New energy and new responsibilities - the Faculty Board takes on 2025
The first meeting of the Faculty Board of the year took place last Thursday. The new year started right away with several exciting issues on the agenda. One of the big news is that school's Faculty Boards have now taken over responsibility for teacher recruitment, and have already started to handle cases.
Johan Spross , teacher member of the Board, tells more.
"A Recruitment Committee has been set up and the Board has actually already received and started to handle two cases. The first concerns an affiliate faculty at SEED, while the second concerns the decision to launch a recruitment procedure for a professorship at the Department of Real Estate and Construction Management in the field of construction procurement and innovation. This is an area where the school now wants to make a strategic investment. We want to build a new environment to meet the needs of transformation in the built environment sector, both in the private and public areas. Starting directly with a professorship instead of a lectureship is unusual, but in this case we believe it is the right way to be able to build a new research environment from scratch."
How has the work of starting to manage recruitment processes been so far?
"I think we could see already with the first case that there are real advantages in dealing with these kinds of cases at school level, closer to the organisation. Those of us who are in the field understand the relevance and the arguments in favour of the applications that come in, so we really believe that the processes will work more efficiently in the future. The Faculty Board is looking forward to working on this and we feel ready for the task. We have also established a docent committee to work on issues related to admission as docent."
What else did you discuss at the meeting?
"We took a number of decisions on doctoral courses, which are an important part of our quality work and efforts to further develop the doctoral education. Another key discussion concerned lifelong learning, an area that will be in focus going forward. We are looking at what types of courses the school should offer, how we can best meet the needs of the built environment industry and how we can reach a wider target group. We are tasked with expanding the lifelong learning offer, but there are several ways to go about this, such as freestanding courses (grant-funded), contract training or MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses, which are free to all). We believe we need to explore different ways to meet the needs of professionals, perhaps through increased online and e-learning, or blended learning. This is an ongoing strategic issue that we will work more on in the future. Our hope is that the faculty will dare to experiment and see this area as an opportunity to develop the pedagogical approach of the school."
On Wednesday 12 February, the Board has invited the school faculty to an ABE event on ‘Strategic research initiatives - Do you have a research idea worth SEK 100 million?’, can you say anything more about it?
"That's right, in spring 2025, we are inviting the school's faculty to develop ideas for strategic research initiatives together at two events that will focus on discussing ideas, networking and finding new or strengthening existing research areas. The first event is on 12 February, the second in April. It will be an important platform for the whole faculty to discuss the school's future endeavours and how we can contribute to sustainable societal development together. Come and pitch your idea, brainstorm a new one or just mingle with colleagues!"