Minutes from the Faculty Board meeting on 1 October 2025
At the CBH Faculty Board meeting on 1 October 2025, topics discussed included the development of the school's action plan for broadened recruitment and participation, as well as the upcoming external peer review of the school's educational programmes.
External peer review of an educational programme, involving one or more external experts, shall be conducted at least every six years and shall form part of the programme follow-up for the year in question. Reports from the programme follow-up shall primarily be used as a basis for the evaluation, and students and doctoral students shall be given the opportunity to be represented.
"External peer review provides opportunities to gain new perspectives on the programme that can be used as a basis for further development. What is new this time is that the school's faculty board decides when and how this process will be carried out. This gives us an opportunity to tailor the review and choose which issues we want to focus on," says Markus Kärkäs, head of the Department of Organic Chemistry and member of the faculty board.
Assistance from working groups
He explains that the faculty board will seek assistance from existing working groups within undergraduate education, such as CBH's management team for first and second cycle education, to develop a proposal for the school's external peer review process.
Another topic discussed by the Faculty Board was broader recruitment and broader participation, for which KTH's schools are to develop action plans. Broader recruitment means that more people from different backgrounds should have the opportunity to apply to and start at the university, regardless of, for example, gender, socio-economic background, ethnicity, functional variation or geography. Broader participation means that students who are admitted should be able to complete their studies and feel included and involved in their study environment.
"Increased recruitment and attracting new groups of students is a constantly relevant issue. Broader recruitment and broader participation are important for the future supply of skills and the changes facing society. We want to recruit from everyone who has the potential and who, according to society's norms, may be quick to dismiss us," Kärkäs says.
He explains that the student population within CBH and at KTH varies greatly between different departments and educational programmes. While KTH has a social responsibility to ensure that the student body reflects the composition of society, educational institutions do not have complete control over who applies for a programme. Factors that are difficult to influence include the availability of student housing, the design of the student finance system, labour market conditions, and the fact that study choices are made early on based on, among other things, gender norms associated with different programmes and professions.
"When it comes to broadening participation, we need to be able to provide equal opportunities for higher education once students have begun their studies, so that they actually complete the programme they have started. We hope and believe that improved broadening of recruitment and participation will actually benefit all KTH students," Kärkäs says.
In addition to the above topics, the number of students who have commenced studies on CBH's various educational programmes was also presented.
“This year’s enrolment figures show that CBH offers many attractive programmes and has a strong ability to attract international students, both within and outside Europe, to our master’s programmes. It was also gratifying to see that we had many applicants and many who actually began their studies in our new master’s programme in Data-Driven Health,” Kärkäs says.
Text: Sabina Fabrizi