New responsibilities and focus on streamlining processes
Last week, the ABE School Faculty Board held its first meeting after the summer, and it was an important start to a busy autumn term and preparations for new responsibilities.
Helena Mattsson , teacher member of the Board, shares insights on the meeting and the challenges and changes ahead for the Board.
"One of the most significant news items that was discussed is the upcoming changes in the delegation scheme regarding employment matters, which in the future will largely be handled by the faculty board at each school, instead of a central employment board."
As of 1 January 2025, each school, through the Faculty Board, will take over responsibility for handling the recruitment of lecturers, assistant professors, associate professors and professors; employment as adjunct professor and visiting professor; affiliation as professor and faculty and admission as docent.
"The aim is both to shorten the recruitment process and to increase quality by bringing recruitment decisions closer to the respective subject and expertise," says Helena. A central group is currently investigating how the work should be organised going forward. Pernilla Hagbert, vice chair of the faculty board, is participating from ABE. Two options are being discussed: having a fixed appointments committee or continuing with the current system where a group is created for each appointment case, based on a pool of teacher representatives. A decision on the new organisation will be taken by the end of September. and then implemented from the start of next year. It is important that the structure now established is sustainable in the long term and works for the whole of KTH."
The first meeting after the summer was relatively short, but nevertheless contained several important points in addition to some concrete decision-making matters. Among other things, the Faculty Board's new First and Second Cycle Education and Third Cycle Education Committees were introduced. The purpose of the new committees is to facilitate decision-making at the meetings by preparing matters in pre-meetings.
"It feels like a very efficient and helpful way to move forward. We hope to streamline the processes and make informed decisions faster during the actual faculty board meetings,’ says Helena, who chairs the First and Second Cycle Education Committee. ‘The format is still under development, but we already see the benefits of pre-meetings where a smaller group goes through decision-making issues in advance and then presents them when we meet. Of course, it is also important that the committees have good contact with the school's Director of First Cycle and Second Cycle Education (GA) and Director of Third Cycle Education (FA), as well as the Quality Councils for First and Second Cycle Education and Third Cycle Education. We need to ensure feedback on input and overhearing at all levels. In the future, we also hope to have administrative staff present at the pre-meetings to deal directly with any case issues."
The meeting also discussed this year's admission figures for the school, which showed varying trends depending on the programme. For example, applications to the Architecture programme have decreased slightly, while the number of applicants to the Bachelor's Programme in Real Estate and Finance has increased.
"But there are no dramatic changes overall. The ABE School's application figures look very good, which is great to see. But this is something we want to continue working on, especially in relation to fee-paying students, both from a quality and a strategic perspective. It is important that we have a well-thought-out strategy for how we want to work with student recruitment and admissions going forward."