Collegial influence is investigated

Gunnar Svedberg, who was both educated and did his PhD at KTH, has held various positions in academia, including as Vice-Chancellor of the University of Gothenburg.

“He is very familiar with KTH, and with the university sector generally. We have asked him to carry out an audit of the current situation, and to provide data that we can then discuss and consider in determining our road ahead.”

Strong faculty and a strong line

The assignment, then, is not to suggest a finished structure, but rather to map central issues relating to the way collegiate influence can be shaped at both school and central level, and in that process also to consider the bodies that exist today, such as the Faculty Council, the Board of Education and the Appointments Board.

“It is important that KTH has both a strong faculty and a strong line organisation. They need to be related to one another, so that it is clear how and where decisions should be made and where they should be drafted. It’s also about linking influence to responsibility,” says Söderholm.

It is Sweden’s Higher Education Act which stipulates that decisions relating to areas such as organisation, implementation or quality of courses or research programmes should be made by individuals with research or artistic competence.

“Obviously, the further up the university organisation you go, the lesser the degree of expert knowledge on the scientific content of the research and education. It is therefore necessary to create forms for sound scientific judgments on education and research as close to the operation as possible. I personally feel it is at the school level where we primarily need new forms for collegiate drafting and decision-making.”

The deadline for submitting the audit data is 15 May.

You can find the decision (in Swedish) at w3d3 with the registration number V-2023-0078 2.2 .

Text: Jill Klackenberg
Photo: Mikael Sjöberg