Lund University who have worked hard and with much success on the issue of fees over the past year.

On the agenda at the meeting were status reports on applications and the scholarship process. A total of 26 322 prospective students have applied to Sweden, of whom 9 464 have applied to Lund University. Of the 9 464 applicants, 6 926 would have to pay tuition fees, and of these, 2 114 have paid the application fee. In total in Sweden, 5 061 people have paid the application fee, which means that roughly 40 % of these have applied to LU. We are the most attractive higher education institution in Sweden by a good margin. 

At the meeting we had group discussions with reflections on the current situation, future challenges and the future focus of the work. It is clear that the faculties want this year’s drive to continue with at least the same level of ambition and that the central coordination should be developed further. This is a great endorsement for all those who have worked so hard and with so much success!

Yesterday we attended the Partnership Conference 2011 at the School of Economics and Management, organised by the Partnership Foundation. Three people spoke from different perspectives on “What happens when reality forces us to stop and choose a new path?” Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt opened with a description of how Sweden exited the recession, then Sven Hagströmer spoke about when HQ Bank lost its banking licence and the period that followed. Malin Sävstam talked about life after the tsunami. Good presentations and very different angles made it a rewarding evening for all of us who were there.

Recently, a memorandum of understanding was signed between Sweden and Canada on cooperation within science and technology. Today Senior Trade Commissioner Carl Pilon from the Canadian Embassy visited us to discuss how we can help to put this agreement into practice.

Anne Messeter from International Relations gave a presentation of the areas of cooperation that currently exist between Lund University and Canada – of which there are many! Exchanges at Canadian institutions are in high demand among our students. We have a number of exchange agreements, both for LU as a whole and for different faculties, for example with McGill, UBS and Ottawa. A group comprising representatives of the two countries has been established, and Sture Forsén from Lund University will be one of those involved.

Today a panel of experts is visiting to evaluate the School of Economics and Management (EHL). This is for accreditation through EQUIS, the European Quality Improvement System. EHL has previously been accredited and now has to show that it should retain the hallmark of quality.

The School of Economics and Management has had to draw up a comprehensive report covering governance, programmes, students, faculty, research and development, contributions to the community, resources and administration, internationalisation and corporate connections.

EQUIS-accredited institutions not only have to demonstrate high quality throughout all areas of their activities; they must also demonstrate a high degree of internationalisation. “EQUIS seeks to identify institutions that are distinguished by an added international dimension.”

Good luck – we are sure it will go well!

There are 129 higher education institutions in 36 countries that have EQUIS accreditation.
For more information about EQUIS, please see:
http://www.efmd.org/index.php/accreditation-/equis

Yesterday a delegation visited Lund University from Soran University in Iraq, headed by Vice-Chancellor Dr Muslih Mustafa. A number of people from Lund have visited Soran University previously. The delegation was informed about Sweden and LU by Carina Jensen of International Relations. They then visited various parts of the University to discuss cooperation, including the GIS Centre, the Centre for Middle Eastern Studies, LTH and the Raoul Wallenberg Institute. A memorandum of understanding (MOU) was signed as a platform for continued dialogue on cooperation and exchange.

The Freshers’ Fair (Hälsningsgille) will be held on Friday, at which we will welcome all new students – we are looking forward to it! Even if our unions, nations and AF did well in the autumn, with good membership figures for Studentlund, we must not drop our guard. Active and genuine student influence is important for LU and the University’s quality assurance and enhancement. If you are a student – join Studentlund!

Studentlund website:
http://studentlund.se/

Professor Nils Mårtensson is leaving MAX-lab after exceedingly successful work over more than 13 years at the helm, but will continue to work as an adviser, particularly on international negotiations and cooperation. Many thanks to Nils. He is succeeded by an experienced professor in the field, Sine Larsen from the University of Copenhagen, who will be the new acting head.

More information about MAX-lab:
http://www.maxlab.lu.se/

Thora Ohlssons stiftelse held a meeting of its board on 1 February, comprising the bishop, the vice-chancellor and the family. The foundation finances important work at Lund University, such as positions at CTR and in Latin and provides support for our Historical Museum. Lund University certainly does have many generous friends to thank for its success.

Preparations for our 350^th anniversary have begun under the leadership of Göran Bexell. One of a number of brainstorming meetings was held on 21 January. The preliminary plan is for celebrations in both 2016 and 2018 in commemoration of the decision and the inauguration and in accordance with our motto ad utrumque – prepared for both. It is likely that we will start the jubilee celebrations on 19 December 2016 and continue with a variety of events until their conclusion on Carldagen, 28 January 2018. The students’ union will also be celebrating its 150^th anniversary in 2017. (It is also possible to register your interest on Facebook for our 400^th anniversary in 2066.)

FIRS, the Skåne Research and Innovation Council, met on 28 January. We were delighted that the FIRS initiative to appoint Allan Larsson as negotiator for AstraZeneca was so successful, with a private donation of SEK 100 million from Mats Paulsson to the Mats Paulsson Foundation for Research, Innovation and Social Development. Göran Grosskopf will be the chair of the foundation and he has donated funding for a chair in medicine. The concept for the area is called “Ideon Life Science Village” and this was presented at the meeting.

Also on the agenda at the meeting were a research and innovation strategy for Skåne, coordination around MAX IV – ESS – Lundamark – Brunnshög, Öresund cooperation, Interreg projects, environmental initiatives and various information matters.

The vice-chancellor’s seminar on 27 January was about the University of Gothenburg’s equivalent of our FRONESIS project, i.e. how the University is to take advantage of the increased freedom and deregulation that came into effect in the new year. Göran Bexell presented the proposals that he and Christina Rogestam made in the report Göteborgs universitet förnyas. The presentation was followed by an interesting discussion and then refreshments in Pelarsalen.

Read the report Göteborgs universitet förnyas
http://dinsida.gu.se/digitalAssets/1324/1324351_utredningsforslag_ny_org_20101215.pdf

HSV’s meeting of vice-chancellors was held on 25–26 January. Minister for Education Jan Björklund attended, gave a presentation and discussed future policy. A research and innovation bill will be presented in 2012 and a goal has been established for one per cent of GDP to be invested from public funds in R&D (research and development). This is not an increase in the level relative to GDP, but since GDP is increasing in Sweden, investment in R&D is also increasing. Thus, more money will be invested with this bill. The question now is where the investments will be made. In this connection it is important for us to highlight the needs that we have. We will discuss this at the next Council of Deans meeting and in the University Board. The Government has also established the national goal that the business sector will invest three per cent of GDP in R&D, which will bring a total of four per cent of Sweden’s GDP for R&D.

Mr Björklund also announced that there will not be any new university places for students and that the temporary extra places will be withdrawn again as planned. For Lund, this means a reduction in the funding cap of around SEK 18 million. However, what we may see is that funding will be redistributed among the higher education institutions, depending on what happens in the future. With regard to the agreements for non-European students within the Erasmus Mundus programme, Jan Björklund said that they are working on finding a solution and will make an announcement in due course.

The assessment of applications for degree-awarding powers was also discussed, in particular for the new teacher training degree. It can be noted that we have a very detailed qualifications ordinance and this causes many problems. In general, it is worth mentioning that Mr Björklund was impressed by the high standard of activities he had seen in his visits to the higher education institutions.

We got an article published in Dagens Industri on 28 January about the importance of basic research, signed by the vice-chancellor. This was part of our European cooperation within LERU. Twenty-two vice-chancellors from Europe’s top research-intensive universities are warning of major gaps in European basic research. Basic research is a prerequisite for future competitiveness. On 4 February, the EU’s research and innovation policy will be decided and this must include increased support for basic research.

http://mobil.di.se/c.jsp;jsessionid=62288F300DDDFFB34B75E4EB0A9453E4.rocco4?cid=25400741&articleId=225816

The International Year of Chemistry is being celebrated in 2011. The theme is “Our life, our future”. The year is part of the United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development and the aim is to increase the public’s understanding of chemistry and the importance of chemical knowledge for solving problems in society. In 2011 it is also 100 years since Marie Curie received the Nobel Prize and we want to particularly celebrate women in chemistry.

This week inauguration events have been held both in Sweden and abroad.
On 26 January the exciting exhibition “KEMI – Inga konstigheter!” was opened in conjunction with the inauguration of the Year of Chemistry at Kemicentrum in Lund. Yesterday, Thursday, the national inauguration event was held in Blå Hallen in Stockholm City Hall, at the same time as the international celebration took place in Paris.

We got a head start last week with “Women Sharing a Chemical Moment in Time”, the first global activity within the framework of the International Year of Chemistry. Female researchers in 37 countries had a breakfast meeting together with the help of modern communication technology. The event started in New Zealand and then followed the time zones around the world. In Lund over 30 women gathered at Kemicentrum to take part in the international networking breakfast.

During the year many activities will take place. In Sweden there will be 12 monthly themes. Each theme is linked to topical social matters – in January it is Art and Culture. Next month’s theme will be Fashion, and March’s theme will be Energy and Climate.

International Year of Chemistry 2011:
http://www.chemistry2011.org/

Year of Chemistry 2011 in Sweden:
http://www.kemi2011.se/

Year of Chemistry on the Department of Chemistry website:
http://www.kilu.lu.se/kemins_aar

Internationalisation raises quality and is a requirement if we are to become one of the very best European universities. Lund University is receiving more international students and more courses are being given in English. With the increasing internationalisation of academia, the requirements for good English skills are also increasing.

On Monday, AWELU (Academic Writing in English at Lund University) was launched. AWELU is an online resource for everyone at the University. It is a self-help tool and includes information about both the English language and how to write different types of text. The user receives a general introduction to academic writing in English, covering topics such as correct use of language, text structure, academic integrity and referencing, as well as examples and practical advice for writers.

From 15:00 on 24 January, students and staff can log in to AWELU using their StiL or LUCAT ID.
Visit AWELU at: http://www.lu.se/awelu

Many thanks to all those who have worked hard to develop AWELU!

Interpol (the policy group for internationalisation) and Interhand (the group for internationalisation coordinators) are in Brussels. Yesterday, Thursday, we had an interesting day at Sweden House, with discussions on how the Permanent Representation of Sweden to the EU, Vinnova and regional partners work in Brussels. How can we work together? The guests were Magnus Härviden, Carl-Albert Hjelmborn, Charlotte Andersdotter and Michael Gaebel from the EUA (European Universities Association). During Interpol’s meeting in the afternoon, we went through figures for international applications, Erasmus Mundus priorities and Interpol’s work during 2011, and had dynamic working groups on the topic of cooperation between Interpol and Interhand.

Today we are attending ACA’s seminar “What’s new in Brussels?”. On the agenda are a presentation of Innovation Union, Erasmus Mundus and the future of the Marie Curie programme. There is a major focus on Europe 2020 and the EU’s flagship. An internationalisation policy will be drawn up this year and the Higher Education Modernisation Agenda is on the way. It is clear that education will be increasingly in focus at European level.

This is the second year that we have undertaken this type of study trip and held meetings in Brussels. Last year the focus was on the introduction of tuition fees and how we would take on that challenge. The two days together in Brussels are very rewarding for the groups and provide a lot of input to the work on internationalisation.

Education degrees and which universities are allowed to award them will be announced by Högskoleverket within the next few days. However, we have been informed that we need to provide additional information to support the application we have made together with Kristianstad University. Legally, HSV had difficulty assessing our joint application, because, among other things, we had stated joint information on teaching resources. According to HSV, an assessment for the right to award a degree must be performed for each institution separately, and it is only once an institution has been given the right to award a degree that it can begin to award degrees jointly with another party. Now we will specify what teaching resources are available at our two institutions and we expect to be able to supplement the information provided quickly and receive a (positive!) response without too much delay. The preparations for our joint teacher training programme starting in the autumn are in full swing.

From left to right: Harald Lindström, Göran Grosskopf, Allan Larsson, Per Eriksson, Mats Leifland, Mats Paulsson

Today AstraZeneca has signed an agreement to sell its research facilities in Lund to a foundation. The foundation has been founded by Mats Paulsson, who is also one of the founders of PEAB. The foundation will support Region Skåne and Lund University, with the aim of establishing a new centre for research, innovation and enterprise, primarily within the field of medicine. Mats Paulsson will provide an initial donation to the foundation of SEK 100 million.

The takeover of the research facility will occur via a single company, which will be owned by the foundation. The company has already been set up and the Board is currently being formed. Initially, the real estate company will be wholly owned by the foundation. The intention is for Region Skåne to become one of the company’s part-owners, pending a decision by the regional board and council. 

The Skåne Research and Innovation Council (FIRS) has drawn up a plan for how the facility will be utilised:

– Lund University will establish a cancer research centre at the facility, comprising, among others, CREATE Health and associated activities, as well as a centre for innovation, which will include a business incubator.

– Region Skåne will relocate its biobank to the site, as well as certain parts of the regional cancer centre and other associated activities.

– Growing medical companies and other life science activities will also be established here.

Mats Paulsson’s donation and purchase of AstraZeneca’s research facilities will bring new opportunities for medical and other life science research, innovation, and even education. This new Ideon, together with our medical research centres – the BMC in Lund and the CRC in Malmö – and the new research facilities, MAX IV and ESS, creates a world-class infrastructure and this provides a major boost and attraction for the University and the entire region. We would like to express our great appreciation to AstraZeneca and Mats Paulsson for the completed property sale and heartfelt thanks to Mats Paulsson and Göran Grosskopf for their generous donations to the new foundation. This is a great show of confidence for Lund University. We want to discharge this responsibility well in cooperation with the business sector, Region Skåne and Lund and Malmö municipalities.

Find out more about Ideon Life Science Village

Welcome back after Christmas and the New Year. We hope you have had a refreshing break. Soon a new semester will begin at Lund University and students from near and far will be coming here.

The University Management Group, comprising the vice-chancellor, pro vice-chancellor, assistant vice-chancellors, head of administration and the LUS presiding committee, began the week with a two-day planning meeting. The main topics of discussion were the general strategic issues and areas for development that will dominate 2011. These are: the new strategic plan, FRONESIS and greater freedom, EQ11, resources, and infrastructure, in particular the establishment of new research facilities. It was a good way to kick off a new semester!

Soon we will be leaving behind an eventful year; a year with successes, challenges, renewal and transformation for our university. Thank you for all your efforts within research, education, innovation and professional support over the past year. All your work is important for us to continue to develop our university together with our students.
We, along with Assistant Vice-Chancellors Ingalill Rahm Hallberg, Sven Strömqvist and Carl Borrebaeck and Head of Administration Marianne Granfelt, would like to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Find out more in the year in review, available shortly at
http://www.lunduniversity.lu.se/newsroom

Work has begun on the LU libraries’ vision. The Vice-Chancellor has appointed University Librarian at Copenhagen University Michael Cotta Schønberg as project manager. Head Librarian at Malmö University Jan Nilsson has been appointed as rapporteur.

The report will contain the following sections (in the order given):
– An overview of the current situation, including a description of problems with regard to Lund University’s libraries (organisation, work processes, use and coordination of resources, etc.)

– A needs-based analysis of the libraries’ future role in a national and international education and research environment where the libraries are seen as a strategic resource. The starting point is to be the needs of the users.

– Strategies and methods for how the libraries are to support Lund University in the face of future challenges (5- to 10-year time frame) within research and education from a national and international perspective, with the aim of making Lund University one of the very best European universities.

– An action plan with concrete recommendations for solutions to problems and strategic development of the libraries’ activities. The action plan will also contain recommendations for future library organisation, including ways of working, with a focus on increased coordination, synergies in ways of working, improved quality assurance and financial efficiency in order to meet future challenges facing Lund University. The action plan will also contain sections on roles, mandates and responsibilities for the libraries.

The Libraries Board is the consultation group for the project. The project is to be carried out over the period 15 December 2010 to 15 June 2011.

Yesterday the EQ11 steering group met. We discussed experiences from the well-attended hearing on 8 December. We also had the final discussion on the self-reflection instrument. The final version will be uploaded to the EQ11 website in the next few days. Torgny Roxå and Katarina Mårtensson presented their report on successful education environments. Also on the agenda was the planning of the site visit on 1–6 May 2011; visits to the faculties will take place on 3, 4 and 5 May. Each faculty will receive a full-day visit from the advisors. On Friday 6 May 14.00–16.00 there will be an open meeting at which the 16 external advisors will give a preliminary report. All are welcome – put the date in your diary now. The steering group gave its support to the proposal that all the faculties should receive financial support of SEK 300 000 for their work on EQ11 during 2011. The Pro Vice-Chancellor will make a formal decision on this in the new year.

Communication scientist Jesper Falkheimer is the new Vice-Chancellor of Campus Helsingborg. He succeeds Lars Haikola, who was appointed University Chancellor in the summer. There were many good, well-qualified candidates for the post. It is great that Jesper is coming back to Lund University and we are very pleased. Jesper Falkheimer is currently head of K3, the School of Arts and Communication at Malmö University. He gained a PhD from Lund University in 2004 and became a reader in 2008. At Lund University he has been head of the Department of Communication Studies and senior lecturer at the Department of Service Management. His research focuses on strategic communication, in particular crisis communication and place marketing. We welcome Jesper and wish him the best of luck!

AKKA, AKademiska Kollegors Ansvar, is being run for the fourth time. The AKKA management programme is aimed at lecturers and researchers who hold a PhD, who are employed at Lund University and who are interested in management. There are 30 places on the programme, which has an integrated gender perspective. AKKA gives participants the opportunity to develop their own management skills together with others within important areas for the University. Dialogue, discussion and exchange of experiences are key features.

Allan Larsson was the first guest on Tuesday and spoke on “Being, doing, achieving – experiences of management. My management – reflections and experiences”. On Wednesday I (Eva) spoke on the theme of “Autonomy: A future challenge for Lund University”. There were a lot of questions and a lively discussion, with great enthusiasm from all the AKKA participants. It was very enjoyable!

Today the Swedish National Agency for Higher Education (HSV) presented a new quality assurance system for 2011–2014 at a hearing in Lund for southern Sweden’s higher education institutions. The previous evaluation system had a number of objectives: to check, develop and inform. When asked, HSV’s panel made clear that the purpose of the new system is only to check. First- and second-cycle education will be evaluated; third-cycle education will have to wait. HSV says that the new evaluation system is to be consistent, predictable and transparent. Many institutions have criticised HSV on these points previously. In addition, the focus is to be on results, not conditions and processes. The results are how well the education meets the aims in the Higher Education Act and Higher Education Ordinance. The evaluation groups will propose which aims in the Ordinance are to be evaluated for each programme/course. The aims will be specified in the form of criteria on three levels. This will be done before the institutions begin with the self-evaluations.
The assessment will be based on the following material:
1. Students’ independent projects (degree projects)
2. The higher education institutions’ self-evaluations
3. Alumni surveys
4. Students’ experiences of how well the programme/course achieves the aims (will possibly be gathered through structured group interviews)
These materials are weighted in the assessment and the independent projects will usually be weighted most heavily. The same assessment criteria will be used for all materials. There will also be some form of site visit by evaluators (subject experts, students and professional representatives).
A three-grade scale will be used and the institutions with programmes or courses that obtain the highest rating will receive extra resources. The lowest rating will result in degree-awarding powers being conditionally extended and possibly even revoked.
The timeframe is tight and six rounds are to be fitted into less than four years – a lot of evaluators will be needed. HSV advises us to prepare by:
* Keeping track of all degree projects
* Planning to set aside time to make degree projects anonymous and enter them into HSV Direkt
* Planning to set aside time to write a self-evaluation

More information is available on the HSV website (in Swedish):
http://www.hsv.se/kvalitet-2011

HSV’s PowerPoint presentation from today’s hearing (in Swedish):
http://www.hsv.se/download/18.37953c3d12c3c38cb6c80008187/remissmoten-nov-dec…

Eva was invited to attend the Forum for Internationalisation on 23 November to give a presentation of Lund University’s work to prepare for the introduction of tuition fees in 2011 and the issues we consider most difficult. The presentation (which Teresia Rindejäll helped to put together) highlighted how we are working strategically based on the action plan, that we are now in a phase where recruitment and marketing are in focus, and how we are dealing with scholarships. Some issues that remain to be solved are admissions, coordination of authorities and management of Erasmus Mundus. We presented the same message as we did to Jan Björklund on Monday: treat Erasmus Mundus scholarship holders like exchange students. The importance of getting the diplomatic posts involved was emphasised and we agree with this.

From HSV’s website:
The Forum for Internationalisation was created at the end of 2008 on the initiative of the Ministry of Education and Research. The aim is to improve coordination between the Swedish government agencies and organisations affected by and exercising an influence over the internationalisation of higher education institutions in Sweden.

Which bodies are involved?
CSN
Swedish National Agency for Higher Education (HSV)
International Programme Office
Ministry of Justice
Swedish Migration Board
Swedish National Union of Students
Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA)
Swedish Foundation for International Cooperation in Higher Education and Research (STINT)
Higher education institutions (through the Association of Swedish Higher Education)
Swedish Institute
Swedish Agency for Growth Policy Analysis
Ministry of Education and Research
Ministry for Foreign Affairs
Swedish Agency for Higher Education Services

Today Jan Björklund visited the University to participate in the ceremony to mark the official start of construction for MAX IV.

Before the celebrations for MAX IV, the University management had individual talks with the Minister for Education. Besides a short presentation of LU, we discussed a number of issues. We discussed our University Advisory Board’s recommendation that it is time to raise the bar from European level to world-class. Issues, or wishes, which we discussed were 1 000 new places for the continued expansion of Campus Helsingborg and the new teacher training and pharmacy programmes. In addition, the issue of more resources for education was raised. The increase in funding for the faculties of Humanities and Theology, Law, and Social Science for 2012 and 2013 is a step in the right direction, but not enough. We talked about Erasmus Mundus and the consequences of introducing tuition fees. We propose that these students should be treated like exchange students. The amount of direct government funding was also on the agenda. Lars Samuelsson and Marianne Gullberg came and gave inspiring presentations about their activities. Even if we were short of time and had a busy schedule owing to a delayed flight, we had good and positive discussions.

Eva attended the LERU (League of European Research Universities) meeting on 19-20 November. LERU is the network we prioritise at European level.

Helga Nowotny, President of the European Research Council (ERC), came to the meeting to give a presentation of the ERC, discuss issues and some criticisms that LERU had raised. It is clear that LERU is a player that is taken seriously.

Also on the agenda was Open Access. The document on Open Access that has been drawn up by a group within LERU is to be revised; the recommendations will be toned down and the document will more clearly have the character of a policy.

The EU communication on Innovation Union was debated and many people offered words of warning. The document was described as technocratic with little understanding of how innovation and universities work. A couple of comments that illustrate the discussion were:
“It was not to improve candlelight that we invented the light bulb.”
“Regulation and innovation do not go together.”

The EU’s U-Multirank project did not receive a good reception either; many critical voices were raised. Difficulties of data collection and comparability were highlighted. We (LU) are considering withdrawing from the upcoming pilot project. My judgement is that we have no influence over the indicators or design of Multirank, but rather will merely provide data for the project.

A number of other draft policy documents were discussed, including one on Academic Freedom and one on Research-Based Education. The latter will be further revised at the upcoming meetings of assistant vice-chancellors within LERU.

Overall we had constructive discussions and LERU is a good context in which to gain an insight into what is going on in other countries and what is happening at European level.

The University Board met on 12 November. The meeting opened with a presentation on the Pufendorf Institute by Sture Forsen. Tomas Achen and Hans Modig informed the meeting about the work on the consequences of the bill ‘Academia for this day and age – greater freedom for universities and other higher education institutions’, which was followed by a discussion. The quarterly result and forecast were discussed, as well as the growing public agency capital. The deans of the faculties of Engineering and Fine and Performing Arts and the School of Economics and Management reported on the ongoing work to reduce the public agency capital. Other items on the agenda were a status report from MAX IV, changes to the admission rules, investment regulations for Lund University’s foundations and a decision on the 2011 audit plan.

Today we had a Vice-Chancellor’s assembly to honour contributions and achievements by staff at Lund University during 2010. It was great to meet some of our fantastic staff who have excelled in different ways. The diversity at our University is unique.

Some of those who were honoured at the Vice-Chancellor’s assembly are:

Fredrik Tjernström, medical specialist
Received the prize for best medical thesis 2009 from the Anna-Greta Crafoord Foundation.

Dr Therese Nilsson, Department of Economics
Received one of the year’s ten Wallander stipends for her outstanding thesis on the effects of globalisation on health and income distribution.

Kjell-Åke Modéer, Professor Emeritus in Law
Received an honorary doctorate from the Faculty of Law at the University of Helsinki.

Lund University Male Voice Choir (Lunds Studentsångare)
Became world champions in choral singing in the male choirs category.

Niclas Burenhult, researcher in linguistics specialising in anthropology and cognition
Was awarded one of the European Research Council’s ‘starting grants’ for young researchers, worth SEK 13 million.

The Development Council held a meeting today, hosted by the Faculty of Medicine. As usual there was a packed agenda and a lot to discuss. Fredrik Lindström and Cecilia Wadsö Lecaros gave a presentation of AWELU (Academic Writing in English at Lund University). AWELU is a web-based resource platform for students and staff at LU on academic writing in English. We look forward to the launch in January!

Guidelines on course evaluations, VETA II and validation of non-programme based education were also discussed. Tina Josefson gave a status report on FRONESIS-4. The Development Council agreed on the importance of having a sub-project within FRONESIS that focuses on education. We are now waiting to see how the Council of Deans moves forward with FRONESIS before sub-project 4 can begin.

The draft self-evaluation for EQ11 was discussed. Many people have views on the issues – they are considered difficult to answer at faculty level and do not provide information to the external advisors. Constructive suggestions were made, such as having the opportunity to comment on all issues. In the end, the Development Council supported the introduction of a new grading scale A-B-C-D-E-Fail when ECTS grades are no longer given as complementary grades. A decision on the issue is expected to be made by the University Board in December and then there will be five possible grading scales at Lund University.

On Thursday and Friday we were away for a productive planning session with the deans. The first day opened with a presentation of EQ11 by project manager Stefan Lindgren. Our 16 external advisors have now been appointed, draft instructions for self-evaluation are under discussion and the site visit is planned for 2–7 May 2011. For more information, see the EQ11 website:
http://www5.lu.se/o.o.i.s/4311

The remainder of the event focused on management and governance on the different levels of the University. All the deans had the opportunity to share their views on two questions: How do I work and see myself as a leader and manager within the faculty and in relation to the University as a whole? What is my view of the faculty’s future opportunities and problems, and what development and strategic measures are needed to achieve the development desired for the faculty to become even more successful?

We then moved on to group discussions on the following topics: What do the faculties have to learn from one another with regard to governance and management and communication with different parts of the organisation? How do we, the deans and University management, view the relationship between faculty and university as regards division of responsibilities and duties? What function do we want the Council of Deans to have? And how are we going to achieve this? In particular, discussions addressed the issues of participation, avoiding skipping decision-making levels, trust, clarity, better preparation and shared solutions to problems.

We agreed that the Council of Deans will participate and have greater responsibility in a number of University-wide issues. We also together decided that the University management in the form of the deans and management group needs to take a more coordinated approach to the major issues currently facing Lund University. These are:
- MAX IV and ESS, funding and strategy from LU
- Allocation of direct government funding
- Funding of undergraduate education
- FRONESIS; how we want to exploit the greater freedom available for our institution
- Renewal of the LU strategic plan
- Administrative support
- Accounting model/Business model for indirect costs and co-financing
- Communication on these issues both internally and externally

The deans will be involved to a greater extent in initiating issues, preparing discussions and taking responsibility at central level. More issues are to be addressed by working groups from the Council of Deans and the Council is to be appointed as the steering group for major, strategic University-wide projects. The meetings of the Council of Deans will therefore have to be longer from now on.

We look forward to working more closely with our deans to take greater shared responsibility for our fantastic university!

Yesterday and today the University Advisory Board (UAB) has been visiting us at Lund University. The members are Provost Judyth Sachs from Macquarie University in Sydney, Dr John Hood from Robert Foundation, USA and Professor Jan-Anders Månsson from École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne. Judyth Sachs will also chair the evaluation panel for EQ11.

We discussed cross-boundary activities, autonomy, MAX IV and ESS, and tuition fees for international students. A clear message is that we need to take new approaches to strategic planning with regard to how we want to manage autonomy and greater freedom, investments in infrastructure and financing. In addition, it is time to raise the bar to world class instead of one of the best in Europe. Our international profile and visibility need improving. When fees are introduced, quality and admission requirements will be crucial. One idea that came up was to establish an ‘Academic Board’ to deal with issues of quality and standards at central level.

We are very pleased with the discussions and the UAB will be appreciated as critical friends and a constructive sounding board for us on strategic issues in the future. The next meeting will be in May 2011, and items on the preliminary agenda are the new strategic plan and fundraising campaign.

Because the issue of opportunities for consultation has been seen as important and has been brought up a number of times during the autumn, any decisions on changes to the organisation and decision and delegation rules will be made in June 2011 at the earliest. This means that we intend to propose that the University Board prolong the current rules and regulations until then. In this way there will be time for one or more consultation rounds for the sub-projects. During the spring the sub-projects’ proposals will be sent out for consultation. In November a number of open meetings are being held, where staff can come and listen, ask questions and offer their views. The project will also be an important item for discussion at the University Board meeting on 12 November.

Find out more about the autonomy project and the consultation rounds (in Swedish)
http://www5.lu.se/o.o.i.s/4394

See Anders Stening’s presentation on autonomy on 14 October (in Swedish)http://uwap03.uw.lu.se/KongressCentrum5/SilverlightPlayer/Default.aspx?peid=47a602890e954ba5ad048ea265c52e2d

Don’t forget, Innovation in Mind is taking place on 11–12 November! This is a good opportunity to listen to really exciting speakers and gain inspiration. This year’s theme for Innovation in Mind is “The Impact of Innovation” and gives a foretaste of innovations that are being developed within four exciting areas – Food, Energy, Medicine and Information Technology – and that will change our way of living and working in the near future.

More information about Innovation in Mind
http://www.innovationinmind.se

Allan Larsson is still Chair of the Board. He has previously promised to continue in the position until the decision on the accounts in February 2011. After that it had been Allan’s plan to leave the post, relax and begin his golfing career. Allan has now, however, vowed to continue until Margot Wallström can take office at the start of 2012. This is very pleasing.

The new admission rules for the autumn semester 2010 were less than successful; for example, students with international qualifications were hard hit. In the summer, Lund University therefore decided to introduce our own special admissions process for this group, and we are continuing with this. The problems have also been highlighted for the Swedish Agency for Higher Education (HSV) and the Ministry of Education and Research. Now HSV and the Swedish Agency for Higher Education Services (VHS) have been given the task of drawing up directions for how grades from secondary schooling abroad should be evaluated, so that these students can compete on the same terms as those with Swedish upper secondary education. The directions should be applied to higher education admissions processes from the end of May 2012. The government has also given HSV and VHS the task of drawing up directions on credit increments for those with older qualifications. We welcome these initiatives!

Find out more about the review of the rules for applicants with international qualifications (in Swedish)http://www.regeringen.se/sb/d/12495/a/154518

Find out more about the review of the rules for applicants with older qualifications (in Swedish)http://www.regeringen.se/sb/d/12495/a/154517

Today the Lund University Advisory Board will be here for a two-day run-through of Lund University. Those who will put LU under the magnifying glass this time are: Provost Judyth Sachs from Macquarie University in Sydney, Dr John Hood from the Robert Foundation, USA and Professor Jan-Anders Månsson from École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne. They have been chosen for their varied and complementary expertise within education, research, innovation and interaction with industry and society, as well as their experience of management from international universities.

We will be discussing our strategic challenges, such as autonomy, MAX IV and ESS, and tuition fees for international students. The expert panel will present their views and ideas on our work verbally tomorrow, Tuesday, and it will be interesting to hear what they come up with. External opinions are extremely important in the work to develop the University.

Marianne and Eva today attended the Association of Swedish Higher Education (SUHF) General Assembly. The meeting opened with three discussions on current topics:
Tuition fees – “competition in cooperation – cooperation in competition”
Autonomy – “academically competent bodies”
Autonomy – Research studies following the changes to the Higher Education Ordinance, rules on examining committees, higher education teacher training and supervisor training.  
A new board was chosen and Marianne Granfelt was elected as a new member. Pam Fredman (Gothenburg) continues as chair and Marita Hilliges (Dalarna) becomes deputy chair. 

University Chancellor Lars Haikola spoke about the Swedish National Agency for Higher Education (HSV) and the quality assessments. Some news: HSV is intending to use focus group interviews rather than questionnaires. More details of the aspects, criteria and weightings are to be completed and adopted before the universities and university colleges start on the self-evaluations. I think this is good! But it is a tight timeframe and this is to be launched in the new year. The plan is that the universities will have two months for the self-evaluations and it was made clear that we need more time, particularly now, when we will be doing it for the first time.

Other issues discussed were full cost coverage, career structures, publication databases and strategies to strengthen Sweden as a study destination.

I (Eva) and Marianne Granfelt are at the SUHF conference ‘Innovative education for an innovation future’. Minister for Education Jan Björklund held the opening address. A few highlights: Jan Björklund spoke about globalisation in China and India, and how Sweden is to hold its own with knowledge, science and creativity. Quality of education came up a number of times in the address, and Mr Björklund said that grades are increasing and knowledge is decreasing in Swedish schools. The next research bill will be in 2012, but we should not expect additional resources like those in 2008. In addition, he wants to evaluate research quality. Some major research facilities, such as MAX IV, ESS, the Science for Life Laboratory and databases/registers are a condition for continued development. Some universities in Sweden are to compete with internationally leading universities. At the end, Jan Björklund brought up the role of the university board and how it is appointed. He wants to find a new process for the appointment of the boards. He emphasised that he didn’t want to promise a lot for the future. He will visit 13 higher education institutions this year and the rest next year. A visit to Lund is planned for 22 November. The day and the conference concluded with a panel discussion on ‘The knowledge triangle – emperor’s new clothes or new energy for higher education?’

Today we participated in Region Skåne and the City of Malmö’s event in the Swedish Pavilion at the World Expo under the heading ‘Two countries – One region’. Today it was easy to get in without any long queues. There are around 1 000 000 visitors a day to the World Expo, which is now in its final week. Lars Samuelson and Eva Åkesson each gave a presentation on the subject ‘This is our story’ for journalists and other invited guests. Other speakers included Hampus Jakobsson, TAT, and Jan Sturesson, PricewaterhouseCoopers. Later in the evening there was a banquet hosted by Region Skåne and the City of Malmö with many guests, both Swedish and Chinese. 

Tomorrow we will visit Shanghai Jaitong University and then fly home late in the evening. It has been an exciting trip with many good meetings, but it also feels good to soon be heading home.

This evening we have had a Lund University networking event at Fudan University in Shanghai. There were many happy reunions among our alumni, who had braved the weather to make it there. As well as alumni, business representatives were also invited. Jan-Olof Nilsson took the role of moderator and Eva opened by welcoming everyone and sharing news from Lund. Per Warfvinge (LTH) and Allan Malm (EHL) held excellent speeches to our alumni and the others present. Allan concluded with a clear address to business representatives on the importance of scholarships and the Lund University Global Scholarship Fund. It was a successful evening and many people asked when the next alumni event would be. There is a clear demand for this to become an established tradition.

We (Marianne and Eva) have been to the Education Expo in Shanghai and got to see in the flesh how Lund University markets itself at fairs. Prospective students come well prepared with printouts from studera.nu and their sights set on a specific Master’s programme at Lund University. They have their CVs in their hands and are disappointed to find that they cannot apply straight away. In order to keep in touch with these purposeful students, their details are registered in a database. A couple of days after their visit to our stand they receive an e-newsletter from LU.

There are also a lot of enquiries about research studies; how many apply, whether there are fees and what subjects we offer. There are also some people who ask about Bachelor’s degrees in English.
Prospective students are usually accompanied by their parents, and they want material in Chinese. Working for LU at the fair were Johan Gunnarsson and Katarina Wingkvist, who both speak Chinese, and Richard Stenelo and Åsa Grunning. They had to work hard and answer a lot of questions about admissions, admission requirements and living costs in Sweden. Our attendance at the fair is part of the initiative “Lund University on tour”.

Find out more on the website:
http://www.lunduniversity.lu.se/o.o.i.s?id=24890&news_item=5411

In the morning we met exchange students Jakob, Kristin and Peter who are studying at the University of Jordan, as well as students and staff who have been to Lund University. Everyone was thoroughly positive, however much we tried to force out whether there were any areas that could be improved! Then it was time for a summing up with a large number of staff from the University of Jordan. We went through all the meetings and discussions and there were many areas for development. New contact has been made between the Academy of Music (Joakim Nilsson) and the Faculty of Arts and Design and the Department of Music. The challenge is to make the most of the initiatives that have come up so that they are not forgotten once we get home.

Many thanks to all those who have contributed in different ways! It feels almost sad to leave. We have had many experiences during the trip, made many new friends and learnt a good deal about ourselves and others. Some have already gone home, others travel tomorrow. Ulrika Oredsson and Maria Lindh have accompanied us on the trip and in December LUM will contain lots of features about the Middle East.

I am sitting at the airport on the way to Shanghai via Dubai to join the delegation that is already there. The World Expo and Region Skåne’s events await, as well as our own alumni events. I hope to have chance to go to the education fair, where a number of our staff are representing Lund University. I will also find time for some visits to partner universities before coming home on Tuesday.

It has been a day full of meetings at the University of Jordan, with much enthusiasm and many ideas for cooperation. The Centre for Middle Eastern Studies (CMES), headed by Director Leif Stenberg, has had a number of meetings with different groups on new cooperation. Eva Wiberg has made good progress in her discussions on Italian. Both the School of Economics and Management and the Faculty of Medicine already have exchange agreements with their corresponding faculties. Håkan Pihl (EHL) and Karin Frydenlund (Medicine) followed these up and discussed how further cooperation could be developed. Carina Jensen, coordinator of the successful Erasmus Mundus programme, brought up issues including credit transfer. The idea was aired of a future conference to gain deeper mutual understanding and see how we can build bridges between the education systems in Europe and the Middle East. This is just a small selection of what we managed to achieve today. Lund University was welcomed as a high priority partner and we are genuinely appreciative of our relationship.

In the evening we were invited for dinner by Swedish Ambassador Charlotta Sparre with guests from the University of Jordan and other individuals who provide important support for our activities. Ms Sparre and the Embassy are a great support in our work here. 

In the morning we had chance for a look around the old town in Jerusalem and visited the Wailing Wall and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. After lunch we got a bus to the border. After waiting at the King Hussein Bridge and going through a lengthy passport control, and with a new bus, we made it to the Jordanian side. There a third bus was waiting to take us to Amman.

Now we have all arrived in Amman. Leif Stenberg, head of the Centre for Middle Eastern Studies and Karin Frydenlund (Medicine) have joined us. On Wednesday we will make several different visits to the University of Jordan.

Today we travelled to Birzeit University in the Palestinian territories. It is unusual to hear a presentation in which the stress is on how long and how often the University has been closed and the key figures stated are of the proportion of students that have been imprisoned.

Eva Wiberg (Humanities/Theology) made good headway in her discussions on a future course within USI (universities in cooperation for internationalisation). Representatives of CMES (the Centre for Middle Eastern Studies) discussed various forms of cooperation.

Later in the day, Joakim Nilsson (Music) joined the delegation. He had visited the Academy of Music in Tel Aviv and the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance. He made good initial contact and plans to continue discussions on cooperation.

In the evening Jesper Svartvik presented his activities here in Jerusalem. Other members of the group from Lund had the opportunity to speak about their cooperation and their impressions from the visit to newly appointed Ambassador Elinor Hammarskjöld and Consul-General Axel Wernhoff. We rounded off the evening with dinner together in the garden of the Swedish Theological Institute (STI).

Today we had a constructive visit to the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in Beer Sheva, Israel. First we met Vice-Chancellor Zvi Hacohen, who gave a presentation of the Ben-Gurion University. It is a young university, established in 1969 with the aim of developing the Negev, a desert area. Now there are around 17 400 students on 3 campuses. The fields highlighted were mostly from their Faculty of Humanities, but biotech, medicine, solar energy, water resource management and nanotechnology were also presented. 

Eva Wiberg, pro dean of the Faculties of Humanities and Theology, discussed cooperation within USI (universities in cooperation for internationalisation), Yiddish and Hebrew. A number of representatives of the Centre for Middle Eastern Studies discussed the possibility of work placements for students on the Master’s programme in Middle Eastern Studies. When the day was summed up with the management, a workshop was suggested next autumn in Lund, at which the cooperation would be followed up. We feel pleased with the visit; the discussions were practical and realistic. However, the journey back to Jerusalem was rather reminiscent of a rollercoaster and a number of times we were rather too close to the edge of the road for my liking. 

Tomorrow we travel to Birzeit University in the Palestinian territories.

A delegation of 13 people from Lund University will be spending the next couple of days in Jerusalem. Eva Wiberg (Humanities/Theology), Håkan Pihl (EHL), Carina Jensen (International Relations), Henry Diab (Humanities/Theology), Joakim Nilsson (Music), Petter Pilesjö (CMES), Torsten Jansson (CMES), Mina O’Down (Social Sciences), Ulrika Oredsson (Corporate Communications), Maria Lindh (Corporate Communications), Ulrik Mårtensson (CMES), Lars-Erik Olofsson (CMES) and Eva Åkesson.
Tomorrow we will visit the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in Beer Sheva, 70km south of Jerusalem. On Monday we will visit Berzeit University in the Palestinian territories and on Tuesday we travel to Jordan.

The AstraZeneca project could provide a major boost for the Faculty of Medicine. It could also have major importance for the region and the individuals and skills that are made redundant when the company moves its operations to Mölndal. There are a lot of things that must fall into place before the plans can be realised, but we are hopeful for a positive outcome from the negotiations that Allan Larsson is conducting on behalf of FIRS, the Skåne Research and Innovation Council, in which Allan reports to a steering group of management representatives from Region Skåne, Lund University and Lund and Malmö municipalities. There are major resources to utilise and plans and initiatives are developing. Many people have made very positive contributions, but naturally there are also a number of issues that must be resolved. This includes practical issues such as the cost of old and new premises for activities that are moved and the adaptation of premises and equipment. In addition, no research group should be forced to move, but what is offered should be attractive so that people want to move. These things are obvious.

When the University management met the management of the Faculty of Medicine on 6 October, the work on the AstraZeneca project was brought up and various possibilities and problems were discussed. To be sure, we also asked if the management considered that there were any problems of such type or proportions that the work should be broken off. The response was that the work should continue in order to find a positive solution, and no-one present objected to this at the meeting. We now need to help one another and offer our support to the negotiations for which Allan Larsson is responsible.

A number of very constructive meetings have been held in the negotiations recently, and Per Eriksson attended one of these together with staff from AstraZeneca. It was a great pleasure to hear the various ideas and suggestions that were put forward. It is not at all difficult to withstand the dismissive “not invented here” reaction and I like to think that this is something characteristic of Lund University.

Region Skåne’s firm support for Lund University is highly appreciated. The SEK 75 million investment is being negotiated with the aim of strengthening the strategic research areas within medicine, which aim to become world leading. Dean of the Faculty of Medicine Bo Ahrén suggested that other areas could benefit from the investment and we then decided that half should be available for other areas as well. This should not be seen as an instance of the famous Swedish “Jantelagen”, where no-one should ever have the opportunity to excel and become world leading, but rather that the investment in an elite and its success also benefits other activities.

If we look to MAX IV and ESS, which are major successes and investments for Lund University and Sweden, they also entail a lot of benefits for other parts of Lund University. This means that the success of the strategic research areas with their researchers and research group leaders is particularly important for the whole of Lund University.

Jan Björklund is now our minister following the government reshuffle and the removal of the post of minister for higher education and research. We extend our thanks to Tobias Krantz, who has now left both the government and the Riksdag. It could be a cause for concern that one minister should have responsibility for such a broad portfolio, which now extends from primary school to strategic research investments. On the other hand, our minister is now once again a party leader and also deputy prime minister, so it is easier for him to raise and pursue higher education issues in the inner cabinet. Minister for Education Jan Björklund is now quickly visiting a large number of institutions to familiarise himself and to hold discussions with the management. He will be coming to Lund University on 22 November and will also turn the first sod for MAX IV. Peter Honeth is still state secretary so this gives the government continuity. At the budget breakfast on Tuesday morning, Eino Örnfeldt from the Ministry of Education and Research said that the new minister had already taken on higher education and research issues with great enthusiasm. We therefore look forward to coming dialogue with the new minister.

It now has 25 484 members, which represents a membership rate of 88% after the abolition of mandatory students’ union membership. We would like to congratulate our students on this and say that student life in Lund, with the students’ unions, nations and AF, is still highly attractive and a strength for Lund University as well.

The Faculty of Law is receiving visitors from the China University of Political Science and Law today. The delegation came to see us briefly this morning and I (Eva) had the opportunity to give a presentation of Lund University and discuss their cooperation with us. There are good ties between our institutions and the Faculty of Law is involved in the China-EU School of Law. The purpose of the visit is to expand the existing cooperation to encompass student exchange, teaching staff exchange and joint research.

This morning, Eino Hörnfeldt from the Ministry of Education and Research came to the University to present the Budget. A lot of its content was already known and builds on a number of previous government bills. One positive piece of news is that humanities, theology, social sciences and law are given more funding (for us this will mean SEK 23.4 million a year in 2012–2013). We would naturally have liked to see increased funding for all programmes, but these fields have been most neglected.
What is worrying is that the ceiling figure for student numbers for 2012 and 2013 is reduced. LU is an attractive institution both nationally and internationally and is currently applying for the right to award degrees in education together with Kristianstad University. In order to maintain our attractiveness, we need to increase the number of places we offer, not reduce them. Our expansion at Campus Helsingborg is continuing and we plan to increase the number of places to achieve the goal of 3 000 full-time students there by 2013. We expect that the Ministry will listen to us in the coming discussions.
It was also interesting that the Ministry announced that it is working actively to solve the problems with admissions and that it intends work on the autonomy bill to be ongoing, which will raise many new questions in the course of the adaptation work.
A new research bill will be presented in 2012 and we will have to wait and see what investments are contained in it. Many new investments in recent years have been in infrastructure, engineering and science (e.g. MAX IV and ESS), while areas such as social sciences have been passed over.

Today we are visiting Gothenburg to discuss autonomy, tuition fees, scholarships and other questions with the management of the University of Gothenburg. They are currently carrying out their research evaluation RED10 and will be doing their equivalent of EQ11, which is called BLUE 11, next year. Exchanging experiences with other institutions is constructive and there are many issues on which we cooperate. On the way home I met Göran Bexell on the steps of the university building. He is involved in the University of Gothenburg’s work on organisational issues in relation to the work on autonomy.

At today’s Council of Deans, the FRONESIS project (autonomy’s forms, governance, organisation and future) was discussed. Tomas Achen and Hans Modig presented a memorandum with proposals and questions for discussion concerning new rules of procedure for Lund University with reference to the new Higher Education Act and Higher Education Ordinance that come into force on 1 January 2011. The draft rules of procedure are now available on the website (in Swedish): http://www.lu.se/autonomi.

Many people have already registered for tomorrow’s meeting on the forms and content of autonomy. The meeting will discuss the draft rules of procedure for Lund University. We look forward to a productive discussion that moves the work forward.
Place: Palaestras hörsal, övre, 8 October. Time: 9:00–11:00.

Today and tomorrow a group of journalists from India, Turkey, Russia, China and Brazil are visiting Lund University. At lunchtime today we welcomed them to Lund University and gave a short presentation of our work on internationalisation. Over the two days they have a jam-packed programme with presentations of our most popular Master’s programmes and ESS and MAX IV, as well as a visit to VentureLab at Ideon. A tour of AF and meetings with students from various countries are also on the agenda.

Have a look at the new international website!

http://www.lunduniversity.lu.se/

The Swedish Research Council has now granted funding for ultra-high field MRI equipment of seven tesla. The equipment will be available to all Swedish researchers within this field. The new equipment will be a boost to the Lund Bioimaging Centre, which is currently being developed here in Lund under the leadership of Professor Freddy Ståhlberg. Behind the application are Lund, Umeå, Uppsala, Karolinska Institute, Linköping and Gothenburg. This is a major step forward for the Bioimaging Centre at Lund University and with this new addition the centre will become a national resource for imaging research. We look forward to good cooperation with the other universities, including Martin Ingvar at KI, who is involved in the national initiative.

We would like to extend our heartfelt thanks to the Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation for its decision to grant SEK 400 million for experiment stations at MAX IV. The Wallenberg Foundation has placed great confidence in us. With the most concentrated light from Lund we want to be of use to both research and the business sector in our country and internationally. This grant could be of crucial importance to scientific development at MAX IV, which has the potential to become an absolutely world-class facility.

MAX IV is set to really get going now that a first sum of just over SEK one billion can be used. The government also recently gave permission to sign a 25-year tenancy agreement and the detailed plan is also complete.

This week the four architects appointed to propose a design for the buildings and surroundings presented their proposals. These can be seen in the Beta-huset reception at Scheelevägen 17. We look forward to a new landmark on the north-east approach to Lund!

See the architects’ proposals here

The Master’s report has now been completed. It shows that Master’s degrees have been a success with students but not with employers, who are still relatively ignorant of them. The report has been drawn up by Lund University in collaboration with the universities of Uppsala and Gothenburg. Project manager at Lund University was Head of Evaluation Tina Josefson.

Read the full report “The Swedish Master Project: The introduction of the second cycle at three Swedish universities” (opens in new window)

Innovation in Mind will be held on 10–11 November this year. Last year the conference attracted large crowds to a huge tent on Universitetsplatsen. This year equally exciting speakers will be coming, including Rosalind W. Picard, head of the Affective Computing Group at MIT and James R. Heath, who was named by Forbes Magazine as one of the most powerful innovators of our time. Register now for this exciting event, which will give new perspectives, encourage new ideas and contribute to a better innovation climate.

For more information and registration, visit www.innovationinmind.se.

Today we got a sneak preview of the new international website. A lot of people were curious and the room was full. The site will go live next week after some further testing. The purpose of the preview was to demonstrate the website, explain the idea behind the navigation, test the site and provide the possibility to make minor changes before the launch. It is exciting to see the site and major improvements have been made. Many thanks to all those who have worked hard on this and we look forward to the launch next week.

Download a screenshot of the new website

Lund University, together with Mayor of Lund Mats Helmfrid, Mayor of Malmö Ilmar Reepalu and Chair of the Regional Assembly Jerker Swanstein, has submitted a letter of intent to AstraZeneca stating that we are willing to buy its site in Lund. The Skåne Research and Innovation Council (FIRS) has drawn up a plan to convert the site into a research park, to be known as “Ideon Life Science”. The idea is for the site to house a centre for cancer research, an innovation centre with a business incubator, a science park, a life science competence centre and a venture capital fund that will invest in the companies and activities on the site. Negotiator Allan Larsson will now negotiate with AstraZeneca on the proposal.

Erasmus Mundus

Erasmus Mundus in Lund

Erasmus Mundus Asia in Lund

On Thursday and Friday this week we are holding a kick-off for Erasmus Mundus Europe Asia in Lund. Per welcomed everyone in Biskopshuset at the start of the meeting yesterday. Today Eva will be speaking about how Lund University works with internationalisation. It is great to hear how much praise our staff receive from the partner universities for their professional work on Erasmus Mundus.

The basis of the project is a scholarship programme for approximately 105 people (on all levels, from undergraduate students to staff) who will come from China, India, Nepal Pakistan or Bangladesh to one of the European partner universities.

The aim of the project is to create a partnership within research and education that strengthens the ties between Europe and Asia in the long term. The focus is on the development of joint research projects, joint courses and study programmes and on arranging joint conferences, among other things. The project will be used as a platform to create new cooperation, to strengthen existing cooperation and to further develop the universities’ knowledge of how to manage international mobility projects and major international cooperation projects.

More information can be found here: http://www.lu.se/lund-university/international-relations/programmes-and-scholarships/erasmus-mundus-action-2

With this picture we are trying to illustrate the University’s motto, ‘prepared for both’.

A University Board meeting was held today. Decisions were made on the allocation of resources for 2011. The Budget Bill has still not been presented and will be delayed this year because of the elections. Nonetheless, we want to give the clearest possible information about the financial situation as early as possible, in order to provide the best conditions to plan activities in good time.

The public agency capital and unused funding were discussed. Deans Lynn Åkesson and Torbjörn von Schantz reported on how the Faculties of Humanities and Theology and the Faculty of Science are dealing with this issue in order to reach the levels decided by the Board by 2014. Later in the autumn the other deans will meet the Board. Other items on the agenda were procurement policy and the work on the autonomy inquiry.

Lund University came in at number 89 in the Times Higher Education World University Rankings, making it the best full-scale university in Scandinavia. However, we were beaten by Karolinska Institutet, KI, in 43^rd place. Other Swedish universities are at numbers 129 (Stockholm), 147 (Uppsala) and 199 (the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, SLU). Among our Nordic neighbours, Helsinki is at number 102, the Technical University of Denmark at 122, Bergen University at 135, Aarhus at 167 and Copenhagen at 177.

Lund University maintains a relatively consistent position in the three most well-known international rankings, Shanghai, QS and THE. Our neighbours have gone up and down a lot more. This may be an indication of our broad quality across our activities and is an encouragement to us to continue working to develop Lund University. The rankings should not decide how we develop the University, but they can form one of a number of incentives for the work. We will now analyse the results in more depth and see what we can learn from this for the future.

See the entire THE ranking list: http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/world-university-rankings/2010-2011/top-200.html